SNL is 50! The way Lorne Michaels made the comedy cool again.
In decades since its inception, SNL has become a cultural institution of American comedy.
“Saturday Night Live” will not let members of the cast drop out.
Michael Longfellow leaves the NBC Sketch Show after three seasons, deadlines, Hollywood Reporter and Variety reporting.
USA Today contacted Longfellow and “SNL” representatives for comment.
Longfellow joined SNL in 2022 and made a hugely popular appearance on Weekend Update. In May he provided dry comments in the popular “update” segment about refusing to obtain an actual ID.
“You already gave me your ID,” he said. “If it’s a fake, you’ll fix it!”
However, in the season finale in May, host Scarlett Johansson and the “SNL” cast sang monologue songs that included meta jokes about Longfellows that were not featured in many sketches. “I’ve done over 300 sketches,” Ego Nuwodim sang, before Longfellow quipping. During his true ID “Weekend Update” segment, the comedian joked, “There’s not much this season.”
This continues the wave of cast departures coming out of the 50 seasons of SNL, which engulfed in May.
Devon Walker leaves “SNL”: “Sometimes it was toxic like hell.”
Devon Walker, who has appeared on “SNL” since 2022 and has also joined at the same time as Longfellow, was the first cast member to announce the exit. “Me and baby broke up,” he captioned an Instagram post on August 25th. We shared the news.
“We did the show together for three years and it was really cool at times,” Walker said. “Sometimes it was as toxic as hell.”
Emile Wakim calls “snl” to leave a “gut punch”
Emil Wakim, the most recent addition who starred in “SNL” for just one season, went next. The comedian informed him that it was not his decision to leave and said he learned the news by celebrating a friend’s birthday.
“I will not return to ‘SNL’ next year,” Wakim wrote on Instagram. “It was a gut punch to get, but I’m very grateful for my time there.”
Who’s back in “SNL” Season 51?
“SNL” authors Celeste Im and Rosebud Baker also confirmed that they weren’t back.
It’s not clear that members of the “SNL” cast will not return to Season 51. Before the 2024 season 50, three stars left the show: Molly Kearney, Punkie Johnson, and Chloe Troast. At the time, Trost shared that she was “not asked.”
“I hope I’ll come back with all the great friends I made there. It really felt like home,” she wrote on Instagram. “But that wasn’t on the card.”
Two years ago, “SNL” received a remarkable cast shakeup in 2022, prior to Season 48, with Pete McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, Ady Bryant, Melissa Villazenor, Alex Moffat, Aristotel Asari and Chris Red Red Red Red.
“SNL” creator Lorne Michaels recently told Pack that the show would rock the cast, but confirmed that James Austin Johnson will return to play President Donald Trump.
Season 51 of “SNL” will premiere on October 4th.
