It’s an out-of-this-world goodbye! In this week’s Cold Open, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and host Natasha Lyonne have one final encounter with aliens. As is common in the recurring ‘Close Encounters’ sketches, while the other two have a great experience being abducted, McKinnon’s Ms. Rafferty has a weirder experience with the aliens. But this time, it ends with a final goodbye to Earth and Saturday Night Live itself.
McKinnon has been one of SNL’s most successful performers over the last ten years. After joining in 2012, McKinnon has gained notoriety for her impressions of celebrities, like Ellen DeGeneres and Hillary Clinton, and what she brought to even the smallest of characters. McKinnon has even won two Emmys for her work on SNL, becoming the first cast member to win an acting Emmy since Dana Carvey in 1993. But, all good things must come to an end, and thus McKinnon is ending her tenure on SNL. However, she couldn’t go without reviving one of her most iconic original characters.
The first ‘Close Encounters’ sketch aired in December 2015, featuring McKinnon, Strong, and host Ryan Gosling. At the Pentagon, Aidy Bryant and Bobby Moynihan grill three civilians who claim they’ve been abducted by aliens. It becomes clear very quickly that while Strong and Gosling’s characters had heavenly experiences, Ms. Rafferty (McKinnon) had an experience that was much worse and much dirtier. McKinnon’s performance caused everyone, most notably Gosling, to break character. Due to the success of the sketch, particularly the hilarity of the cast breaking character, SNL brought it back six more times, with Brie Larson, Casey Affleck, Gosling again, Liev Schreiber, Paul Rudd, and finally Lyonne.
In this sketch, entitled “Final Encounter,” the officials at the pentagon (Mikey Day and Bryant, who is also leaving SNL) are flabbergasted to find out that Strong and McKinnon have experienced yet another verifiable alien encounter, alongside their friend (Lyonne). As usual, while Strong and Lyonne had a magical experience with the aliens, McKinnon’s was entirely chaotic. The difference begins with how they are brought onto the ship: while Strong and Lyonne describe being hugged by warm blue light, McKinnon was lifted by a giant claw machine and her pants fell off.
The disparity between their alien experiences continues as Lyonne and Strong describe their perfect experience. McKinnon, meanwhile, describes the little gray aliens all lining up to “bat [her] knockers,” a call back to the previous Close Encounters sketches. However, they instead become intrigued by her loose underwear and the hair underneath. McKinnon even goes so far as to demonstrate what the aliens did to her on Lyonne, another classic part of the sketch. Finally, McKinnon was dropped into a field— more specifically, the Mets field in the middle of a game.
The officials at the Pentagon surprise everyone by saying the aliens have made contact, and are willing to give the US access to their technology in exchange for one person. McKinnon knows it is obviously her, remarking she “always felt like an alien on this planet anyway.” The sketch then moves to the exterior of a ship, where the hatch is lowered to welcome McKinnon, who climbs onboard and slowly faces the audience, becoming emotional at their applause. On the brink of tears, McKinnon says “Earth, I love you. Thanks for letting me stay a while. Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night.”
Although just as funny as ever, the emotional ending was a perfect send-off for an SNL legend. You can watch the sketch below:
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