Cecily Strong's 10 Most Iconic Saturday Night Live Characters

After 11 seasons of delighting audiences with her off-kilter characters, hilarious impressions, and even musical talents, Cecily Strong has left Saturday Night Live.

The Second City alum joined SNL as a featured player in 2012 before becoming a repertory player. In Season 39, she began to co-anchor Weekend Update with Seth Meyers, then Colin Jost. Strong stepped back as Weekend Update co-anchor in Season 40, when she was replaced by Michael Che, in part because she wanted to focus on doing sketches. The strategy ultimately paid off, as Strong went on to earn two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Before her departure on December 17, the multihyphenate performer had begun appearing in high-profile outside projects, including the all-female Ghostbusters remake and a leading role in the Apple TV+ original musical comedy series Schmigadoon! opposite another sketch comedy veteran, Keegan Michael-Key. Strong's future looks brighter than ever, but it's still the perfect time to take a look back at some of her most iconic characters, who will undoubtedly go down in SNL history as being among the show's very best.

Heather, the One-Dimensional Female Character from a Male-Driven Comedy
2 appearances

Poking fun at typical male-driven comedies, Strong did a wonderful job speaking in an almost robotic voice about her love of sports, her complicated nature, and frustration with people in general. Her self-deprecating attitude, references to her sassy gay friend, and her strained relationships was a pitch-perfect interpretation of a rarely identified but all too prevalent character trope in movies and on TV.

Dana
3 appearances

In this recurring sketch, Dana (Strong) and her co-worker (Bobby Moynihan) were convinced they were losing their jobs (at Best Buy, McDonald's, and Barnes & Noble) in an upcoming round of layoffs. So, they did what so many of us would dream of doing in that situation — burned the house down with them by insulting the other employees with the kind of below the belt jabs we've come to expect from a celebrity roast. The duo were never among those who did end up losing their jobs, although one imagines things became quite a bit more frosty with their colleagues after these performances.

Lonnie of "Science Room"
3 appearances

Anyone who watched PBS kids' science shows back in the '90s will recognize the style and theme of this recurring sketch, complete with the host and cheesy lines designed to interest kids in learning about basic scientific principles. But the host's demeanor quickly changed when his two kid guests, played by Strong and Mikey Day, couldn't seem to answer the simplest questions and were continually distracted. Strong, in particular, perfectly captured the innocence and curiosity of the pre-teen Lonnie, complete with the awkward squirming and exaggerated youthful ignorance.

Marjorie Taylor Greene
5 appearances

Playing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a guest on Weekend Update and other political sketches close to a half a dozen times, Strong hilariously parodied the Arizona Trump ally and her support of Qanon. In her various appearances she donned a misspelled T-shirt that read "Trust the Sience," mistakenly used the word "scissoring" instead of "censoring," and delivered transphobic and racist statements.

Gemma
6 appearances

She was the woman of so many men's dreams — and so many women's nightmares. In this recurring sketch, Vanessa Bayer and Kenan Thompson played a couple meeting Strong's Gemma for the first time. A busty and beautiful woman with an inscrutable accent that sounds part Cockney English and part Valley Girl, Gemma came across as stereotypical arm candy for her high-profile guest host dates, including Benedict Cumberbatch and Dwayne Johnson. She added nothing to the conversation, yet every man she met became enamored with her. Strong provided a sharp contrast to Vanessa Bayer's wife character, who was repeatedly insulted and ignored in favor of Gemma.

Kyra of "The Girlfriends Talk Show"
7 appearances

In this recurring sketch, Aidy Bryant and Strong played high school best friends who co-host their own show. Parodying the imbalance of some friendships at this stage of life, each sketch saw Strong's Kyra introduce a new "cooler" bad girl best friend, much to Morgan's chagrin. Strong delivered her lines with a perfect level of ignorance and innocence, completely oblivious to the fact that her true best friend was upset, replying with a simple "awesome" and redirecting the conversation when Morgan expressed distaste for this new "friend." In each skit, Kyra recalled a story about her boyfriend that clearly suggested he treats her poorly, like when he made her stand still like a portrait for an hour while he ate a salad. She shrugged his behavior off with a simple eye roll and a "my boyfriend's crazy," while riffing beautifully with guest friends like Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence, and Miley Cyrus.

Former Porn Star
9 appearances

In one of the funniest female-led sketch concepts of the last decade, Vanessa Bayer and Strong portrayed former porn stars promoting a product through a cheesy low-budget commercial. They recited a series of adjectives, some mispronounced, others completely made up (think "spectaculance"), as they tried to get viewers interested in buying items like Manolo Blahnik shoes (which they pronounce "Manual Blondicks") to Lamborghinis, and Moet & Chandon champagne. "I'm Brecky," slurred Bayer, adding in each performance, "we're not porn stars anymore," to which Strong replied "and you can too."

Cathy Anne
10 appearances

Cathy Anne was a frequent guest on Weekend Update, but she wasn't a politician or a pundit. She was just the woman who was always screaming outside of Michael Che's window. From the outfit with the high-waisted mom jeans and windbreaker, to the unkempt hair and the cigarette in her hand that she never actually got around to lighting up, Cathy Anne knew how to make an impression as she shared her opinions about everything about everything from Donald Trump and the border wall to military bans for trans people.  

The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party

11 appearances

Arguably Strong's signature character, "The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party" was very opinionated and passionate about topics she clearly knew nothing about. She mispronounced words like abomination ("abomb-nation") and used terms out of context. But Strong convincingly sold it, right down to the inflection in her voice, ending every sentence as though it were a question, her disgusted tone and animated hand gestures combined with the low-cut pink dress and cell phone so she could take a quick break between thoughts to post to Instagram. "Open your eyes, people," she said in one sketch. "Hunger, racism, small businesses, maybe don't." Her comments made no sense, leaving the person on the other end of the conversation completely confused.

Jeanine Pirro
14 appearances

Though it played much like one of her made-up characters, Strong's nonsense-spewing Fox News host was actually a pretty spot-on impersonation of actual New York State judge, prosecutor, and politician Jeanine Pirro. In each of her two dozen appearances, Strong always popped into frame with a full glass of wine that she shook around furiously as she talked spilling it all over the place. Our favorite Jeanine Pirro appearance? When she jumped into a massive vat of "boxed wine," scooping it in her cup and furiously threw it behind her onto Weekened Update co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che.

Melania Trump
22 appearances

Given what a focal point Donald Trump's presidency was for SNL (and pretty much everywhere else), it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that Strong's most frequently recurring character was that of Melania Trump. The theme of most of the sketches was Melania struggling to be First Lady. In one, she is visited by former first ladies Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon), Jackie Kennedy (Natalie Portman), Martha Washington (Aidy Bryant), and Michelle Obama (Leslie Jones). Strong's impression of the former First Lady was so popular that it spawned a series of shorts called "Melania Moments," similar to the "Deep Thoughts" sketch from the '90s. In each, she's seen pondering topics as though she is trapped in the White House, unable to leave. She wants to know, for example, where passersby go while she gazes down on Fifth Avenue, or what it might be like to switch places with her housemaid for the day.

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Christine Persaud has been writing for close to two decades and freelancing for the last eight, with her entertainment work featured in Digital Trends, Screen Rant, Reviewed Canada, and others. Follow her on Twitter @christineTechCA.