Comedian Michael Longfellow is the next Saturday Night Live star to leave ahead of season 51.
Deadline broke the news on Thursday, August 28, that Longfellow, 31, will not be a part of the upcoming season.
Longfellow joined SNL as a featured player during 2022’s season 48, becoming a main cast member for season 50 earlier this year.
“It was so big,” he recalled to Phoenix.org in January of getting hired. “There was panic, dread, excitement, numbness. I thought, ‘Shouldn’t I high-five everyone in the area?’ I didn’t know how to feel, so I just sort of got ready for work. This has been the greatest thing ever.”
The season 51 cast of Saturday Night Live might look a little different than last year, according to showrunner Lorne Michaels. Michaels, 80, told Puck in a profile published on Sunday, August 24, that he hoped to shake up the casting lineup. “Last season, when we were at the party of the first show, quarter […]
Longfellow, in addition to appearing in scripted sketches, was also well-known for his impassioned segments on “Weekend Update.” Outside of SNL, Longfellow works as a touring comic.
“For me, it’s the only way to make a living that wasn’t excruciatingly painful or scary,” he told the Arizona-based outlet of his career. “Even the stressful things are areas of stress that I would prefer. I just think, ‘I’m stressed, and I’m dressed like a human cigarette?’ I will take that stress.”
Longfellow’s SNL departure comes amidst a cast exodus. Showrunner Lorne Michaels recently hinted at a major shake-up to the lineup.
“Last season, when we were at the party of the first show, quarter of four in the morning, Dana [Carvey, who played Joe Biden], comes over to me and says, ‘I don’t think anyone knows you called me June 4th [to play Biden],’” Michaels, 80, told Puck in a profile published earlier this month. “I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season].”
He continued, “So when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it. That meant there couldn’t be disruptions or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season]. And we had an election.”
In addition to Longfellow, SNL season 50 starred Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Michael Che, James Austin Johnson, Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernández, Devon Walker, Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline.
Walker, 34, and Wakim, 27, both revealed earlier this week that they would also not be returning for season 51. According to Michaels, the full casting lineup will “be announced in a week or so.”
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