-Our next guest is an Emmy-Nominated actor
who you know from "Saturday Night Live."
She is making her New York stage debut in the play,
"The Search for Signs
of Intelligent Life in the Universe,"
which is running now through February 6th at The Shed.
Everyone, please welcome Cecily Strong!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Hi, bud! -Hi.
Hi, Jimmy.
-Cecily, welcome back to the show.
It's so great to see you.
-Oh, thank you.
Love being back virtual.
-I know, but I guess
you have to be extra, extra, extra careful.
-Yes, I'm living a very monastic lifestyle right now.
-Yeah. -A fantastic monastic lifestyle.
-Yeah.
I loved you on "Saturday Night Live," obviously,
and I've been lucky enough to work with you, too,
but this is kind of an insane thing.
You get to play -- -Oh.
-How many characters do you play in this?
-I think I play 11 at my last count, but I'm --
There's other characters that I'm talking to
that I'm not playing, but, yes, it's --
-Wow. -It's pretty nuts.
I feel like I've gone a little bit nuts.
I think even somehow in a mask, I can still --
people still know I'm talking to myself, walking around.
-Just practicing your lines? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-How does -- -And I was surprised
that I was getting looks even with the mask.
I guess you can -- -How does it compare to "SNL"?
-Oh, it's -- you know, it's very different.
Just, number one, we don't have cue cards, it turns out.
-Oh, wow. They don't do that? -They make you memorize...
-What? -...other places.
-They don't have cue cards?
-I thought that was in my contract, but...
-I heard that it was Jeanine Pirro --
When you played Jeanine Pirro
very funny on "Saturday Night Live,"
that kind of got you this role.
Is that true?
-Yeah, she insisted.
Wouldn't that be funny if Jeanine actually did?
No, our director actually saw the finale from last season,
and I guess, you know, she saw me walking --
getting into a box of wine, and she went like,
"That person's crazy enough to take this on."
-[ Laughs ] The original -- The original show
starred Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner, who's the writer.
-Yes.
-They're producing this?
They're executive producers on this?
-Yes, they are, and they're in L.A.,
so I've only gotten to really talk with them
on the phone and Zoom with them,
and we did a "New York Times" article, and after --
I think we got about an hour with them and David afterwards,
Leigh -- my director -- and I turned to each other
and sobbed just 'cause it was so --
it's just amazing that they're trusting us
and they're just so funny in person.
And then this is very telling -- Jane's story.
But they were -- you know, they were like,
"Yeah, call us on opening."
So right after the show,
Lee and I have the phone in our hand,
and we call, and Jane said "Hi," and we went, "Hi!"
And then she went, "Who is this?"
[ Laughter ]
-That's a good bit. -Yeah.
If it was a bit. We'll never know.
-Is there any way to set this up?
-It's a -- We're redoing Lily's show,
but really, it's kind of --
it's exploring human connection, basically, you know,
at a time when we haven't really gotten to have it
and especially after theaters have really been
shut down for two years.
It's also part of the show.
It celebrates being in the theater together in this moment,
and it's been so special every night.
It's such a surprising show and, you know, some people
are laughing at the same time some people are crying,
and it's a very surreal, lovely experience.
-I was going to ask you -- -And I have, you know,
an umbrella hat on my head.
-Yeah. I mean is it tough for you to --
You studied theater, I mean, before you got into comedy.
-Yes, I'm a -- I studied it.
I'm a very serious thespian.
You know, I think I missed a step.
I should have done, like, a regular ensemble play.
I went -- I jumped back in
at a one-woman show playing 11 characters.
-[ Laughs ] Yeah. That's the way to do it, see?
Don't do anything easy, buddy. Just go in and just crush it.
-No, no, no, yeah, you've got to show people you're nuts.
-Yeah. -Or you are, not your nuts.
I guess you could -- [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, don't show -- Thank you.
-Don't show people your nuts...
-No. -...unless they've invited you.
-Don't show -- Yeah. You are -- Yeah.
Can you believe, Cecily,
that you've been doing "SNL" for 10 seasons?
-No, I mean, it feels like 30 years sometimes
and then -- but it's always surprising.
I mean, the past two years, it's been so up in the air.
So I'm still -- it still feels new and fresh and --
-You're crushing it.
-I'm still learning, and the only thing
I think I have down is cue cards, sort of.
-Yeah, I know. You're really --
You actually are very good at cue cards.
-Yeah, I mean I should be using cue cards in the show,
but I don't know, artistic decision of the director.
-I heard that your mom and dad
were at your "SNL" audition, is that true?
-Yes, my dad and my stepmom were there
at iO, at the showcase,
and they were sitting in front of Lorne,
but they were -- they knew he was there
and so they were so nervous.
I saw them after, and they looked -- they were so pale.
It's like they'd seen a ghost, and it was like,
"Wow, was I -- was it that bad?
You could have -- you could have laughed."
But then I realized it was better that --
there was, like, another girl there who was clearly, you know,
trying to help out her friend that was auditioning.
It was, like, she was in some polka dot dress or something,
like [Laughs] really laughing so hard.
-Laughing at every other bit, yeah.
-It was like -- Yeah, one of those, you know,
like those theater shows where the audience --
the audience is in the play, whatever it is.
-Yeah. When did you realize that you were --
that comedy was your thing?
-You know, I was always making my family laugh, at least.
You know, one of my first --
I had two really great impressions since a little kid,
and one was the shrunken head man from "Beetlejuice,"
and then I also liked the alien
that popped out of the guy's stomach in "Spaceballs."
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah.
-I should have done them for my "SNL" audition.
-Yeah, you really should have done that one.
Oh, my gosh, yeah.
I think things are going pretty well
the way they are right now, buddy.
Cecily, I love having you on the show.
I can't wait to see you on stage,
but also in person here back at the show.
Congrats on all of this. I appreciate you coming on.
-Soon enough. Thanks, Jimmy. -Cecily Strong, everybody.
-Thank you. -See her in "The Search
for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,"
running now through February 6th at The Shed.