There is going to be a shakeup at Studio 8H.
Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney are leaving “Saturday Night Live” after the show wraps up its 47th season on Saturday, multiple entertainment news outlets reported.
NBC declined to make producers at “SNL” available for comment, Variety reported.
Update 6:59 a.m. EDT May 22: Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant both hinted that Saturday night was their final appearances as cast members during “SNL” skits, NBC News reported.
McKinnon waved goodbye to the audience in the show’s cold open, saying she was being abducted by aliens. Mooney appeared in many of the night’s sketches and trend forecaster Bryant said her time on the show was “in,” USA Today reported.
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) May 22, 2022
Update 11:55 p.m. EDT May 21: Pete Davidson confirmed he was leaving “SNL” in an Instagram post shortly before the show’s season finale.
“When I got the show I was 20 years old and I had no idea what I was doing,” Davidson said via an Instagram post of creative partner Dave Sirus. “I still don’t but especially back then. I wasn’t really a sketch performer I was just a stand-up.”
“I got to share so much with this audience and literally grow up in front of your eyes. We were together through the good and the bad, the happiest and the darkest of times,” Davidson added. “I owe Lorne Michaels and everyone at SNL my life. I’m so grateful and I wouldn’t be here without them. I appreciate you guys always having my back and sticking up for me even when that wasn’t the popular opinion.
“SNL is my home. I’m so happy and sad about tonight’s show. For so many reasons I can’t explain. Can’t wait to be back next year in a Mulaney musical number.”
Original report: Davidson, 28, has been a cast member since September 2014. He joined the NBC sketch comedy show as a featured player during the show’s 40th season premiere and was the first cast member to be born in the 1990s, People reported.
McKinnon, Bryant, and Mooney have been on “SNL” for a decade, Entertainment Weekly reported. The show’s record-holder is still Kenan Thompson, who has been part of the cast for 19 seasons and counting.
Pete Davidson isn't the only departing 'SNL' cast member: Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney will also leave after the season 47 finale. https://t.co/BeFgdwwLjD
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) May 20, 2022
McKinnon joined the cast in 2012 and became a repertory player the following year, according to Rolling Stone. She has appeared on the show less frequently and took a break to star in “Joe vs. Carole,” the scripted show based on the Netflix show “Tiger King,” the website reported. Her repertoire includes “SNL” characters such as Miss Rafferty, who is kidnapped by aliens, or Sheila Sauvage, a late-night barfly, Variety reported. She also portrayed Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court justice, according to the website.
Bryant also joined “SNL” in 2012, winning acclaim for her impersonations of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and former White House press secretary and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Bryant also took a hiatus from the show to star in the Hulu comedy series “Shrill,” Rolling Stone reported.
Mooney joined the cast in 2013 and became a repertory player at the beginning of the show’s 41st season, the magazine reported. He portrayed actor Johnny Depp in last week’s episode, Deadline reported.
Three of the four comedians are working on projects produced by longtime “SNL” executive Lorne Michaels, according to Rolling Stone.
Davidson will be featured in a new Peacock series, “Bupkis”; Bryant will appear in the upcoming Peacock animated series, “Cheeky,”; and Mooney has been appearing in the Netflix show, “Saturday Morning All Star Hits!” since it debuted in November 2021.
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