Advertisement
Saturday night live Say goodbye to four veteran cast members tonight, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson and Kyle Mooney. McKinnon, Bryant and Davidson, all of whom have since become household names SNL launched their careers, all receiving individual farewells with some of their favorite recurring skits. Mooney, who spent most of his time on the show as a valuable but underappreciated performer, made an unassuming — but dramatic — exit.
Overall, the episode, hosted by Natasha Lyonne, was a throwback to a time long gone SNL Cast members received proper send-offs earlier in the season finale to top off their runs. The last big one came during the 2012 season finale with host and musical guest Mick Jagger. It said goodbye to Jason Sudeikis, Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig, who had ended their seven-year tenure. The episode famously ended with Jagger leading a dance farewell for Wiig to The Rolling Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow” and “Ruby Tuesday.”
McKinnon, Bryant, Davidson and Mooney are leading members of the SNL Generation that followed Sudeikis, Samberg and Wiig. McKinnon has been on the show for 11 seasons (tonight was her 211th episode, more than any woman in SNL story), Bryant has been on the show for 10 years, Mooney for 9, Davidson for 8. In addition to the quartet, there are several other very popular cast members who have been on the show for eight or more seasons, including Michael Che and Colin Jost , Cecily Strong as well SNL Institution Kenan Thompson.
The pandemic likely delayed overdue cast sales, as only veteran Beck Bennett left last summer and the show’s troupe grew to a record 21 members this season. With the departure of McKinnon, Bryant, Davidson and Mooney, the generational shift on the show was set in motion.
That SNL The season 47 finale set the tone for the farewell with the Cold Open reviving one of the show’s most popular recurring sketches of the past decade, “Close Encounter,” which Kate McKinnon cast as one of her most beloved characters on the show Has. Cecily Strong and Aidy Bryant. It ended with McKinnon’s character Coleen Rafferty boarding a spaceship to leave Earth permanently.
“Well, Earth. Love you, thanks for letting me stay a while,” McKinnon said, fighting back tears before adding, “Live From New York, It’s Saturday night live.”
weekend update featured both Pete Davidson and Bryant.
Not surprisingly Davidson, who made his name first SNL with its segments weekend update, returned to the fake news show for his final appearance as a cast member. He ended it with a heartfelt thank you message to the show and its boss, Lorne Michaels.
“I guess Saturday night live always have my back,” he said. “Thank you Larne for never giving up on me or judging me even when everyone else was and for believing in me and allowing me to have a place to call home with memories that a will last a lifetime. So thanks guys.”
In another weekend update Sketch, Bryant and Bowen Yang reprized their flamboyant characters from Trend Forecasters. The part ended with Bryant announcing that “My Best Boys Kiss Me” is here, leading to Yang and weekend update Co-host Michael Che gave her a kiss and a shoutout, along with a flower flirty.
Mooney, who got to reprise one of his most popular characters, Baby Yoda, last week was not mentioned in his latest full sketch, a 9 to 5 Parody that also happened SNL Former Fred Armisen. But it ended up with the characters of Mooney and Armisen making a dramatic exit by jumping out a window and being last seen flying down an office building.
In the evening’s final sketch, McKinnon and Bryant, who have done a slew of crazy commercial sketches including popular HomeGoods vacation spot and an Apple Picking ad, delivered one final collaboration, an ad for Gray Adult Pigtails. Appropriately, it featured a cameo from Mooney. (You can check out the final sketches of the outgoing cast members, as well as their final curtain call, below.)
While the entire finale served as a farewell to the four departing cast members, their departure was not mentioned during the traditional curtain call, which featured a Mooney hugging an emotional McKinnon (photo above).
The departures of the star-studded cast come after Michaels recently admitted he expects this year to be a “year of change” for the show. It’s no surprise considering this season featured 21 stars and eight cast members going into its eighth season and beyond.
Davidson was there SNL since 2014 as one of the youngest performers of all time. He has become one of the show’s breakout stars over the past few years, co-writing and starring The King of States Island and co-creating and starring in bupkis, which recently received a series order from Peacock. The latter is being produced by Lorne Michaels, with whom Davidson will remain in a relationship.
He was mostly absent this season, only appearing in a handful of episodes while filming features, including The home.
Photo gallery: Actors who have hosted “Saturday Night Live” the most
McKinnon has been on the show since 2012 and was promoted to repertory player in Season 39 in 2013, becoming one of the show’s MVPs and winning two Emmys.
In recent years there have been persistent rumors that she might be leaving, but she has stayed, albeit not as regularly as in the past. McKinnon recently took time off from the show to film King of the Tigers script series Joe vs Carole for Peacock, where she played Carole Baskin.
Bryant joined the show in 2012 and was upgraded in its second season. She has played characters like Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Ted Cruz. Similarly, she’s come and gone of late, starring in three seasons of the Michaels-produced Executive Shrill for Hulu.
Mooney, who recently played Johnny Depp in last week’s episode, has been with the show since 2013 and was promoted to repertory player at the start of season 41.
Here are the last of McKinnon, Bryant, Davidson and Mooney SNL Skits:
Thanks @nlyonne, @JbrekkieFred Armisen and @MayaRudolph! And thank you all for watching! See you next season!!! #SNLfinal pic.twitter.com/JO4QDfGKE5
– Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) May 22, 2022
