Cecily Strong bids adieu to Saturday Night Live! Image Source: NBC News
Cecily Strong bids adieu to Saturday Night Live!
Austin Butler hosted the latest episode of Saturday Night Live at Studio 8H, with musical guest Lizzo, and the episode was extra sentimental because it was the final one for comedian Cecily Strong, who will leave the show after 11 seasons.
Saturday Night Live's official social media account revealed that they will be bidding goodbye to one of their best and that the entire cast and crew of the show will miss her greatly. Cecily Strong joined Saturday Night Live in 2012 and is known for her hilarious impersonations of Sofia Vergara, Liz Cheney, Fox News anchor Jeanine Pirro, and Melania Trump, as well as her original characters such as The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With At a Party.
The news of Cecily Strong leaving the show came just a few hours before they went live, which surprised many people but the audience noted that she had skipped several episodes during this season to take part in a play, a message that she was already intriguing other options. Kate McKinnon did a similar thing at the start of her final season with the program in the fall of 2021.
The announcement confirmed that Cecily was ready to join her former colleagues including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Alex Moffat, Chris Redd, Melissa Villasenor, and Pete Davidson, who all decided to depart the show after having a wonderful time. The NBC show also announced that Saturday's broadcast will be the last of 2022. Cecily Strong has been sighted in recent weeks in a national advertising campaign from Verizon.
Cecily in one of her final episodes, she managed to play fan favorite Cathy Anne, a middle-aged lawbreaker who lives on the streets. She notified Michael Che that she had agreed to a life imprisonment sentence and that this was her final performance on Weekend Update. Breaking identity for a moment, the comedian stated that she wants to consider herself incredibly lucky to have spent a significant portion of her best times with the people she cares about.
In another segment, she played a RadioShack employee on her last day on the job. Kenan Thompson, who played her boss, said in the skit that she'd had "eight incredible years" working there. She said that well, she has been here 11 years to which Kenan replied that he knows, and eight of them were incredible. Comedian Kenan Thompson said later that frankly, he doesn't think RadioShack might have survived this long without Cecily. Every time she came to job, she had a character named, or a new way of speaking, or a new impression that would simply blow you away. Her performance would be full of power and joy, reminding you why you enjoyed working at RadioShack in the first place.
Cecily Strong took to social media to express her feelings about leaving, writing that her heart is exploding because she has a big huge life-changing love to load and unload and that this is all she can say tonight. She returned upstairs, and her soon-to-be best friend Colin Jost helped her by walking her over to the secret nighttime elevator. Cecily added that choosing to leave that night felt just as unimaginable as it does now. And her dear friend Colin Jost ended up assisting her once more, this moment by arranging for Elvis to sing her off (she thanked Austin Butler, referencing him as an absolute and very kind generous heartthrob).
Cecily Strong made an apology for keeping the news of her departure a secret, saying she didn't want to add to the stress of a situation that was already very sentimental for her. She went on to say that she is grateful for the opportunity to work with such a marvelous cast and appreciated the new cast members, whom she seriously thinks is not only genuinely funny but also amazing people. The comedian concluded her post by saying that she is ready to go, but she'll always remember that home is here. She has experienced the time of her life working with the most amazing people on the planet.
Cecily Strong isn't straying far from her previous home. Cecily Strong appears in the second season of "Schmigadoon!," an Apple+ musical parody. Lorne Michaels, who also produces "SNL," is in charge of the show's production.
