Kristen Wiig, SNL Farewell (Video)

Three weeks late, but I finally watched Kristen Wiig’s SNL farewell. I know there will be chatter about why she got a sendoff when Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg were leaving as well, but – from a weighted perspective – Wiig will probably be one of SNL’s last legends.

I recently reviewed her first episode from the 2005-06 season, and it struck me how hilarious she was even back then, except that no one was prepared to find her funny yet. Those subtle voice inflections, rapid blinks and hand gestures we’ve come to anticipate were not yet on our radar. There’s something poignant about waiting for the world to slowly notice, affirm, and ultimately celebrate a person’s talent. For every great that was, I wonder about the greats that weren’t. I’m glad she was, and is.

It’s strange that I’m filled more with melancholy at this farewell than with joy for what’s to come from her burgeoning career. Maybe it reminds me that every experience we graduate from is not only a happy leap forward to greater prospects, but also a tacit admission that life must go on. And I wish I could feel more blase about endings – happy or otherwise – but in truth of fact, I question human thirst for new landscapes. Must we accept that all good things come to an end?

May we properly mourn the closing of a door before we embrace the opening of a window. For we just might never again see the life we left behind that door…