Kate McKinnon says Justin Bieber’s music helped her 'stay up late enough' to star on “Saturday Night Live”

If you let Biebs inside your world, there's gonna be one less sleepy girl.

Justin Bieber might not know it, but he once played a critical role in Kate McKinnon’s weekly Saturday Night Live ritual.

During her Wednesday visit to The Kelly Clarkson Show, the comedian opened up about a realization she’s had during her post-SNL years.

“I like to wake up really early, it turns out. And I like to go to bed really early,” she revealed. “So working at SNL was obviously the greatest years of my life and also was contrary to my natural orientation, and so I really had trouble staying up late enough to be on the show.”

Related: Kate McKinnon teases possible SNL season 50 return: 'It's not too far of a train ride'

Despite struggling to keep her eyes open, McKinnon was a cast member on the late night sketch comedy series for a decade, from 2012 to 2022. So how did she pull it off?

Easy — she became a Belieber.

“Before the show, I would put on Justin Bieber and like to dance around,” McKinnon told host Kelly Clarkson, showing off some dance moves in her seat. "Just to wake myself, just to try to stay up late enough."

Clarkson, laughing, asked, “Did people catch you doing this backstage?”

“If they did, they were polite enough not to say,” McKinnon quipped, adding that she made sure to "go in a little corner" where her dancing would be less noticeable.

Related: What would Billie Eilish tell her 10-year-old self? That she could call Justin Bieber 'any time' and 'he'll answer'

Since departing the show two years ago, McKinnon no longer has to stay up late, vibing to Bieber’s music. Instead, she makes sure to stick with the early bedtime that her body prefers.

“I eat dinner at 5. I eat dinner at 4:30,” she shared. “If someone says, ‘We’re having dinner at 6:30,’ I’m like, ‘What is this Europe? So I’m gonna get home at 8?! I’m in my PJs already and I’m not changing out of it.’”

McKinnon is, of course, very familiar with Bieber’s work — she often showcased her impression of the "Baby" singer during her tenure on SNL. In one instance she transformed into the teen heartthrob for a mock CNN interview to explain why he egged a neighbor's house and in another, she recreated his infamous Calvin Klein ad: tattoos, prayer hands, and all.

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While her love of the Biebs has been a well kept secret, McKinnon’s latest chat with Clarkson is certainly not the first time she has acknowledged her struggle with the late night demands of SNL.

“Leaving was in the back of my mind for a while, because it’s just a grueling schedule,” McKinnon said on Vulture’s Good One podcast, months after her May 2022 departure. “I mean, I could do it for the rest of my life, happily, if the schedule were not so grueling and if I was not naturally a person who liked to wake up at 8 a.m. and go to bed at midnight. I was having trouble staying up until 1 a.m. And I was like, ‘OK, I have to go. As scared as I am and as sad as I am, it’s time.'”

You can watch McKinnon show off her backstage dance skills in the clip above.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.