Even some of the industry’s finest struggle to maintain their composure while participating in Saturday Night Live’s humorous routines.
Meryl Streep made her SNL debut on Sunday, Feb. 16, in a skit starring Jon Hamm as a Space Force commander and Aidy Bryant as a psychiatrist examining the extraterrestrial abduction of a trio of pals portrayed by Woody Harrelson, Kate McKinnon, and Pedro Pascal. The joke is part of a regular comedy in which Bryant, 37, and McKinnon, 41, have previously featured.
Streep, 75, played McKinnon’s mother, Colleen Rafferty Sr., who entered the scene wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a short gray wig while smoking a cigarette.
“Sorry, my bathroom break took longer than I thought,” Streep said, visibly straining to maintain a straight face. “My No. 1 turned into a No. 3.”
Streep claimed that the same aliens abducted her, her child, and her friends.
“Us Rafferty girls, we’re always attracting the freaks,” the Devil Wears Prada star added. “For years I thought Colleen’s father was part alien, but it turns out he was just uncircumcised.”
Earlier in the skit, McKinnon went in-depth about her untidy pubic hair. According to Streep, the gene ran in her family.
“Much like her, I got an Into the Woods sort of situation,” Streep remarked with choked laughter, referring to the 2014 musical film in which she plays Witch. “My ex used to say that it was like trying to hack his way through the Black Forest.”
Streep smiled throughout her lines, and when the quartet described how they departed the aliens’ vessel, the Oscar-winning actress revealed that she had lost her pants in the process.
“A piece of metal snagged my pants, causing them to disappear,” she said. “As for underwear, this devil wears nothing.”
Streep completely lost it when she explained how she and her kid fell on top of Phil McDermott on their way back to land.
When Bryant inquired who Phil was, Streep laughed and said, “He’s a gentleman whose family I bet wished they went with the closed casket funeral.”
This is Streep’s first appearance on Saturday Night Live. It coincides with her suspected affair with Martin Short, a former cast member who also attended the anniversary event on February 16.
Streep and Short, 74, had attended SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in New York City two days prior.
“I believe Marty may be off the market. That’s what I am seeing.” I don’t know,” Amy Schumer, who sat next to Short and Streep during the performance, tells PEOPLE ahead of the February 16 special. “Maybe by just like the greatest actor of our time; I don’t know.”