Although Saturday Night Live didn’t include any emotional goodbye sketches, or even a direct mention of their impending departure, there was little doubt that the Season 42 finale was largely dedicated to two leaving cast members. Vanessa Bayer and Bobby Moynihan appeared in almost every sketch of the night and got a chance to reprise some memorable roles.
The clearest nod to their departure came as Moynihan and Bayer played Millwood High School seniors in a parody of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Earlier in the show, Moynihan, who is leaving after nine years on the show to star in the CBS series Me, Myself and I, performed his famous politically incorrect Drunk Uncle for one last time during “Weekend Update.”
Bayer, meanwhile, made an appearance as the impossible-to-understand meteorologist Dawn Lazarus.
Earlier she appeared in a memorable pre-taped spoof ad about an annoying woman who gets a Cartier diamond-encrusted fidget spinner from her boyfriend.
Moynihan’s departure was expected but Bayer’s decision to leave the late-night comedy institution came as a surprise shortly before the season finale. “Thank you SNL for 7 years of laughs, love and incredible memories. It has been a dream come true,” Bayer wrote on Instagram on Saturday morning, without revealing any plans for the future.
