Cecily Strong has announced her departure from “Saturday Night Live.”
The NBC show announced that Saturday’s broadcast — expected to be “SNL”s “ last of 2022 — would also mark Strong’s final appearance as a member of the cast.
Appearing as her brash and quirky character Cathy Anne in a Weekend Update segment, Strong announced she was set to leave the long-running sketch show.
“I’m a little emo tonight, because I’m here to say goodbye,” she said
When anchor Michael Che asked her why, Strong as Cathy Anne cracked, “turns out, prison.”
“You had enough of me,” Strong said, adding she already had “friends on the inside.” (former “SNL” cast members Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant were shown in a photo wearing orange prison uniforms.)
“Everybody has to go to jail at some point, and it’s just my time now, but I feel really lucky that I got to spend so many of the best moments of my life with these people that I love so much,” Strong said.
During her tenure on “SNL,” Strong even did a stint as an anchor on “Weekend Update” opposite Seth Meyers, then Colin Jost.
The move, while a gut-punch to the show’s lineup, comes as no surprise, as Strong has already set the stage for her post-“SNL” pursuits.
She leads the comedy ensemble on Apple TV’s musical parody series “Schmigadoon,” which is executive produced by “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels and is set to return for a second season.
