Kate McKinnon Wanted to Literally Kiss SNL Good-bye

August 14, 2022 4:36 AM

“Earth, I love ya! Thanks for letting me stay a while.” This was Kate McKinnon’s way of saying good-bye to SNL during her final episode in May 2022, dressed up as her recurring character and alien abductee Colleen Rafferty. With an 11-season stint that makes her one of the five longest-tenured SNL cast members and nine straight Emmy nominations for her work on the show (including two wins), it’s hard to argue that McKinnon didn’t have one of the most tremendous runs in SNL history. Vulture interview / Archive - Good One podcast on Spotify / Apple Podcasts / anywhere.

SNL Close Encounter Sketch
SNL Another Close Encounter Sketch
SNL Final Encounter Cold Open

posted by ellieBOA (19 comments total)

I’ve been watching (off and on, cause, y’know, there were some truly suckfest years) SNL since day-1, and McKinnon is probably the only player I can honestly say I wish was in my very small circle of close friends. Watching her performances, you can see, underneath the characters, a deeply intelligent, interesting, and thoughtful mind at work.

Anyway, I’m definitely going to miss her work on SNL.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:41 AM on August 14, 2022 [15 favorites]

Kate McKinnon's character in Ghostbusters seemed like she had wandered in from a different, much better, Ghostbusters movie.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:45 AM on August 14, 2022 [38 favorites]

Not only was McKinnon the best thing about GB16 (although most of Chris Hemsworth's bits come close), but her bit with Sigourney Weaver was the best original-cast cameo.

This was my favorite thing from the interview:

The way that Colleen Rafferty talks is very basic. It has a timeless, mid-century quality. Like, “We’re not dealing with the top brass” — these are sort of old phrases, yet she uses them in a way that is very poetic. So though “coot coot” and “prune shoot” are coarse and base things to say, it has its own Brontë-esque majesty to it.

I also like how she talks about developing a character around physical characteristics such as their voice and hair. It seems like so many of the more popular SNL characters/sketches really hang on some catchphrase that makes for an easy hook for the popular zeitgeist, but McKinnon's best work isn't that easily reducible; it's ultimately the actual performance that matters.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:49 AM on August 14, 2022 [9 favorites]

I would love to see her write something with some emotional vulnerability in it.

Also, more cats. Kate, if you read this, I will teach any treat-loving cat to jump through a hoop! I think there's a modern cat version of "Lassie" waiting to be made!
posted by amtho at 7:54 AM on August 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don’t often watch SNL but her cold open after the 2016 elections, as Hillary Clinton singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah was gut-wrenching.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:07 AM on August 14, 2022 [31 favorites]

So good!
posted by ellieBOA at 8:39 AM on August 14, 2022 [7 favorites]

I've watched SNL since the mid eighties through so many ups and downs. I would have never guessed Kate had been on for 11 years. The good ones make the time fly by. I love the chemistry between her and Aidy and she is almost always laughing it up with the host in at least one sketch.

There are always clumps of 2-3 years where the cast is just so good that you can't believe they're all in the same project at the same time. I feel like we're on the down slope of one of those periods. I also think each of those periods is shorter than the previous one, but that is more likely my age than actual reality.
posted by soelo at 8:54 AM on August 14, 2022 [6 favorites]

She was the best.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:49 AM on August 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don’t often watch SNL but her cold open after the 2016 elections, as Hillary Clinton singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah was gut-wrenching.

Previously.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:56 AM on August 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

My crush on her is overwhelming.
posted by The Adventure Begins at 9:56 AM on August 14, 2022 [9 favorites]

She's a genius. And could it BE any more relatable that she had to quit SNL because she couldn't stay up that late anymore??
posted by potrzebie at 10:06 AM on August 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

She was really good on the show. But I think leaving is a smart move. Her last few years there just didn't have the same spark. 11 years is an eternity to be on a show like that. I hope she goes on to do plenty of other projects.
posted by SoberHighland at 3:01 PM on August 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

There is a running list of these euphemisms for genitals. It’s, at this point, a very long document, and was always the best part of writing the sketch.

I would *love* to see this list.
posted by bendy at 5:29 PM on August 14, 2022

Kate McKinnon is the sort of person we all want to be and know and date, probably all at once.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:57 PM on August 14, 2022 [10 favorites]

There is a running list of these euphemisms for genitals. It’s, at this point, a very long document, and was always the best part of writing the sketch.

I would *love* to see this list.

bendy, for hilarity and posterity, the ones listed in the article!!

My hairy and my scary
Coot coot and my prune chute
Cooter and my tooter
Pleaser and my cheeser
Please hole and my cheese hole
Squeeze master and my cheese blaster
Front and my grunt
Beard and my weird
Smile and my vile
Stuffer and my puffer
Please-hump-it and my cheese trumpet
Fun bun and my mud gun
Lucky and my yucky
Yeasty and my beasty
Jackpot and my black spot
Lady pocket and my gravy rocket
Pink pocket and my stink rocket
Hog socket and my log rocket
Hog taker and my log maker
Grassy knoll and my gassy hole
posted by ellieBOA at 3:44 AM on August 15, 2022 [8 favorites]

NSFW, but if you ever wanted to see porn star Nina Hartley get Kate McKinnon's motor running, here you go.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:30 AM on August 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

I can't wait to listen to this. Jesse David Fox is a really good and exceptionally prepared interviewer and even when I don't know a performer or a bit his Good One podcast is a treat.
posted by AgentRocket at 11:00 AM on August 15, 2022

I hadn't watched SNL in decades and just couldn't believe it was still going, but then the pandemic hit and I was desperate for something different to watch, and remembered liking Kate and Cecily on the few bits of SNL clips I'd seen on YouTube, so I gave it a try. I just fell in love with her and her cat on their at-home sequence, and have been watching steadily ever since. There's a few of her characters I don't like, but I am so impressed with her ability to do, like for instance, Angela Merkel or that Spanish sculptor lady and swing the comedy as well as the accents and tics. I missed Beck a lot this year, and I have a feeling I will really miss Kate and Aidy acutely when it comes back.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:40 PM on August 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

She came on late in her first season and suddenly she was all over the show. My wife and I were immediately looking up who she was after her first sketch. She never really let us down. I regret to say we haven't watched the last few episodes of the most recent season. I keep meaning to watch the season finale just to see the farewells.
posted by Badgermann at 3:09 PM on August 15, 2022