‘THANKS FOR LETTING ME STAY A WHILE’

Kate McKinnon Fights Back Tears in Emotional SNL Send-Off

“Saturday Night Live” turned the stage over to its biggest outgoing star in the final cold open of the season.

Ahead of the 47th season finale of Saturday Night Live, news leaked out that the show would be losing some of its biggest stars, including Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney. But SNL’s biggest loss has to be the incomparable Kate McKinnon, as evidenced by the fact that the show more or less cleared out for her to cook in her final cold open.

Kate McKinnon’s Miss Rafferty, who has been abducted by aliens countless times over the past eight seasons, appeared alongside Cecily Strong and host Natasha Lyonne to share her disturbingly unique experience one more time.

The sketch proceeded more or less as expected, with Rafferty sharing increasingly personal details about her time on the UFO, including how the aliens started furiously plucking her pubic hairs—“climbing all over each other like my bush is the last lifeboat on the Titanic”—while the other actors on screen struggled to keep it together.

But by the end, things turned emotional as McKinnon’s character got the chance to go on one final—and permanent—trip into outer space.

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“Sure, why not?” she said. “I always kind of felt like an alien on this planet anyway.”

Then, as she approached the spaceship to wild applause from the audience, she turned to the camera and said, “Well, Earth, I love ya. Thanks for letting me stay a while.” And for the last time as a cast member, added, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”

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