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Saturday Night Live (SNL) is off to celebrate the holidays. Every year, the beloved comedy series takes a few weeks off starting in December and returns to screen in January. The show’s air time is given to segments related to the holiday season and this Saturday, the network has given its slot to Christmas Eve Mass.
The show will now return in January 2023 and in the previous episode hosted by austin Butler, the cast bid goodbye to its audience for the time being. They also bid goodbye to one of its cast members, Cecily Strong.
SNL bids goodbye to Cecily Strong after 11 years
The December 17 episode of SNL was before the show went for its annual holiday break and was hosted by Austin Butler. The Christmas-themed episode featured various holiday sketches and was a farewell episode for one beloved cast member, Cecily Stong.
The cast member joined SNL in 2012 and went on to impersonate many celebrities such as Melania Trump and members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan. Her standout characters include Girl You Wish You HAdn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party and a British singer named Gemma.
Cecily led the conversation on abortion in a clown costume last year. She explained that the custom was to make the topic more appealing to the audience. While in a conversation with The View, she said that she was moved by the reaction that the socially important sketch received.
She added:
"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."
She added that it was probably the only segment she worked on when she didn't have any notes. Cecily also said that she believed no one really wanted to give them notes about the segment.
Cecily’s exit was announced just hours before her final SNL episode aired. She took to Instagram to tell her fans about it and apologized for being secretive about her decision.
She added that she didn't want any extra pressure on something that was already quite emotional for her. She continued:
"I’m so grateful I got to have these wonderful past six shows to help me ease into it."
In the post, she referred to the SNL gig as her “dream job” and recalled her first day on the job.
At the end of the previous episode, Kenan Thompson announced her departure with the backdrop of Radio Shack. He said that he doesn’t think that Radio Shack could have survived for as long as it did without her and commented on the diversity she brought to SNL in terms of the acts she put on.
He added:
"She’d have a power and a joy to her performances."
He then welcomed “casual Elvis” (Austin Butler) to the stage who said a few kind words about her before breaking into song. Cecily soon joined in as well along with the cast members as they all sang Blue Christmas to bid goodbye to the beloved cast member.
SNL's slot this week has been allotted to Christmas Mass Eve and the show will now return after welcoming 2023 in January.
