Maya Rudolph reveals unseen SNL sketch she pitched at Will Ferrell's final table read: 'We all lost it'

Saturday Night Live alums Maya Rudolph and Jimmy Fallon looked back at their costar Will Ferrell’s emotional final table read.

While visiting The Tonight Show on Tuesday, the Bridesmaids star recalled pitching a heartfelt tribute to Ferrell during his last read-through in 2002 that never made it to air, but did make everyone burst into tears.

“Do you remember Will’s last read-through, when you did ‘Poetry Man’ and we were all just crying?” Fallon asked Rudolph, who confirmed that she remembered the day. 

“At the last table read, you write stuff that you know isn’t going to make it on the show, but you just do it to send off the person that you love,” Rudolph, who starred on the series from 2000 until 2007, explained to the audience. “We did, it was like a parody of the Phoebe Snow song [‘Poetry Man’], but I made it: 'You’re the comedy man / You make everything alright.’” 

Her pitch was the final push everyone needed to start weeping. "Dude, we all lost it,” Fallon remembered. “There was like, five sketches that were just like, ‘We love you, Will.’ Like, that’s all they really said. It’s like, ‘We love you, dude. We miss you.’”

Fallon, who was an SNL cast member from 1998 until 2004, noted it can be difficult to “say goodbye” to a fellow cast member. “You root for them, obviously,” he said, “but you miss the times that you have.” 

Rudolph agreed, adding that they were all “so, so, so lucky that we had that time together” during their careers. 

“And that it’s documented! Because now we can look back and watch it,” she said. “But we really had some golden times.”

Watch Rudolph and Fallon recall some of their favorite times together on the show in the clip above. 

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