When Kate McKinnon was asked to name a Saturday Night Live sketch that was “perfect from start to finish,” she had an easy answer that’s also a little bit surprising — to Andy Samberg, anyway.
“The first of the alien abduction character sketches,” she told Esquire and former fellow cast member Samberg, referring to Season 41’s famous “Close Encounter” co-starring Host Ryan Gosling.
“And I had nothing to do with that,” McKinnon said. “Streeter Seidell and Mikey Day just wrote it and handed it to me on the morning of the read-through and were like, “We wrote this, I don’t know.”
“I didn’t know you didn’t have any of the writing on that,” Samberg told her. “That’s so your voice.”
“I think I pitched the word ‘cahooters,’ and that was it,” McKinnon said. “It barely changed all week, and it was just flawless from start to finish.”
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McKinnon plays Colleen Rafferty, one of three ordinary civilians who were recently abducted by aliens and are now sharing their experiences with Pentagon officials (Aidy Bryant and Bobby Moynihan). Her fellow abductees (Cecily Strong and Gosling) had magical, reassuring experiences in which they met God and were bathed in light and warm energy. Things went a little differently for Ms. Rafferty.
“These fancy cats are seeing God. Meanwhile, I’m starting phase 2, which is me sitting on a stool while 40 grey aliens take turns gently battin’ my knockers around,” she says, while slouching and smoking.
Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell wrote “Close Encounter” and Kate McKinnon added two character elements
McKinnon may not have written the sketch, but she will take credit for a couple of key character traits.
“My only addition was that I made it that I was smoking, and that the folds of my vagina were visible in my jeans because they were pulled so tight,” she told Esquire. “Inspired by the great Molly Shannon cameltoe characters, of which there were several, I believe. The higher you can pull, the harder they will laugh.”
Kate McKinnon, Ryan Gosling, and Sarah Sherman during the “Close Encounter” Cold Open on Saturday Night Live Episode 1861, on April 13, 2024.
Ms. Rafferty has appeared in a total of nine sketches over 10 years, always getting the short end of the stick during her encounters. Whether she’s meeting aliens or seeing evidence of ghosts, she’s always having a very weird time.
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Gosling has co-starred in three of the sketches, while Brie Larson, Casey Affleck, Liev Schreiber, Paul Rudd, and Natasha Lyonne have also tried to keep it together throughout Ms. Rafferty’s ordeals.
Most recently, the character returned for SNL50: The Anniversary Special alongside Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson, with Bryant and Jon Hamm as the interrogators.
Meryl Streep, Kate McKinnon, Pedro Pascal sitting in three chairs.
This time, Ms. Rafferty shared her experience with her mother, Colleen Rafferty Sr., played by Meryl Streep. As Streep’s character described her underwear as “Devil wears nada,” it became clear that the apple had fallen very, very close to the tree.
Watch “Close Encounter” from Season 41, Episode 7 above, and stream every season of Saturday Night Live on Peacock anytime.
