Kate McKinnon is spilling the secrets behind one of Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary Special’s most jaw-dropping moments.
In her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonon Tuesday night, the comedian revealed how she got legendary actress Meryl Streep to appear in the anniversary special’s “Close Encounter” sketch. She also discussed her book tour, which she embarked on last year, and proudly showed off some of the fresh vegetables she grew in her own garden.
A recurring sketch on SNL, “Close Encounter,” starts with two government specialists interviewing three people who experienced an alien abduction. While two of the witnesses have very similar and positive encounters, McKinnon’s character, Miss Rafferty, always has a strange and off-putting experience.
For the show’s 50th anniversary special, which aired in February of this year, McKinnon was joined by Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson. Midway through the sketch, Streep appears as Mrs. Rafferty, who was also abducted by the aliens, and recounts an encounter just as bizarre as her daughter’s.
Before discussing her new book, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science: Secrets of the Purple Pearl, Fallon praised McKinnon’s work in the “Close Encounter” sketch and asked her if she was nervous to perform alongside Streep and Pascal.
“A little bit, yeah. Well, they were like, ‘Who would you want to be in the sketch with you?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, Meryl Streep,'” the 41-year-old actress admitted. “And then a few days later, they called and they were like, ‘Okay, so Meryl is in. Can you call Meryl and just say thank you and tell her a little bit about the sketch?'”
McKinnon, who was an SNL cast member from 2012 to 2022, also revealed that Streep was “so nice” and “excited” to do the sketch. The Mamma Mia! star even suggested she owned a wig she thought could work, and over the phone, McKinnon reassured her, saying, “[SNL] will get you a wig.”
After leaving the sketch comedy show after its 47th season, McKinnon went on to act in many movies, including Barbie and A Minecraft Movie. She also released her first children’s book last October, with the second installment coming out next Tuesday.
Fans can preorder her upcoming book on Amazon and can stream Saturday Night Live’s50th Anniversary Special and previous seasons of the sketch comedy show on Peacock. Meanwhile, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs every weeknight on NBC at 11:35 pm E.T.
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This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 25, 2025, where it first appeared in the Celebs section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
