Meryl Streep Made Her SNL Debut as Kate McKinnon's Mom in "Close Encounter"
Jon Hamm, Pedro Pascal, and Five-Timer Woody Harrelson also joined the milestone edition of the recurring sketch.
Kate McKinnon has appeared in eight "Close Encounter" sketches, and she debuted her ninth during the SNL50 special on Sunday, February 16. And this time, her character, Ms. Rafferty, was joined by Pedro Pascal, Woody Harrelson, Jon Hamm and — drum roll, please — Meryl Streep, playing Ms. Rafferty's mom.
Jon Hamm and Aidy Bryant played the government officials interviewing McKinnon, Pascal, and Harrelson about their experiences with alien abductors. McKinnon was in peak form as always, offering up an anecdote about the aliens having a, well, intimate encounter with her.
The actors (hilariously) broke character multiple times during the sketch — including Pascal, who couldn't control his giggles during his physical comedy with McKinnon.
Meryl Streep played Kate McKinnon's mom on SNL50's "Close Encounter"
By far the highlight of the sketch was when Meryl Streep showed up, dressed identically to McKinnon, to offer up her equally-intimate brushes with extraterrestrials. Several of Streep's lines were references to her career, including this gem about going commando: "This devil wears nada."
While the most recent installment came during Ryan Gosling's Season 49 episode, McKinnon's final "Close Encounter" sketch as a cast member happened in May 2022.
"Well, I can read the room," McKinnon said in the 2022 cold open. "It's me, right? Well, sure, why not? I always kind of felt like an alien on this planet anyway."
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"A while ago, Streeter [Seidell, SNL writing supervisor] and Mikey [Day, SNL writer and actor] had floated the idea of me getting in a spaceship at the end," McKinnon said on Vulture's Good One podcast, according to EW. "And I thought that was beautiful."
"Well, Earth, I love ya. Thanks for letting me stay a while," McKinnon said on the sketch before going on a spaceship.
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McKinnon's run as a full-time SNL cast member ended after Season 47.
"I thought about it for a very long time, and it was very, very hard because all I ever wanted to do in my whole life was be on Saturday Night Live, and so I did," McKinnon told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on Live with Kelly and Ryan about why she decided to leave the show. "I loved it. I had the best decade, and then I was just like, my body was tired, and I felt like it was time."
Has Meryl Streep ever been on SNL?
No, not before February 16's SNL50 anniversary special. Incredibly, the "Close Encounters" sketch marked Meryl Streep's SNL debut.
Famous SNL alum Amy Poehler got to share a dressing room with Streep for the event, and told the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast that she'd studied Streep as she prepared.
"She was getting ready for her sketch and really rehearsing it and I remember thinking, ‘I have never rehearsed as hard as Meryl Streep is in this one moment,’” Poehler told O'Brien.
