The show is based on Lindy West‘s 2016 book Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, which was actually a memoir. But Annie is not exactly West, and she’s not exactly Bryant either. She’s more of a mix of the two, plus a creation of the writers’ room, though Bryant says it was not like they sat down and decided who Annie would sound the most like.
“It’s all kind of swirled together and becomes this person, and I think naturally because I’m the one up there doing it, it’s like it is gonna fall into my voice, and it’s written in a lot of my voice, so it’s just sort of a natural thing,” she says.
Bryant often plays a version of herself on SNL, usually and delightfully called “Lil Baby Aidy,” who’s not quite the same as the parts of Aidy represented in Shrill, but not not the same.