It was a sad night atSaturday Night Livewhen the realization set in thatCecily Strongwas leaving the hit sketch series. Now the longest-serving female cast member, Strong has been with the series for eleven seasons and has, personally, been a gift to the musical theatre fans out there. She constantly shared her love for theatre with the show that resulted in a hilarious take on the sketches and some of my own all-time favorites are ones with Strong in them. Pour one out for the “Game Night” sketch fromChris Pine’s episode that was inspired bySunday in the Park with George.
So when it became clear duringAustin Butler’s hosting that Strong was leaving, we all had to prepare to say goodbye to one of the best. And what a way to send Strong off. Much like whenAidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson,andKyle Mooneyleft the show, Strong got her own nods and wraps on characters we know and love. She came to Weekend Update asMichael Che’s neighbor and we got to see her emotional with both Che andColin Jost, even calling back to the time when she was one of the anchors.
But the real emotions came flooding out when it seemed like the episode was coming to an end and, to send Strong off, Butler sang her a Christmas song. They pretended like a sketch was happening, but the reality is that they just gave a musical send off to their musical star, and it was beautiful.
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The sketch started with employees of a store all having an emotional goodbye for their coworker of eleven years, “Cecily Strong” and while it was set up to look like a normal sketch,Kenan Thompsonwas clearly playing himself, even if Strong gave him a fake name. He gave her a gift of “Casual Elvis” to perform for her. So Butler came out and began singing “Blue Christmas” for Strong.
She joined in with him as did the rest of the cast, with some of the lyrics changed to honor Strong’s place on the show. It wa just truly an emotional look at how beloved Strong was as a cast member. She was one of the best “Radioshack employees,” so it is only fair that Elvis got to sing her off.
