Lorne Michaels’ Saturday Night Live shakeup continues as promised Thursday with the news that cast member Michael Longfellow is leaving the show after three years—despite a report that he had screen tested to take over at the “Weekend Update” desk.
According to Deadline, Longfellow’s time at the show is over despite him seemingly being prepped for a longer-term role on the show. Earlier this week LateNighter revealed that Longfellow and SNL writer KC Shornima taped a screen test for “Weekend Update” last May. Longfellow has since taken several successful on-air turns at the desk prior to the news of his exit.
Unlike most exit announcements this week that were revealed on Instagram by the SNL staffer themselves, Longfellow hasn’t publicly acknowledged his exit as of Thursday afternoon. The Daily Beast reached out to a representative for Longfellow for comment.
Michaels told Puck’s Matt Belloni last week that a “shakeup” was coming to the show following its 50th anniversary season. The SNL boss said he didn’t want any “disruptions” or “anything that was going to take the focus off” the celebratory season, so he held off on cast changes. This season, all bets are off as he confirmed “the pressure to reinvent” was on.
The first of several announced exits began with five-year veteran Celeste Yim, the show’s first out trans writer, on Monday. Stand-up comedian Rosebud Baker also revealed that she wouldn’t be returning after three-seasons writing on the show.
Cast member Devon Walker announced his exit from the at times “toxic as hell” series later the same day, and added these cryptic comments via his Instagram Stories: “Just to be clear, this is good news! It was just time for me to do something different. Please don’t be hitting me with the ‘I’m so sorry’—we not on that at ALL. Sometimes mom and dad just don’t see things eye to eye.” Walker was on the show for three seasons.
Emil Wakim revealed Wednesday he was not invited back for the show’s 51st season, after only one season. He called the news a “gut punch” in the post announcing his exit.
Longfellow’s firing remains one of the most surprising so far considering his fitting for “Weekend Update,” but he’s even quipped about the fact that he was “not in that much stuff this season” on air.
“I work like 12 hours a week,” he joked with Colin Jost in May. “When you love your job, it never feels like work. No, I’m just. It’s fine, I walk around, they don’t really keep tabs on your whereabouts here.”
More cast change announcements are expected before the show premieres its 51st season on Oct. 4.
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