‘SNL’: Michael Longfellow Leaving After Three Seasons

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Michael Longfellow Will Heath / NBC

Longfellow joined the show as a featured player in Season 48 and was promoted to the main cast ahead of Season 50.

He joins Devon Walker, who joined at the same time, and Emil Wakim, who are also both leaving ahead of Season 51. More are expected to depart before the season starts.

Longfellow’s departure is somewhat of a surprise given that he was seemingly being primed to take over the Weekend Update desk at some point after some successful stints behind the desk, joking about topics such as TikTok and Real ID. He even appeared on Weekend Update on his first ever show (see below).

In May, he joked that he wasn’t on the show much in Season 50.  “I work like 12 hours a week. When you love your job, it never feels like work. No, I’m just not in that much stuff this season. It’s fine, I walk around, they don’t really keep tabs on your whereabouts here,” he joked on Weekend Update alongside Colin Jost.

His departure comes as creator Lorne Michaels shakes up the cast ahead of Season 51. Writers Celeste Yim and Rosebud Baker have also departed.

Outside of SNL, Longfellow starred in Good Burger 2, and he is a touring stand-up, having appeared on the Netflix is a Joke festival, as well as on NBC comedy reality series Bring The Funny, which was hosted by his future colleague Kenan Thompson.

Saturday Night Live, which is produced by Broadway Video in association with SNL Studios, returns on October 4.

“Will not be returning for a 4th season at SNL. Wish I was but, so it goes. It was the best three years of my life so far. I feel nothing but gratitude for the experience and everyone there. Lorne, you gave me the greatest job in the world and changed my life. You even put my mom on TV. Thank you doesn’t begin to cover it, but thank you,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’ll miss it all, but I’ll miss the friends I made and seeing them every day the most.”

“Excited for the future and things to come. If you take anything away from my time on SNL let it be that smoking you makes you skinny and popular, Jesus was Chinese, and if a tortoise ever gives you trouble just kill him tough guy. You won’t,” he added.