The final “Saturday Night Live” of 2022 proved doubly emotional, as it was announced mere hours before the episode aired that it would be Cecily Strong’s final “SNL.” She said her own goodbye as recurring character Cathy Anne on Weekend Update earlier in the night, but an iconic “SNL” moment was born towards the end of the show as the entire cast and host Austin Butler sang “Blue Christmas” as a farewell to Strong – and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
What opened as a sketch at Radio Shack soon turned genuine, as Kenan Thompson said, “As some of you know this is Cecily’s last day working at Radio Shack,” before reminiscing about “eight incredible years.”
“Well, I’ve been here 11,” Strong interjected. “I know, and eight of them were incredible,” Thompson responded.
“Honestly, I don’t think that Radio Shack could have survived this long without Cecily,” Thompson continued, his voice beginning to crack. “Every time she came to work, she had a new character or a new accent or a new impression that would just blow you away. She had a power and a joy to her performance that made you remember why you love working at Radio Shack in the first place. I know I’m not supposed to say this as your boss but, I love you, Cecily.”
“I love you too, Mr. Frank Lasagna,” Strong replied, keeping up with the joke that this was still a “sketch.”
Thompson then said they sprung for a surprise guest, Casual Elvis, before the set disappeared to find host Austin Butler coming down the stairs.
“Cecily I know we only met this week, but I feel like I’ve known you for two weeks,” he said, then the lights on the stage turned blue and the “Elvis” star launched into a rendition of “Blue Christmas.”
Strong sang as well, turning it into a duet, but in this version of the song’s twist on the lyrics — “You’ll be doing alright, every Saturday night, but we’ll all have a blue, blue blue blue Christmas,” — Strong literally couldn’t get out the words “Saturday night,” overcome with emotion.
Toward the end of the song, Thompson came in to sing followed by the rest of the cast, as a visibly emotional Colin Jost sidled up to Strong and sang himself.
Jost’s demeanor was odd when Weekend Update began, like he was down or not in the mood to be cracking jokes, and the look on his face during “Blue Christmas” explained it all.
He was overwhelmingly sad to see Strong go.
Us too, Colin.
Watch a clip from the farewell below.
