The Village of Roslyn is a source of comedy. No, not jokes about the school district scandal, but simply the everyday people in the village who have inspired Alison Bernstein, a young comedienne who recently achieved a childhood dream by appearing on Saturday Night Live.

Ms. Bernstein, 19, has been doing stand-up comedy since she was a junior high school student. On a Saturday Night Live show that aired on Jan. 22, she only appeared as an extra on a skit starring a show regular Amy Doehler. Recently, she filmed another skit for SNL, this one starring Paris Hilton, even though it didn't make it to the actual broadcast.

Although they were small parts, Ms. Bernstein is hardly complaining. "It was so exciting," Ms. Bernstein said of her moment on the show. "It was so amazing to be living my dream. I was completely enveloped in the whole experience."

Especially exciting for her was appearing on the same show that made the late comedienne, Gilda Ratner famous. Even though she is too young to remember Ms. Ratner's prime years, the latter has always served as Ms. Bernstein's greatest inspiration for developing her own comedy.

"I was living my dream, just walking on the set, I thought to myself, I could be standing in the same spot that Gilda and so many others whom I admire have stood," Ms. Bernstein further recalled. "Just to see people do what I really want to do...it was an amazing experience."

The road to SNL was paved from Ms. Bernstein's early interest in acting to comedy appearances at various Manhattan clubs.

Growing up in Roslyn, Ms. Bernstein started acting at a young age, first performing in plays at the Sid Jacobson JCC, before taking acting classes at various acting schools including Stars of Tomorrow in Syosset, Fantasy Playhouse in Lynbrook, and Way Off Broadway in Roslyn. By the time she was in middle school, Ms. Bernstein was studying at the world famous Less Strasburg acting school in Manhattan.

After that, came her performances at Manhattan nightclubs. That happened once Ms. Bernstein realized she had a talent for making people laugh. When she was 15, Ms. Bernstein took a vacation to Florida with a friend who was visiting her grandparents. After the vacation, Ms. Bernstein boarded a flight from Fort Lauderdale to New York. The flight was delayed, or as Ms. Bernstein put it, "very very delayed." To compensate, Jet Blue personnel decided to hold an impromptu talent contest among the passengers. Ms. Bernstein's friend urged her to enter.

"I found myself telling jokes and doing improv," she recalled. "And, what can I say?...the passengers didn't stop laughing at me! I won the contest---a trip anywhere Jet Blue flies, but more than that, I realized what I wanted to do with my life."

It was at those Manhattan comedy clubs where Ms. Bernstein's routine caught the eye of a producer from SNL. While performing at Stand Up New York, a club on the Upper West Side, Ms. Bernstein became part of a Saturday Night Live showcase, one that attracted a casting director from that show. The director wanted Ms. Bernstein to appear on a SNL skit, but she was only 17 at the time and could not go on the show without a permit.

Then at a similar showcase held last month on Jan. 16 at Bennigan's, also in Manhattan, that same casting director saw Ms. Bernstein, remembered who she was and invited her on the Jan. 22 edition of SNL. Being 19, Ms. Bernstein was able to take part in the "Kaitlin Sketch," a routine starring SNL regular, Amy Doehler.

In addition to Gilda Ratner, Ms. Bernstein said she prefers the "old comedians" such as Eddie Murphy to today's talent. She said that allows her to have a "sense of humor that I can share with my parents." Indeed, Ms. Bernstein counts her father and her best friend as her two writing partners when coming up with new routines.

Ms. Bernstein specializes in character sketches. She said many of her characters are based on people she came in contact with while growing up in Roslyn.

For instance, one character is based on a speaker she heard at a Roslyn Middle School assembly. Another is based on a Roslyn High School driver's education teacher. Or as Ms. Bernstein states: "The people I met in childhood" on the streets and byways of Roslyn are those who continue to provide the bulk of her material.

A graduate of Roslyn High School, Ms. Bernstein is currently attending the University of Maryland in College Park. There, Ms. Bernstein is majoring in communications with acting as a career goal. Ms. Bernstein will perform at clubs in Manhattan during vacation breaks from college. She also does her routine at the DC Improv in Washington. "I'm just a regular college kid who does comedy shows," she said.

Wendy Friedman contributed to this article.