Mikey Day reveals why Steven Spielberg was cut from “SNL50” 'Close Encounter' sketch
- - Mikey Day reveals why Steven Spielberg was cut from “SNL50” 'Close Encounter' sketch
Sydney BucksbaumNovember 7, 2025 at 10:32 PM
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Theo Wargo/Getty; Jerod Harris/Getty
Mikey Day; Steven Spielberg
Mikey Day wishes he never met his hero Steven Spielberg after cutting him from the SNL50 "Close Encounter" sketch ... and then lying to his face about it.
When SNL star Day appeared on Thursday's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he revealed that the legendary Close Encounters of the Third Kind director was originally supposed to make a cameo at the end of the sketch (which Day wrote) loosely inspired by his iconic alien movie.
"We originally had Steven Spielberg in it, who's awesome," Day said. "Everyone loves Steven Spielberg. I love this man so much. He's so important to me and so many people. So we had Steven Spielberg come in at the end of the sketch playing himself. He's like, 'Hey, I have experience in this subject matter, and I'd like to make a movie based on your life.'"
Day shared that Spielberg came in to rehearse his part in the sketch, and everything was "awesome." That is, until the cast was informed that the 50th anniversary show was too long and everyone had to make cuts of entire minutes from sketches.
"And we're like, 'I think we have to cut Steven Spielberg,'" Day recalled, before explaining, "because it was an added thing! You know what I mean? I don't even like talking about it! It makes me uncomfortable. Dude, I don't like that this happened. I hate it. It's an awful thing."
What made the entire situation even worse? The fact that Day proceeded to lie to Spielberg about it after the fact by pretending like the whole sketch was cut rather than just his cameo at the end.
"This was another awkward moment," Day said. "So we have to cut him. His assistant [relayed that] through the chain of communication, and I believe Steven Spielberg thought that the whole sketch had been cut."
Saturday Night Live/YouTube
Kate McKinnon in 'SNL' sketch 'Close Encounter'
It all came to a head when Day saw Spielberg in person and didn't tell him the truth.
"There's an event the night after, celebrating Lorne," Day said. "And Steven Spielberg's there, and I have awkwardness with Steven Spielberg because we had to cut him out of our sketch. So I briefly talked to him and then he goes, 'Yeah, the whole sketch was cut.' I know that it wasn't, because I would've heard, but instead of going, 'Oh, I don't think that's right,' I just went, 'Oh no! The whole thing was cut? Nooo!'"
Day laughed as he remembered pretending like he was "spiraling into an awkward abyss with Steven Spielberg" about the entire sketch getting canned.
"A normal person would've gone, 'Oh really? I don't think so. Yeah, I think you might've heard wrong,'" Day admitted. "But I just went, 'Oh no, it was cut? Nooo!' It was so awful."
But the SNL star took some solace in knowing that losing this cameo was likely barely a blip on Spielberg's radar.
"Obviously he is a man with a lot going on," Day said. "I'm sure it didn't weigh on him too heavily. But I didn't talk to him after. I saw him there. But he was lovely. Obviously he was great, and I'm sure he didn't lose any sleep over it."
Saturday Night Live/YouTube
Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson appear in 'Close Encounter' sketch on 'SNL'
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Day recently remembered giving Meryl Streep acting advice for her cameo in the SNL50 "Close Encounter" sketch, where she played Kate McKinnon's mother.
"She was memorizing it, just by habit," Day said in June. "And we're like, 'There's [cue] cards.' I'm actively telling her to go against her instincts that have made her the best actress of all time."
The "Close Encounter" sketch is a fan-favorite bit that features the character Colleen Rafferty (McKinnon) describing her experience getting abducted by handsy aliens.
There have been nine "Close Encounter" sketches in the past decade, and Day has co-written all of them. He joked that McKinnon has "been abducted like a dozen times now at this point."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
