Kate McKinnon signaled the end of her 10-season Saturday Night Live run with a final — and ultimately emotional — take on her oft-abducted Mrs. Rafferty character, in this weekend’s cold open.
Appearing alongside fellow three-time alien abductees played by Cecily Strong and guest host Natasha Lyonne, McKinnon’s cigarette-dragging alter ego as usual offered up a verrrry different version of events than the others, having not been gently lifted aboard the UFO by a warm beam of light by instead a giant claw machine. And again, as usual, as the aliens poked and prodded her, there were multiple rhyming references to her orifices (most notably “my dong hole and my wrong hole”), plus an extended bit on the ETs’ fascination with her… um… hipster’s beard stuffed inside an N-95 mask.
It was just more of the same we have seen before from the recurring bit — until the end, when the NSA agents said that the aliens wanted to offer Earth their advanced technology in trade for one of the ladies returning to their craft. Without hesitation, Mrs. Rafferty volunteered, and as she walked up a gangway into the glow of the UFO’s entrance, McKinnon turned and, largely stepping out of character and through budding tears, said, “Earth, I love ya! Thanks for letting me stay a while.”
McKinnon, along with Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney, all are rumored to exit Saturday Night Live after this weekend’s season finale.
Davidson officially announced his split with the show on Saturday afternoon via a statement (from the account of SNL writer Dave Sirus), saying of his eight-year run, “I got to share so much with this audience and literally grow up in front of your eyes. We were together through the good and the bad, the happiest and the darkest of times. I owe Lorne Michaels and everyone at SNL my life. I’m so grateful and I wouldn’t be here without them.” (Read Davidson’s full statement here.)
McKinnon and Bryant are the longest-tenured cast members of the four, with both joining the show in 2012. McKinnon became a breakout star, thanks to impressions of Hillary Clinton, Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres; she earned eight Emmy nominations for best supporting actress in a comedy, winning the award in 2016 and 2017.
Mooney joined SNL in 2013, gaining fame for his offbeat brand of humor and becoming a staple of the show’s more surreal sketches that air late in the episode.
Watch McKinnon’s farewell above, then weigh in on her exit.