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  • Cecily Strong Bids Farewell To ‘Saturday Night Live’ With Tearful, Musical Sendoff

    Cecily Strong Bids Farewell To ‘Saturday Night Live’ With Tearful, Musical Sendoff

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    By Zach Seemayer, ETOnline.com.
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    Farewell to an “SNL” icon! Cecily Strong is leaving Global’s “Saturday Night Live”, and the show made sure to send her off with the spectacle she deserves.

    Strong had not one but two goodbye moments — first during “Weekend Update,” when she reprised one of her recurring characters for a final time, and then during the final sketch of the night, which was focused entirely about sending her off in style.

    During “Weekend Update,” Strong joined Michael Che as her drug-loving, cigarette smoking local crazy lady Cathy Anne, who revealed that she wouldn’t be coming on the show anymore, because she was sentenced to life in prison.

    “The crimes I confessed to you, here, for the past seven years finally caught up to me,” Strong’s Cathy Anne explained, while rocking a festive Santa hat. “Drug use, trespassing, destruction of private property, crack, impersonating a police horse, meth, and crack.”

    She also joked that she has “friends on the inside,” as a graphic popped up showing former castmates Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon in prison jumpsuits, covered in tattoos.

    She also partially broke character for a moment as she expressed, “Listen, listen. Everybody has to go to jail at some point, right? Just my time now. But I’ve had a lot of fun here, and I feel really lucky that I got to have so many of the best moments of my life in this place with these people that I love so much.”

    Later in the evening, as the final sketch, Strong played a character named “Cecily” who worked at a Radio Shack, and all her co-workers were gathered together to say goodbye. Kenan Thompson played her boss, Frank Lasagna, in a sketch that was obviously just a way to send her off with a bang.

    “As some of you know, this is Cecily’s last day working at Radio Shack, after eight incredible years,” Thompson’s boss character shared.

    “We’ll, I’ve been here 11,” Strong’s Cecily corrected.

    “I know, and eight of them were incredible,” Thompson’s Lasagna quipped, before getting a bit more sentimental. “Honestly, I don’t think radio shack could have survived this long without Cecily. Every time she came to work, she had a new character or new accent or new impression that would blow you away. She’d have a power and joy to her performance that made you remember why you loved working at Radio Shack in the first place. I know I’m not supposed to say this as your boss, but I love you, Cecily.”

    To celebrate, the boss paid for a performance from “casual Elvis,” which gave host Austin Butler a chance to join in on the fun, and perform “Blue Christmas” in his astounding Elvis voice.

    As the song progressed, Strong joined in to duet, and soon the entire cast was on stage singing along for one of the most memorable cast member signoffs in recent memory.

    Before the episode kicked off, SNL took to Twitter and revealed the news of Strong’s exit, and some words of love.

    “Tonight we send off one of the best to ever do it,” the show wrote. “We’ll miss you, Cecily!”

    “Saturday Night Live” airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT on Global.

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    Corey Atad

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  • ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sings Off Cecily Strong in an Emotional Christmas Farewell

    ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sings Off Cecily Strong in an Emotional Christmas Farewell

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    Of all the send-offs in all the lands, none was as sweet as Saturday Night Live’s for Cecily Strong. Hours before the Christmas episode aired, news broke that the brunette angel of the show—our Mom to Kenan Thompson’s Pops—had gotten her wings. She gave us 11 years of Jeanine Pirro and Cathy Anne and Goober the Clown. Eleven years of breaking into song; each time a revelation that this generous and brave performer was also an old-school chanteuse. It’s hard to think of an SNL without her as its sturdy moral center. Some goodbyes are for the players. They need to walk off into the sunset waving goodbye. Last night, the adieu was also for those left behind. It seemed like the cast needed to let Strong how much they loved her and how greatly she’ll be missed. 

    In a clever Radio Shack sketch, which gave all the grieving a little emotional distance, Thompson’s store manager gathered his modest staff to toast a departing Strong. “I don’t think Radio Shack could’ve survived this long without Cecily,” he said, all glistening eyes and marble-throated voice. “She had a power and a joy to her performance which made you remember why you loved working at Radio Shack in the first place.” As a special surprise, the staff had pooled the store donations for sick and needy children and hired an Elvis impersonator to sing the employee of the month into the sunset.

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    Then the evening’s host Austin Butler, Baz Luhrmann’s King, SNL’s prince, joined Strong as a decidedly casual Elvis impersonator (not to be confused with Jewish Elvis, who would pop up later in the episode to serenade Butler in costume as an old lady) to sing “Blue Christmas.” Kudos to this adorable man-child and his baritone voice, who somehow earned his spot standing next to Strong in this emotional moment. He has a specific kindness and unexpected gravitas about him that made him the essential ingredient of the number without hogging up any of the emotional energy. And when Strong came in for the second verse, her clear voice equal parts Patsy Cline and ‘50s Christmas movies, the tears really started flowing. 

    “You’ll be doing alright, every Saturday night,” the two promised each other in makeshift lyrics, with Strong choking up, “but I’ll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.” Thompson joined in for a verse, his voice reedy and tight with feeling. Even Colin Jost sang a few emotional lines, leaving his habit of mugging behind. May she transition well into a New Year with better hours and a book deal and a plum role in a musical.

    And let our own nerves for the show in the year ahead be steadied by the great kookiness still on display in clip after clip. The Marzipan sketch, with Bowen Yang mewling over his lump of almond crud, was perfect absurdity. 

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    Bravo to Heidi Gardner’s Great Aunt Pat, an ape of Southern Charm’s caftan wearing-Patricia Altschul, bleating for her butler Mikey Day and booping him on his gooch. 

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    Karen Valby

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  • Cecily Strong leaves Saturday Night Live after 11 seasons

    Cecily Strong leaves Saturday Night Live after 11 seasons

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    After 11 seasons, Cecily Strong has said farewell to “Saturday Night Live.”

    A few hours before the last episode of the season Saturday, the TV show’s Instagram account posted a cue card saying, “we’ll miss you, Cecily.” The caption read “Tonight we send off one of the best to ever do it.”

    A two-time Emmy nominee for her work on the show, Strong was known for characters like the Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With At a Party and impressions of people like Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green.

    During Saturday’s show, she broke character as Michael Che’s drug-addicted neighbor Cathy Anne on Weekend Update to give a personal statement.

    “I had a lot of fun here,” she said. “And I feel really lucky that I have had so many of the best moments of my life in this place, and with these people that I love so much.”

    It’s latest in a string of high-profile departures for “Saturday Night Live” this year, including Pete Davidson, Chris Redd, Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney and Aidy Bryant. Strong joined the show in 2012, during the 38th season, and has since gone on to appear in movies, including the 2016 “Ghostbusters,” and television shows, like Apple TV+’s “Schmigadoon!”

    She and host Austin Butler closed out the episode with a performance of “Blue Christmas.”

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  • Cecily Strong to exit ‘Saturday Night Live’ | CNN

    Cecily Strong to exit ‘Saturday Night Live’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    “Saturday Night Live” is saying farewell to another longtime cast member.

    Cecily Strong, who has impersonated figures like Melania Trump and members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, is set to leave the long-running sketch show following Saturday’s new episode, “SNL” announced on its official social media accounts.

    “Tonight we send off one of the best to ever do it. We’ll miss you, Cecily!” the post read.

    CNN has reached out to “SNL” for further comment.

    Strong joined “Saturday Night Live” in fall 2012 and went on to be a stalwart at the series, which earlier this year said goodbye to high-profile cast members like Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Pete Davidson.

    The move, while a gut-punch to the show’s lineup, comes as no surprise, as Strong has already set the stage for her post-“SNL” pursuits.

    She leads the comedy ensemble on Apple TV’s musical parody series “Schmigadoon,” which is executive produced by “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels and is set to return for a second season.

    As of Saturday evening before the show’s airing, Strong had made no mention of her exit on social media.

    In her time on the series, Strong established many memorable characters, like Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party and a British singer named Gemma.

    Last year, Strong memorably dressed as character named Goober the Clown, who led a conversation on abortion in light of the controversial Texas law that barred most abortions at the onset of a fetal heartbeat.

    During the Weekend Update segment, the actress explained the clown costume was to make the topic a little more palatable for the audience and shared a story of a woman seeking an abortion on the eve of her 23rd birthday.

    Talking to “The View,” Strong said she was “surprised and moved by the reaction” the sketch received.

    “I had so much anxiety and frustration, and it was like, ‘I’m either gonna write, every night, essays for nobody, or I can finally just put this on the show.’ And luckily … right away, the show was very supportive. I think it was the only thing I’ve ever done where I haven’t had any notes. I don’t think anybody wanted to give us notes.”

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