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Cecily Strong leaves Saturday Night Live (SNL) – The Hollywood Reporter

December 18, 2022

Cecily Strong is the latest cast member to leave NBC Saturday Night Live.

Strong’s last show was the Saturday night edition. She appeared as Kimberly Guilfoyle in the cold open and other segments, including one on “Jewish Elvis” as well as “Weekend Update.” In the latter, she played the recurring character of Cathy Anne, who said “goodbye” because she was going to prison. She joked that she would be fine because she had ‘friends inside, they seem to be fine’ as a photo of recently deceased actors Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant was shown on screen in outfits from prison.

“Everyone has to go to jail at some point, right? It’s my time now,” she added. Breaking character a bit towards the end, she said, “I had a lot of fun here. And I feel so lucky to have had so many of the best times of my life here, and with these people that I love so much.

Another segment saw her as a RadioShack employee working her last day of work. In the skit, Kenan Thompson, playing her boss, noted that she had “an incredible eight years” working there. “Well, I’ve been here 11,” she said. “I know, and eight of them were amazing,” he replied, adding, “Frankly, I don’t think RadioShack could have lasted this long without Cecily. Every time she came to work, she had a new character, or a new accent, or a new feel that would blow your mind. She would have a power and joy in her performance that would remind you of why you loved working at RadioShack in the first place.

Host (and Elvis star) Austin Butler then appeared as “Casual Elvis” – the joke was that they didn’t have enough money to get into an Elvis Presley costume – and serenaded him with “Blue Christmas”, whom she then joined, followed by Thompson and the rest of the SNL discard.

The news of his departure was announced on Saturday SNL’s social media accounts (see below).

She joined the sketch show, produced by Lorne Michaels, in 2012, its 38th season. Over the years, she’s created characters such as “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party” and impersonated celebrities such as Kendall Jenner, Megyn Kelly and Liz. Cheney.

It is understood that the plan was for Strong to only return for the first half of the current season. Fans had noticed her absence from the opening credits of the season premiere in October, but by the time she appeared in The search for signs of intelligent life in the universe at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and therefore could not record SNL At New York.

Next strong stars in the second season of AppleTV+ Schmidadon! which is also produced by Michaels. She also took a break from SNL during the filming of this series.

Strong is following on the heels of other cast members who recently left SNLincluding McKinnon, Bryant and Pete Davidson.

Saturday night’s SNL features host Austin Butler and musical guest Lizzo.

Updated at 10:32 p.m. on December 17: Added Strong’s appearance in “Weekend Update”.