by Madelyn Carter| Editor-in-chief
She made us adore Gilly, Penelope, ‘Just Kidding’ Judy Grimes, ‘Surprise’ Sue, Lawrence Welk Show’s Judice, and Target Lady. She can imitate Jamie Lee Curtis, Kathy Lee Gifford, Suze Orman, Bjork, Paula Deen, and Taylor Swift unmistakably. She has been a remarkable cornerstone for Saturday Night Live for seven years, and as of last Saturday night, seven years of SNL from Kristen Wiig is all we’re going to get.
Last Saturday’s season finale show, hosted by Mic Jagger, held its last skit as a goodbye to the phenom, playing “Ruby Tuesday” by the Rolling Stones as she had short dances with each cast member, as well as Lorne Michaels. Wiig held back tears as she sang “still I’m going to miss you” to the crowd.
Wiig has not just been a cast member for seven seasons, she has been an undoubted necessity for the show’s recent success, with the lack of stage-grabbing actors. Any skit she’s in, however stupid or corny, can be made hilarious by just one of Kristen Wiig’s dance moves of funny looks. She has the ability to save any skit with just one line.
With the amount of Kristen Wiig’s signature character skits and imitations in each episode, it’ll be a
wonder how the writers will be able to fill an hour and thirty minutes worth of screen time.
Wiig’s departure also leaves a gapping hole in female cast member roles of SNL skits. Wiig leaves behind fellow female cast members Abby Elliot, Vanessa Bayer, and Nasim Padra, and with as few skits as the three get to own, it’s not uncanny to ask, will SNL’s quality drop from here?
Looking back, SNL has been in this situation before. It survived and flourished after losing SNL royalty like the quirky Rachel Dratch, witty Tina Fey, versatile Amy Poehler, and stage-stealing Maya Rudolph. I think and hope they will find a way to fill the gap left by Wiig.
Fingers crossed Wiig will get her own television show like Fey (30 Rock) and Poehler (Parks and Recreation), but at least we can be sure to see her on or behind the big screen. We can also be sure that there will be plenty of The Best of Kristen Wiig DVDs to be created, and obsessed over by die-hard KW fans like myself.
Here are a few of my favorite classic Kristen Wiig skits:
