Cecily Strong is an indisputable member of the SNL all-timers club, exiting after 11 seasons with the most recent Christmas episode. It’s a move that, unsurprisingly, sparked some existential dread after being so closely associated with something for so long, but Strong is using the freshly unlocked time to pursue a number of projects, from the recent revival of a famed one-woman show to the second season of Schmigadoon!, the Apple TV+ original musical comedy fairytale co-starring Keegan Michael-Key that returns on April 5. And she’s just getting started.
Uproxx spoke with Strong about her SNL exit, her bold and hilarious Goober The Clown Weekend Update sketch in the midst of the Supreme Court’s teardown of Roe V. Wade and reproductive health protections, and whether she has a want to tackle drama like so many of her former colleagues. Of course, before that, we begin with the very relatable place we find her Schmigadoon! character as the show ventures into a world influenced by a new set of classic musicals such as Chicago and Hair and the pressures of singing and dancing while chained to Ariana DeBose and Dove Cameron.
What is it about the slightly new direction that excited you about jumping in for season two?
Well, I think my favorite part about this season is definitely the numbers. I think there are even more big, show-stopping numbers that are really fun. And then I think, just the look of this season was really exciting for me. The sets and the costumes, all of it. I really enjoyed getting to discover that every day. And then I think even just the story was a bit more layered or, there was more of an existential struggle, which I found really interesting. The first season, they find true love and it’s sort of a simplistic thing. And then they spend this season trying to find happiness and so much of it is finding confidence in yourself and being okay with your limitations and the things that make you human. Sort of loving yourself.
I think a lot of people relate to that. I know I relate to a lot of it. How much were you able to influence the direction of the character and where the character is?
Well, I think they’re both sort of heightened versions of us. And a lot of the things that we find funny ourselves we were laughing at as our characters, for sure. Like we were saying, I think the first season for me was really an escape. When we shot it was right at the beginning of the pandemic, so we all needed that joyful, colorful escape. And then I think this season we went into it and everybody sat with the stark reality, and I’ve sat with it myself personally. So it felt like it was coming, that that journey was from my own real place too.
The stark reality of where we are now post-pandemic, or in terms of where the character is at this point in their life?
Oh, well, I think Cecily would be post-pandemic, just the world that we’ve been living in. Just the realities of real life have weighed heavily on a lot of us, so I think everybody can relate to that. Everybody feels a little bit stuck and trying to find happiness in the real world and accepting those hard things.
Yeah, the notion of just redefining happiness. That’s the thing that I’ve wrestled with. “Okay, your goals aren’t here, they might have to be here, and they might have to change.”
You may have to move your goalpost or forget the idea of goalposts or something.
(Laughs) Exactly. I need to figure out how to do that. Moving them I’m getting, the forgetting to have them is…
It’s easy. Just say it, then it happens. (Laughs)
(Laughs) Okay. That or I’ll break into song, maybe that’ll work.
There you go. Yeah.
Speaking about some of these numbers this season, what was the most challenging? I’m sure it’s pretty nerve-wracking to stand in next to Kristen Chenoweth when she’s belting out a number.
Well, that’s less nerve-wracking because that’s more just exciting that I get to be there for that. But it was certainly nerve-wracking to perform next to and literally physically chained to Ariana DeBose and Dove Cameron, who are just brilliant and can do this particular thing really, really well. And it was like, boy, if I take one bad step, I could drag them down with me, literally. And so that was, okay, of all the things in the show, that’s the thing I have to get right more than everything. (Laughs)
I know you did The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe one-woman show at New York’s The Shed Theater recently. How was that experience? Is that something you want to continue to push for in your career?
Well, I love theater. I’ve always loved it. It’s thrilling to have a live audience and see how each performance changes with that. Doing Search was huge, it was also the hardest puzzle. I’m a big puzzle person, it was the hardest puzzle I’ve ever taken on, to learn that show. So I think I skipped a couple steps to go from no theater run in New York, to then taking on Lily Tomlin’s and Jane Wagner’s one-woman show. But I think if the right thing came along… Musicals scare me a little more. I say that even as a lover of musicals, it feels like what they do is so daunting, to do that eight shows a week.
It’s only been a few months since you left SNL, is your brain still in that SNL space — how you think about things, sleep schedule, work schedule?
I already feel very far from it. But it’s tough. I feel spoiled having gotten to be there. Thinking about projects now, I’m like, “Ah, I really got to play everything I ever wanted to play in one place.” So that’s tough to say goodbye to. But schedule-wise, I was very, very ready to get some sleep again.
In the middle of such a long run, when do you start to think, this isn’t going to last forever, I need to start savoring things or I need to start thinking about the end?
Well, I think once it felt like there was a new voice emerging at the show. I started to feel like, if I’m just feeling like an older sister sort of, then I’m not feeling like I’m bringing enough new and bringing enough new in my own life. It would’ve been very easy to stay there because it is such a dream job and it is so much fun, but it was sort of like, I want to go feel like the new voice somewhere. Somewhere new. And I think with my people, my generation, losing them, it was kind of like, okay, if they can do it, I can do it. It felt like it was a good time. And leaving on… I love the Christmas show every year, it’s always a feel-good show, and I feel like, this is a thing that’s going to feel sad, so let me make it a little bit better by doing it on a very happy show.
When you’re facing that decision, what’s the breakdown of fear to excitement, and then now you’re on the other side of that, where do you feel right now? Is it still scary?
The fear felt like, always sort of an existential threat, or like a thing that logically, this has been my entire professional life and my identity has been this show. So there’s always like, I know that, and that’s always in the back of my head, but I have found through my own therapy and experiences, that that’s not very effective, it’s not a great place for me to live and create. And so, I’m talking to different people, I’m trying to play more in the realm of being excited and having this open time now that I get to fill it with new projects that I wouldn’t have been offered before, wouldn’t have had the chance to do because of my schedule.
So many of your colleagues have ventured into drama and heavier drama. Is that something that’s of interest to you as well?
Oh, for sure. I think just because of my background, I did a lot of dramatic shows growing up. I got my BFA in theater at Cal Arts, so I’ve always loved drama, and I love getting to do shows like Schmigadoon, getting to do Search, and really getting to flex that muscle a little bit. And I think I’m somebody that cries a lot in life anyway and I cry and laugh a lot, so they’re often pretty closely related.
Do you feel like you need to convince people that you can do that? Is that something that you feel pressure to do?
I feel less pressure. It feels more like I’ve got a secret card in my pocket. It’s like, wait til you see what I can do. Bet you don’t know this. Because a lot of people, when they think comedy, they think we all come from a standup background. But a good number of us came from theater.
I was blown away by the Goober the Clown Weekend Update piece. One of the best things I’ve ever seen on the show.
Wow, thank you so much.
Very justified. I’m sure there was a ton of anxiety going into that. How did you beat that back to get to a point where you were able to do that and be so personal?
Yeah. There was so much anxiety. I think just the frustration and fear and the hugeness of the actual situation we were in, and the fact that this was becoming a reality became bigger than my own anxiety. And it was like, I’m angry about this, I’m frustrated. It was like, I am a person that can say, this is something I’ve been through. And I think a lot of other people and shows have been great about writing abortion storylines, and it was kind of like, I have this platform, and it felt like… important is the wrong word, but important is part of it.
It felt really special to me and almost sacred to me that I got to do that. But I really didn’t know the response at the beginning. I didn’t know. From the beginning, I brought it up sheepishly like, “Well, I thought maybe, I was thinking about doing a clown who had an abortion.” And luckily, there were people around like, “Yes, do that.” And the show was very supportive. And after, just the response and the messages I got from people, it felt really good. And so, I think it’s probably the thing I’m proudest of having done over there.
‘Schmigadoon!’ season 2 premieres on Apple TV+ on April 5