I got my degree in acting and theater, and then I had a teacher who told me to take a class with The Groundlings. And for a second, I thought, 'Well, I don't know about that. I'm a serious actress.' And then I did, and I loved it, and I said, 'Ah, well, I guess this is what I'm going to do now.'

Cecily Strong

People have confused playing devil's advocate with being intelligent.

I worked in a coffee shop called Buzz Cafe in Oak Park. I started when I was 14 or 15, washing dishes, and then I became a barista and sometimes waited tables. It was an artsy scene.

Cecily Strong

Work Time Art

I think I'm always inspired by really, really funny, amazing women, but I'm also inspired by really funny, amazing men. I think there's more of a feminist voice, like with Amy Schumer being out right now, whom I adore.

Cecily Strong

Women Men Funny

You have to put work into relationships to keep them fun.

Cecily Strong

Work Relationship You

If you're a nerd, just be a nerd. That's way better than a nerd who's trying to be a hipster. And if you are going to tell jokes, don't direct them at other people. Not only is it not funny, but it's also mean.

Cecily Strong

Funny You Yin

I started doing professional theater and industrials in Chicago when I was a little squirt.

Cecily Strong

Art Us Trials

I like Instagram - I love pictures, I just don't take them very often.

Cecily Strong

Love Very Us

Extra-dirty vodka Martinis - they're so easy to drink! I should really just drink olive juice; it'd be safer.

Cecily Strong

Art Vodka Us

I'm generally happier and more easy going when it's warm outside.

Cecily Strong

War Warm T

I'm a huge Bulls fan. I like an emotional backstory while watching sports. In my mind, all the players on the Bulls are really nice, decent guys. Especially that Derrick Rose.

Cecily Strong

Sports While Watching

I'd like to be reincarnated as a French tart. They're so beautiful and delicate - they're like my opposite. I'm more of a comfort food: goat cheese with garlic.

Cecily Strong

Food Car Art

I think women have always been funny. But when Tina Fey became head writer at 'Saturday Night Live,' the culture shifted, and women gained a bigger voice in comedy. It's not as if Hollywood producers are feminists. It's more that Hollywood said, ''Bridesmaids' made us so much money, all we want now is funny women.'

Cecily Strong

Women Money Men

If something awkward happens, laugh. I don't think I've ever dated a guy who couldn't laugh - even in bed, during intimate times.

Cecily Strong

War Time Who

I've never been an impressionist. I was doing Sofia Vergara and Elizabeth Dole. I'm sometimes so low-confidence and self-aware, so characters that are confident and ignorant and wrong are my favorite.

Cecily Strong

War Time Wrong

I actually graduated from the Chicago Academy for the Arts. I think John Cusack did as well.

Cecily Strong

Art Well USA

There's so much more bad information than good information out there - everybody's got something to say and it's usually wrong.

Cecily Strong

Good Wrong Very

I do Twitter, but I'm still not great on it - I'm not good at writing short little jokes, so my Twitter's not really a jokey thing.

Cecily Strong

Great Good Writing

I grew up on 'S.N.L.,' doing all the sketches on the playground.

Cecily Strong

Up UN T

I always feel the most validated and confident being around people that I find funny - having Fred Armisen laugh at a scene or Bill Hader or Seth Meyers give me a compliment.

Cecily Strong

Men Funny Ways

I think of myself as kind of a hippy. Everyone around me says that's not the impression they get. They think I'm sassy. Apparently, I think I'm nicer than I really am.

Cecily Strong

Very UN Think

I love people who aren't embarrassed. I'm always embarrassed, so it's always astonishing to me when people aren't like that.

Cecily Strong

Food can be mean to me, but I love it anyway.

Cecily Strong

There have been some terrible winters in Chicago, where it feels like I'm literally being punched in the face, and everyone walks around looking stunned like they've just witnessed a murder.

Cecily Strong

When I write on 'SNL,' I've found I'm most productive while collaborating and joking with friends and not being firmly attached to any one idea.

Cecily Strong

My parents are really funny. Laughter was a big part of my childhood. Of course, they tell a lot of bad jokes - but so do I. I tell a lot of bad jokes.

Cecily Strong

I was voted funniest person in my middle-school yearbook. So I guess I was funny in middle school?

Cecily Strong

It sounds so cliched, but I've always been kind of different. I always liked being around weird kids.

Cecily Strong

My drama instructor suggested I try comedy. I was resistant at first because I considered myself a serious actor, but of course I fell in love with it.

Cecily Strong

I'm not high maintenance, and I'm not into a highly manicured man. I don't want to see a lot of hair product.

Cecily Strong

I loved 'SNL' growing up, and I would trick my babysitter into letting me stay up to watch it. My family would rent Marx brothers' movies and Monty Python episodes, and we watched 'In Living Color', 'The State', and 'Strangers with Candy'.

Cecily Strong

I got my degree in acting and theater, and then I had a teacher who told me to take a class with The Groundlings. And for a second, I thought, 'Well, I don't know about that. I'm a serious actress.' And then I did, and I loved it, and I said, 'Ah, well, I guess this is what I'm going to do now.'

Cecily Strong

Impressions are still kind of hard for me and not what I love to do the most, but with characters, I think there's an element of fearlessness. You try to figure out the best reading and wording of the jokes before the show, and then you just really have to go hard.

Cecily Strong

Usually I'll just eat popcorn, but if theaters would sell me goat cheese and garlic with Triscuit crackers, I'd give them all my money.

Cecily Strong

I love so many cheeses. I like them hard and soft. I like cream cheese; I like cottage cheese... I'm a true Midwesterner.

Cecily Strong

I love to share food, especially if I made it or I'm particularly proud of what I ordered.

Cecily Strong

I've been slightly hypoglycemic since I was a kid, so I have to make sure I eat in the morning and get my sugar.

Cecily Strong

I don't have the most confidence in the world, and I'd venture to say most women in comedy don't come from a place of, 'Oh, I'm fabulous!' She's just as nervous as you are. So if you're trying to score with a funny girl, laugh at her jokes and tell her how hilarious she is.

Cecily Strong

I'm not high maintenance, and I'm not into a highly manicured man. I don't want to see a lot of hair product. If he's too showy, that's embarrassing to me - I wear makeup and take showers, but that's basically it. I'm not trying to stand out too much.

Cecily Strong

I love New York, but I don't like how it smells like hot pee and garbage in the summer. I feel like Chicago isn't that way. Maybe I'm just being romantic.

Cecily Strong