-Welcome back to the show It is always great to see you.
Is this your first time back?
-This is my first time back in the building.
I've only gotten as far as the wine bar close by.
That's real. -Wow.
Are you are you emotional right now?
-You know, I'm not. Being on this floor is okay.
I'm sure I'd burst into tears --
There's just a lot of weird emotional baggage.
-Yeah.
-It was a lot of years of my life.
-I didn't know that you were leaving "Saturday Night Live."
I didn't know.
That episode came on, and I was like, "Wait.
Is Cecily leaving? Like, what's going on?"
-Yes. Although, we all knew. It wasn't, like, a huge shock.
But I think nobody -- I think there were still people
that I love at the show that were like,
"If we don't say it, it won't happen."
-Yeah. -"Then she'll stay."
-Yeah, 'cause I thought maybe just stay out for another --
-It's worked for nine and a half other years.
-Lorne's good at getting people to just go,
"No, just stay for another thing."
But wow. -Yeah.
-It was -- That's a big move for you.
-It was huge, because, again, it was,
You know, I was 28 once, it turns out,
when I started that show.
I'm 78 now, so...
-Oh, my God. You look fantastic.
-Oh, thank you. A lot of surgeries.
-I want your doctor's number, yeah, really.
-A lot of doctors. A couple have died.
-But you -- -Yeah.
-But they were good people. -They were great people.
-They were great doctors.
But you -- You're doing the show,
and I go, "Okay, I would lose it there.
I would lose it in that episode. I would lose it in that thing."
And then Austin Butler is the host,
who was phenomenal as Elvis.
-Unbelievable.
-And he serenades you as Elvis.
-I mean, that's the best last gift on Earth.
I think Lorne brought it up in an elevator.
I was, like, doing okay,
and then Lorne, on Tuesday, was like,
"I think he's going to do
'Blue Christmas,' if you'd like."
And I was just like, "Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think I would love to --" Yeah.
And I think that's the one thing he asked to not do
was to just sing as Elvis, and we were like,
"And can you sing as Elvis for everybody?"
-Yeah. And he did it. -And he did it.
-It was classic. -Yes.
I don't think I've cried and hugged a host so much ever.
[ Audience "awws" ]
Thank you for that reaction.
Yeah. -You're very loving person.
Did you -- You worked with Matt Damon before.
Did he host? -Yes.
He hosted a really great -- another Christmas show.
And Bryan Tucker and I wrote a Barbra Streisand-inspired
cabaret sketch.
It was strange to pitch to Matt Damon.
-Yeah. Well, I think of Matt Damon,
I think of singing and dancing.
-"You're gonna be my snarky, sexually fluid
ex-husband at the piano."
But he was amazing.
-He's great at everything he does.
-Yeah.
-Yeah, I get to see you every now and then
on these Verizon commercials that'll pop up.
-Sure. They play sometimes. -Yeah, sometimes, they play.
But it's good to see you.
I want to see more Cecily Strong.
I love seeing you.
Is this the first commercial you ever did?
-No, no, no.
I actually -- But my first commercial never aired.
-Oh. What was it for?
-I mean, it wasn't an exciting reason it never aired,
but it was a McDonald's commercial.
I think I was 10 and I was -- I just had to lick an ice cream --
I went in for a different audition,
and the casting director was like, "Hold on one second."
-"I see something." -Yeah.
And then just had me -- I didn't have any lines.
I think I just licked the cone.
And then they said to me like,
"Well, 39 cents must be bad ice cream."
I'm paraphrasing. -Yeah.
-And then I went...
And then they said, "Let me rephrase that."
And I went...
-That's a good -- That's a big --
-Well, I don't know how good it was.
It never aired. -Never aired. No.
I think McDonald's -- -They stopped serving ice cream.
-Yeah.
-That's why it's always broken at McDonald's.
Yeah, exactly right.
Get Cecily in the spots and fix that thing.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah.
-I saw a nice article
they did about you in "Architectural Digest."
-Oh, yeah. -And very beautiful.
-You read that often. You're always --
-Always reading that and "Cigar Aficionado."
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-They're the only two magazines I read.
Do they still make that one? -You've gotten very classy.
Yeah, of course they do. -Thank you so much.
-Yeah, of course they do. But look at this.
This is your place right here. -Yeah.
-If you could see this, these are all just wigs.
-Yes.
-See, now, I -- So, I had a question about this.
This is -- Are these -- Well, what are these?
-"I have a question. Uh..." -Yeah, that is my question.
-So, I've always had wigs at home,
but my -- I live with my friend Kevin,
who just started putting the wigs on the things on the walls.
I have a lot of animal busts, it turns out.
-Yeah.
-And so we would put the wigs on the animal bu--
And then it just sort of became the way of showcasing the wigs.
-Now, do people do people come over --
-Put them on. Yes, of course.
-Of course. -What a silly question.
-"What are you talking about?"
So if I came over to the house,
I'd just grab a wig off the wall --
-It just makes everything --
Like, if you're playing games, the games are more fun.
-Yeah, everyone --
-I like to choose the wigs for --
You know, like, "You know who you are tonight?
You are the sassy business lady."
-Ooh, sassy business lady wig. -Those are the short ones. Yeah.
-But then I also noticed this, as well.
This is a bookcase.
Of course, books,
and then, down here, it's just -- It's spare boots?
-Oh, yes.
So -- And that was actually RuPaul suggested
if you've got wigs, you should get heels in every size, too,
because it also -- it just -- It changes up the atmosphere
when you can put on a wig and a thigh-high pair of boots.
And everyone can wear them. I have them in all sizes.
-So, I cannot wait to be invited over to the house.
-The ones that are my size are in my room.
-No, you have your own. Of course.
It's not like bowling shoes.
Whoever gets this, this is their own shoe.
-I have my own wig in my room, I discovered, too.
I was like, "Oh, I have this little blond bob in my drawer."
I was like, "That is a funny choice I made."
-Yeah. -I guess for an intrusion.
I don't know. Yeah.
"She's not here. I don't know." Yeah.
-You put on the wig and you're like, "Where's Cecily?
-"You're in the wrong house."
-[ French accent ] She lives in a different house.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -She does not live here.
-[ French accent ] I'm just a blond French woman.
-I don't know. I don't -- -Yeah.
Put on a wig. You can wear those heels.
-Yeah, put on -- Wear some boots.
Take them with you. Yeah, please.
-Yes.
-I wanted to talk about, also, you did a one-woman show
that got great reviews, and it's actually based on
"The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life
in the Universe," Lily Tomlin, who originated it.
-Written by Jane Wagner. Yeah.
-Legendary. -Cuckoo that I would do that.
-You crushed it, buddy. You did a great job with that.
-It was one of, like,
one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
And Lily Tomlin was at the opening in L.A.,
but they didn't tell me until that afternoon.
-Look at this. I would have --
-I mean, there are a lot of tears in my eyes.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Lily Tomlin is the greatest. -The greatest.
-She's the greatest.
-I don't think I've ever been so nervous.
And I got to do -- In curtain call,
I got to -- And my director was like,
"If you can't do it, I can come help you out,
like, if you can't get through it."
And I was like, "And the original Trudy..."
-Yeah.
-And I got to get applause for Lily Tomlin.
It was incredible.
-I mean, did the play, in some way,
make you rethink everything or think --
-Why I left "SNL." -No, serious --
-No, no, no. It isn't really.
-But it was good -- -I thought I got a good scoop.
-I think, though, it's probably I needed something else after,
so I don't know that I would jump into another one-woman show
performed by an icon for years anymore.
I don't need it as much now
that I'm not doing "SNL," if that makes sense.
-But, I mean, you did that.
I know you can sing because
I've seen you on "Saturday Night Live."
I've done sketches with you where you sang --
-I think we have sung together. -We've sung a couple duets.
-Yeah. -Yes.
Some of my favorite sketches. -Here even. Yes.
-Here even. Yes. But you can really sing.
-Well, I would say I felt like I could really sing on "SNL."
It's very different when you're sitting next
to Kristin Chenoweth or --
-Yeah, yeah.
That's why we don't hang out, 'cause I go,
"Yeah, no, I don't want --" Yeah.
-Yeah, that's why you don't. She was asking about that.
-Yeah. -Okay. I'll tell her.
-Yeah.
-But, I mean, there was one number,
I was, like -- Literally, I'm chained to
Ariana DeBose and Dove Cameron, trying to dance, like --
And if I take one bad step, I'm going to bring down
Ariana DeBose and Dove Cameron.
-No. They're royalty.
You can't take down Ariana DeBose.
No, not at all. -Right.
-But you hold your own. More than hold your own.
You're fantastic. -Well, I stay standing.
-No. You are phenomenal.
Can we say what's going on in Season 2 of "Schmigadoon!"?
-Yes. So, Season 2,
Josh and Melissa have gotten out of Schmigadoon.
They're married. They're happy.
The doldrums of regular life starts to set in,
so they decide they're going to head back to Schmigadoon.
But they get there and they learn
you can never go back to Schmigadoon.
And they find themselves in Schmicago.
-Schmicago. -Of course.
Who is the creator of the show? Who is --
-Cinco. -Man, oh, man.
-Cinco Paul. Yeah. -Man, talented.
Oh, he's a genius. -Genius. Genius.
-But these musicals and this life is a little bit darker.
-Oh, it's darker. -Grittier.
-Everybody has much less clothing on.
Not us. -Yeah.
But it's like those plays and like
"Hair," "Sweeney Todd" --
-"Cabaret," "Sweeney Todd." -Just darker, darker stuff.
-Yes. -But it's so funny.
And Keegan-Michael Key is unbelievable, as well.
You guys are great together. -I love him so much.
This season, I got to spend more time with him,
and, I mean, we just made each other laugh every day.
If they didn't yell "cut,"
we were just going to keep going, you know.
-Two of the funniest people ever.
I also heard -- Is Marty Short in this season, as well?
Yes. I didn't get to, like, work on set.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Oh, please. It's not --
-Oh, you know of him. -Oh, you've heard of him?
-You should check him out. He's very good.
-I don't want to give that much applause.
He's not here. Yeah. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Well, I want to show a clip.
Here's Cecily Strong in the new season of "Schmigadoon!"
Take a look at this.
♪♪
-I feel like this is around where we saw the bridge?
-Oh! Yes.
I think I remember this tree.
-You remember this tree from two years ago?
-I just really want to find it.
-Don't worry. We will find it.
Oh, I got a really good feeling...
about this direction.
-Totally. Yeah, me too. Yep.
-Maybe we're not supposed to find it again.
Maybe it's one of those places that you only go once
and never return.
-Oh, like SoulCycle.
-Yeah, exactly. Like SoulCycle. Cecily Strong.
Season 2 of "Schmigadoon!" is now streaming on Apple TV+,
and she is phenomenal in it.
New episodes air every Wednesday.
More "Tonight Show" after the break, everyone.
Stick around.