Our first guest has been on Saturday Night Live
for the past nine years.
Now she's written her first book.
Please welcome, Cecily Strong.
Hello.
Hi.
Hi, Cecily.
Hi, Ellen.
It's your first time on the show.
We're all big fans here.
And I have to say that Secret Word is one Portia
and I's favorite sketches of all time.
And your character, the Italian actress,
when you say "It's a bird," every time
we see a bird or someone says that, Portia and I immediately
go, "It's a bird."
Maybe you know that chihuahua is a famous Broadway actor.
I did not know that.
I assumed it was your dog, but it was a well-behaved dog.
Yes, it's a very--
My dog it's not much of an actor.
Right.
Well, hey, after nine years on SNL, what has been--
because you all have so many experiences.
What's your most exciting moment?
Yeah, I know.
I feel like nine years is too long
to even have the most exciting moment anymore.
I don't even remember being in my 20's.
But I think one of the more recent great experiences
was RuPaul hosting, and it was on my birthday.
And I got to do Designing Women with RuPaul.
And then it was--
and then it was the best afterparty I've ever been to.
It was like, the after parties are never real.
Look at those looks.
But we were like dancing on tables.
I looked over at one point and saw Bowen on the table.
I was like, oh, OK, it's that kind of party.
And it was such-- it was about a month
before we had to shut down.
So I sort of feel like that's the--
I got to have that really great night,
and then it was like with a price you pay,
now you don't get to go out anymore ever.
Right.
But that is an amazing night.
Worth it.
Yeah, very worth it, yeah.
Not worth the rest of it, but just going out.
Yeah, and then I saw this last week,
and you got to reunite with your mom after what?
Two years?
You were a part two years because of the show.
Yeah, just about two years.
I saw her in the summer before the season 40--
I don't know what season it is--
the season before this one.
And I'm much more emotional than my mom.
And I was-- see, I walked on 57th Street going to meet her,
and I was like sobbing in the street with my mask
and sunglasses.
And I was like, I can't remember the last time
I held my mom's hand.
I can't believe I'm going to get to hug my mom.
And I saw her and hugged her, and she
went, why are you crying?
Oh, mom.
Yeah.
Mom, you know you haven't seen me, right?
Yeah.
But they must be proud.
I heard they also have lots of suggestions for you, though.
Yes.
My mom wanted to be in a space suit or something was the text.
I don't know if there was a sketch behind that
or she just didn't know what to wear.
And then my dad--
my dad gives me a lot of suggestions
and accents and things.
But I think it's more because he wants to do it himself and show
off to me.
Have you wanted to do anything on the show like an impression
or a sketch or something that they said no, you can't do it.
I think most of the time-- they ask
a lot if we have impressions.
And I'm always the one that's like, well, you're
not going to want whatever I come up with.
The last text we got like that I said,
well, I can do this Frenchwomen from the latest
season of 90 Day Fiance, but I don't
know if it's for anyone but me.
And then I was like, I tried to get Rhett Butler
but only as Grace Under Fire for a while.
But again, pretty much just for me.
I just named the other characters in the show.
It wasn't really much.
Well, you would have fans in us over here.
We're all laughing at those things for sure.
And you've been doing a lot of--
What did I tell them.
I will bring this as my receipt.
Yeah, tell them that you've got about 12 people here
that would love that.
They want to see it.
Yeah, we're demanding it.
We want to see Rhett Butler.
So you're singing on the show a lot,
and you've got a great voice.
But it seems like everybody who is on that show
has a great voice and can sing as well as be funny.
Yeah, well, I think we can all sing for sketch comedy.
And every now and then, they'll give me some song that's like,
I go, I can't sing that.
I mean, it's like you can't give me Whitney Houston or Dolly
Parton.
I can't sing that.
Whatever you give me to sing, just
make sure it's the same thing you'd give a 12-year-old girl.
That's where I stop.
I guess I understand what you're saying.
And now you're in this show.
It sounds like this is like a dream come true for you.
Tell everybody about your new show.
It's called Schmigadoon!
It is a parody of Brigadoon.
And a couple goes on a hike.
They're trying to fix the relationship,
and they get they find themselves
in this town that is like a 1950s musical.
And they can't leave until they find true love.
It's a really-- that's a fun show.
I mean, who doesn't want to--
Oh my god, it was so much fun.
And everyone in the cast was so great.
And the core dancers was like, you go into work
and someone does 13 flips in front of you like, wow, 9 AM,
great.
Yeah, we don't have that here.
But we do have tWitch.
It's something to think about.
Yeah, tWitch is almost like 15 flips in front of you.
All right.
Hey, Cecily, we're going to take a break.
And we'll talk more about the book after this.
We'll be back.
We're back with Cecily Strong from SNL,
and This Will All Be Over Soon is her new book.
It's a memoir.
And it really just ends a couple of months ago.
So what takeaway lessons do you have from the past year?
You know, I think the biggest thing-- so last January,
I lost my cousin Owen to glioblastoma.
And it felt very sudden, even though that
feels strange to say about brain cancer.
But it was such a big loss and devastation.
And I didn't know even what to do with it,
and how to walk into a room and be like, I don't know,
I'm carrying this thing around, and I can't tell anyone
because it feels like I'm just dropping such
a huge weight into the room.
And then the world shut down, and so I really
had time to process.
But in all of that, I also got to really think
about my cousin, and The way he treated
what he called his troubles.
And he said he had the best year of his life.
He said, minus the brain cancer, it's
been the best year of my life.
And he fell in love.
And so I was trying to use Owen, too, as kind of my compass
in getting through COVID and that unknown,
and not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow,
and worrying about people, and letting myself be open to,
still, maybe having the best year of my life.
And so I think that was the real lesson,
and just really feeling for the first time
having both so much love and so much
devastation at the same time.
And that they go hand in hand.
And in order to have one, you have to have the other.
And the reason we're so sad is because we had all this love
and if we don't think about those things
and we don't talk about them, then
we miss out on getting to think about all the good stuff we
have and all the good memories that are part of that.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's beautiful and so true.
I mean, you have to--
you have to be vulnerable enough to let yourself love so deeply
that you will be hurt somehow, possibly.
You share in the book that you were expelled from high school
and that ultimately led you to SNL.
Explain that.
Yes, well, I don't know that it necessarily led me to SNL.
But I was expelled, and I did end up on SNL.
But I think that was another--
it was a good lesson, and my life is not maybe
going to take a normal path, and that's OK.
And so maybe that's how it led to SNL.
Yeah, well, I'm glad it did because you are hilarious,
and you're so talented.
And I'm happy that you share all this in the book
because it's beautiful that you're sharing
and so honest about.
And crazy.
Also, I feel a little--
I normally don't share much, and then I went like, well,
here's my therapy.
Here's my diary, everyone.
Knowing that at the heart of it is Owen, and so I feel safe.
Yeah, you did the right thing.
It is great talk to you, Cecily.
Schmigadoon! is available.
So great talking to you, Ellen.
I'm such a fan.
Thank you.
Back at you.
Thank you so much.
Schmigadoon! is available on Apple TV Plus, July 16.
And This Will All Be Over Soon comes out August 10.
I hope to see you in person soon.
Hi, I'm Andy.
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[BLEEP] God [BLEEP]