The Real Reason Why These Stars Left SNL

Ever since viewers first heard the words, "Live from New York, it's Saturday night!" emanate from their television sets back in 1975, more than 150 talented performers have brought laughter to America as cast members of "Saturday Night Live." Over the course of all those decades, it's no surprise that so many actors have come and gone, some fading into obscurity while others have left indelible marks on the world of comedy, gaining even greater fame after leaving the show.

Whether it was to pursue a career in the movies or it simply stemmed from the desire to stretch out and try new things, cast members have exited "SNL" for a variety of reasons. But in some cases, the decision to part ways was not theirs, and the reasons behind the sketch comedy series' firings have run the gamut. Occasionally, these exits are tinged with controversy; in fact, some former cast members wound up becoming more famous for how they left the show than for anything they actually did in front of the camera.

Let's tune into the real reason why these stars left "SNL."

Every member of the original "Saturday Night Live" cast left — along with series creator Lorne Michaels (who, of course, later returned) — after the show's fifth season. This led to NBC hiring a new producer, Jean Doumanian, and a whole new cast. The result was a season that is generally agreed to be one of the show's worst. Yet one moment from that otherwise forgettable season remains legendary, when cast member Charles Rocket, in the midst of a sketch spoofing TV drama "Dallas," dropped an F-bomb on live television. 

By that point, ratings had nosedived and it had become painfully clear to anyone watching that "SNL" had become an unmitigated disaster. Doumanian was fired after the incident, as were several members of the cast. Rocket, predictably, was among them. "That was an excuse," Doumanian told The Hollywood Reporter of the firings. "I just thought it was quite unfair."

While Rocket — whose real name was Charles Claverie — continued to work steadily in comedy following the infamous incident, appearing in films like "Hocus Pocus" and "Dumb and Dumber," he was tragically found dead in a field near his home in 2005. According to his obituary in The Seattle Times, the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide.

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

In a 2018 interview with Closer Weekly, Paul Shaffer recounted being hired by "Saturday Night Live" musical director Howard Shore to play piano with the show's band. Shaffer eventually began making on-camera appearances, such as his monotone impersonation of music impresario Don Kirschner. When the original cast left en masse at the end of the 1979-'80 season, so did he.

"I did the first five years of 'SNL' and everyone in the original group was leaving, so I decided to see what else was out there," Shaffer explained. After a couple of years working as a studio musician, he was summoned to meet with a young comedian who was launching a new late-night show for NBC.

According to Shaffer, he and David Letterman "hit it off right away." Shaffer was hired as bandleader on "Late Night with David Letterman," a role he continued when Letterman exited the network and launched a new show on CBS, "The Late Show." "He says now that he never had anyone else in mind for the job, and I believe him," Shaffer said of Letterman, "but I didn't know it was going to be 33 years together!"

Dennis Miller joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in its 11th season, taking over the "Weekend Update" anchor desk. With his wry delivery and endless string of obscure pop-culture references, Miller's quirky comedic style proved to be a hit with viewers until his exit in 1991.

Miller's next move was to host a late-night talk show, "The Dennis Miller Show," which debuted in January 1992. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune to promote the show, Miller explained why he left "SNL." "I was very happy where I was,” he admitted, but said the arrival of his son made him reset his priorities and cast a wider net career-wise. "I'm not trying to sound too maudlin, [but] something about his birth reacquainted this urge in me to strive for things. When I had the kid I thought, 'Why don't you see what you can do, why don't you test it a little? Make the boy proud.'"

That test, unfortunately, was not successful: by July of that year, "The Dennis Miller Show" was cancelled. Speaking about the show's failure with the Los Angeles Times, Miller was circumspect, musing, "People lose their jobs every day."

Ben Stiller joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 1989 ... but quit after just six episodes. During a 2018 interview with "The Howard Stern Show," the actor-director explained he left the series because his primary ambition at that point was to direct short films. When Stiller was hired for the comedy series, he was under the assumption that's what he'd be doing, making comedic short films that would air between live sketches. Instead, he found himself performing on live television — and hated it. 

"I knew that I wasn't good live because I would get nervous," Stiller told Stern. "... I just felt I couldn't do well in that situation." However, there were no hard feelings about his abortive "SNL" experience. Stiller subsequently returned to host the show twice, and in 2018 appeared as President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen. This came about when Stiller emailed "SNL" exec producer Lorne Michaels asking for tickets to the show: "He sent me back an email the next day, saying, 'Sounds fun, great, and oh, by the way, do you happen to have a Michael Cohen impression lying around?'"

In Jay Mohr's "Saturday Night Live" tell-all book, "Gasping for Airtime," he recounted his tumultuous two seasons on the show as an anxiety-ridden, self-medicating mess who struggled, mostly unsuccessfully, to get his sketches on the air.

One of those sketches that did make it into the show, however, ultimately led to his downfall. As Mohr explained, he wrote a sketch about father-and-son innkeepers after watching a stand-up routine from comedian Rick Shapiro and admittedly pretty much cribbed it word for word. After the episode aired, Mohr was called into a meeting with "SNL" exec producer Lorne Michaels and supervising producer Ken Aymong, who asked if Mohr had ever heard of Shapiro. "I told him I did not," Mohr recalled lying, with Aymong then playing Mohr a VCR recording of Shapiro's bartender bit, which was nearly identical to Mohr's sketch. Michaels once again asked Mohr, "You've never heard of this guy or seen his act?" Mohr continued claim he had no idea who Shapiro was.

Shapiro ultimately sued, receiving an undisclosed settlement that included the sketch being edited out of all future broadcasts. "Undoubtedly I should have been fired, but I wasn't," Mohr wrote. He was, however, let go at the end of the season. "What I did was inexcusable, and no apology in the world could ever make up for it."

Al Franken was part of the writing staff of "Saturday Night Live's" first season in 1975, and remained on the show as a writer-performer for decades — before leaving when he lost out on the "Weekend Update" anchor spot to Norm Macdonald. According to a timeline in The New York Times, Franken then turned to political satire, writing his bestseller "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations" in 1996, and in 2004 began hosting a political radio show. In that show's final episode in 2007, Franken made a big announcement: he was running for a Senate seat in his home state of Minnesota.

In 2009, Franken was elected to the Senate, reported The New York Times, declared victorious after a recount in what was a very tight race, and was re-elected in 2014. However, it all infamously came to an end in 2017, when Franken announced he would be resigning after several allegations of sexual harassment were leveled against him. In his resignation speech, Franken said he remembered some of those accusations "very differently," claiming, "Some of the allegations against me are simply not true ... I know in my heart, nothing that I have done as a senator, nothing, has brought dishonor on this institution."

In September 2019, a "Saturday Night Live" press release announced three new hires, one of whom was comedian Shane Gillis. Almost immediately after the announcement, reported CNN, journalist Seth Simon posted video of Gillis taken from a podcast on X, in which the comedian uses racially insensitive terms for Asian-Americans. Backlash ensued, while more examples of Gillis using offensive language emerged.

"SNL" exec producer Lorne Michaels acted quickly and decisively. Within days of Gillis' hiring announcement, Michaels revealed that he was unhired. "After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining 'SNL,'" a spokesperson for Michaels said in a statement to CNN. "We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard."

Gillis responded in a since-deleted tweet (via CNN), writing in part, "I'm a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss."

Taran Killam was hired by "SNL" in 2010. In 2016, his contract wasn't renewed. As the actor explained in an interview with Uproxx, he was surprised by his firing. "You sign for seven years, so I had one more year. I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, but then heard they weren't going to pick up my contract. I was never given a reason why, really," Killam said of his exit, insisting the rationale behind his firing remained a mystery to him.

Since then, it's not like Killam has been hard up for work. He appeared in several movies (including "Brother Nature" and "Night School"). He also wrote and directed the 2017 big-screen comedy "Killing Gunther," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as an assassin targeted by other assassins. In addition, Killam starred in the ABC sitcom "Single Parents," which ran from 2018 until 2020.

In a subsequent interview with the "I Was There Too" podcast (as reported by Vulture), Killam claimed the show become less collaborative and more competitive after Seth Meyers exited to host his own late-night show. "When Seth Meyers left the show, the dynamic changed quite a bit," Killam said. "He was the last person there who I witnessed really collaborate with Lorne, as opposed to just kind of do what Lorne says."

Luke Null's time on "Saturday Night Live" was so fleeting that most viewers probably don't even remember him. Null had joined the show at the start of the 2017 season, but was let go before the next one. During his single season, Null did have a few standout moments, such as a sketch in which he played an obnoxious high school student who disrupted class. In another, he portrayed an extreme heavy metal fan who meets with a surgeon in hopes of getting his demon-style horns surgically removed.

Speaking with Vulture after his "SNL" exit, Null reflected on his brief tenure with the show. "I was only ever there one year. I had one season, and you definitely have a lot of questions looking back: Did I do something wrong? Was I not writing good enough stuff? Honestly, looking back — knowing how the show works, the mechanisms and the politics, and its energy — it's a very tense and stressful place. No one there is 'having fun.' Air quotes," he said.

While Null was quick to admit that it was tough to break out in cast packed with insanely talented performers, he also wondered why he hadn't been given more of a chance. "So it was hard to leave and not think I didn't get much of an at bat," he mused.

Vanessa Bayer became a "Saturday Night Live" standout during her seven-season stint on the show, beginning in 2010 and concluding in 2017. That was largely due to her likeable onscreen persona and such characters as her hilariously heightened take on Jennifer Aniston's "Friends" character, Rachel Green. Her decision to leave the show, Bayer told The Hollywood Reporter, came about from the realization that she'd been there long enough. "It felt like it was time for me," Bayer said. "I had seven seasons and just felt like it was time for someone else to do that job." The absolute favorite of all her characters, she told THR, was Jacob the bar mitzvah boy. "He feels the closest to my personality," she said. "The shyness and awkwardness is at the core of me."

Bayer's post-"SNL" roles have included multi-episode guest spots on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," NBC's "Will & Grace" revival, and fellow "SNL" alum Taran Killam's sitcom "Single Parents," in addition to headlining her own Showtime comedy "I Love That For You," which was loosely based on her own experience as a survivor of childhood leukemia.

As for how her fellow cast members responded to her exit, Bayer told HuffPost, "I feel like everyone was supportive and we'll miss you, but we understand. It's a very hectic schedule so it's like, after seven years, I want to take a nap."

Beck Bennett was one of six actors hired for the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 2013, and quickly established himself as the go-to guy for quirky impressions, whether it was drunken Tom Brady or perpetually shirtless Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. During host Scarlett Johansson's 2019 monologue, Bennett poked fun at the niche he'd carved out by jokingly lamenting, "You need me! Who's gonna play the dumb idiot?"

When he left the show in 2021 (making the announcement via Instagram), he wrote, "Thank you for 8 years of remarkable people and incredible experiences that completely changed my life." Speaking with Time, Bennett recalled performing onstage, glimpsing his wife, Jessy Hodges, sitting in the front row while series creator Lorne Michaels looked on smiling. "It really felt like the universe was telling me, 'This is in fact time for you to leave. You're not gonna do better than this,'" he said.

In fact, he added, one big reason for his departure was that fact that his wife lived in Los Angeles while "SNL" broadcasts from New York City. "It's been eight years of basically long distance with my wife, and if we are going to start a family at any point, I think we have to start that at some point soon," Bennett said. The couple didn't wait long before setting that plan in action; in May 2022, Hodges announced via Instagram that they'd welcomed their first child.

Kate McKinnon was a "Saturday Night Live" MVP during her 10-year run on the show, thanks to brilliant impressions of celebs ranging from Justin Bieber to Hillary Clinton. During her stint, McKinnon had also established herself as a sought-after actor outside the show, in films such as "Ghostbusters" and "Office Christmas Party," even showcasing her dramatic chops portraying Carole Baskin in the "Tiger King"-inspired TV series "Joe vs. Carole." Other credits included voicing Ms. Fiona Frizzle in Netflix's update of "The Magic School Bus."

Her decision to leave the show in 2022 didn't come lightly. "I thought about it for a very long time, and it was very, very hard because all I ever wanted to do in my whole life was be on 'Saturday Night Live,' and so I did," McKinnon told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest during an appearance on "Live with Kelly and Ryan." "I loved it. I had the best decade, and then I was just like, my body was tired, and I felt like it was time."

Asked what she planned to do with her Saturday nights, McKinnon admitted that it would probably be some time before she tuned in to watch any new episodes. "I don't know what I will do. I don't know if I can watch the show yet," she admitted. "I think I'm just going to tape 'The Bachelorette' and watch that instead."

At age 20, Pete Davidson was one of the youngest-ever "Saturday Night Live" cast members when he joined the show in 2014. He quickly made a mark from his hilarious "Weekend Update" appearances (as himself), but eventually became a tabloid staple thanks to a string of relationships with famous women including Ariana Grande, Kate Beckinsale, Phoebe Dynevor and Kim Kardashian. Thanks to his breakout status on the show, Davidson hit the big screen with roles in "The Suicide Squad" and a star turn in "The King of Staten Island," the 2020 Judd Apatow-directed feature loosely based on Davidson's real life as the son of a Staten Island firefighter who died on 9/11.

In May 2022, Davidson announced via Instagram that he was leaving. "I owe Lorne Michaels and everyone at 'SNL' my life," he gratefully acknowledged. However, he had previously hinted that his exit was in the works. "It is my seventh year and that's what the contract is usually for," Davidson told Gold Derby in June 2021, quipping, "I started there with acne and left with tattoos."

However, earlier in 2021 he also got candid about the harsh competition behind the scenes. "As far as everyone else, it's a cutthroat f***ing show," Davidson confirmed during an appearance on "Live Your Truth: An Honest Conversation With Charlamagne Tha God" (via The Hollywood Reporter). "Everyone's trying to get their s*** on. Everyone wants to be the next thing." 

When Cecily Strong appeared in her final episode of "Saturday Night Live" in December 2022, she'd been a cast member since 2012. During the show, Strong referenced her departure, as recurring character Cathy Anne during Weekend Update, of course, in which the character announced she was ending her run on Update because she was being sent to jail. "Everybody has to go to jail at some point, and it's just my time now, but I feel really lucky that I got to spend so many of the best moments of my life with these people that I love so much," Strong said (as reported by Variety), only partly in character.

Strong shared a statement on her exit in a subsequent Instagram post, reflecting on her decision to leave. "I am ready to go, but I'll always know home is here. I've had the time of my life working with the greatest people on earth." Strong also apologized for keeping the news under wraps until the last minute, but offered a poignant explanation. "I'm sorry I've been a little quiet about it publicly," Strong shared. "I didn't want the extra pressure on something already so emotional for me."

Thankfully, Strong's fans didn't go hungry for long, as she and co-star Keenan-Michael Key starred in the movie musical spoof series, "Schmigadoon!" for Apple TV+.

Robert Downey Jr. might be immortalized as Iron Man, but the actor hardly had a metallic grip on comedy when he joined "Saturday Night Live" for just one season back in 1985. Back then, "SNL" was low in ratings while NBC tried to retool a show that had seen better days a decade earlier. Enter original producer Lorne Michaels, who returned after a five-year hiatus, bringing a fresh roster of players that included Downey.

There was only one problem: Downey was too green a talent to take on something as frenetic as a weekly live sketch comedy program. "I really learned a lot, it was also just crazy. I mean I guess I was like 19 or 20," he said in a 1991 interview archived on YouTube. "It was tough and I learned a lot and I don't complain on film sets nearly as much as I should because of that experience."

The good news for the show was that the addition of cast members like Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, and Dennis Miller helped steer "SNL" out of troubled waters. By his own admission, Downey had nothing to do with that turnaround given his lack of grounding in improv or sketch comedy. "But I would still say to this day that there's not a more exciting 90 minutes you can have whether you are any good or not," he said on "Off Camera with Sam Jones." "It's just amazing."

There's little doubt that one of the most prominent celebrities on television over the past three decades has been Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose award-winning roles in groundbreaking sitcoms like "Seinfeld" and "Veep" have solidified that status. Those achievements alone would be more than enough for Louis-Dreyfus to forget that for three seasons, starting in 1982, the comedic actress was part of the cast of "Saturday Night Live."

However, Louis-Dreyfus remembers that those years weren't particularly enjoyable. "I didn't have tons of fun ... but I did learn a ton," she said on "Radio Andy." "I was really super-young; I was 21 and I went into it very naively." Telling Bustle that "SNL" was "not a female-friendly environment at all," the comedian recalled it was difficult to get her sketches aired on the show.

One saving grace was that her tenure on "SNL" enabled her to work with castmate and boyfriend Brad Hall, whom she would eventually marry. Louis-Dreyfus discovered another silver lining during her time on the show: meeting writer Larry David, who would later co-create a star vehicle for the actress in the form of "Seinfeld" a few years later. "He was there my third year, his one and only year, and we bonded because he was super miserable and I was super miserable and you know how misery loves company."

In 1995, Cheri Oteri joined "Saturday Night Live" at a very opportune time in the show's history. In response to dwindling ratings the previous season, producer Lorne Michaels got rid of the bulk of the show's cast, replacing them with Oteri and memorable players that included Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond. Filling those voids meant that Oteri and company were entering a workplace far less toxic than previous seasons. 

"Everybody came in at the same time and there was this appreciation and energy and we just all hit the ground running," she recalled on the "Fly On the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade" podcast. "There wasn't anybody that was sitting around intimidating ... and wondering if you were gonna take their spot or anything." Oteri thrived in that revitalized workplace, showcasing characters like spunky cheerleader Arianna and a spot-on portrayal of journalist Barbara Walters. 

Five years later, confident from being nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2000 for her guest appearance on the sitcom "Just Shoot Me!" and landing a role in the horror satire flick "Scary Movie," Oteri left "SNL" with hopes of becoming a major star. Sadly, that prospect never truly materialized, as she settled for bombs like "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd." Still, she managed scores of TV cameos that included "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Boston Legal," "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," and even the Broadway hit "NEWSical the Musical."

For years, "Saturday Night Live" made waves for its irreverent take on culture and politics, but few players were as subversive as comedian Chris Rock, who joined the cast in 1990. At his best, his in-your-face delivery elicited hilarity and paranoia among unsuspecting viewers, via characters like black activist Nat X and unhinged news correspondent Buster Jenkins.

While Rock made a huge impact on the show after only three seasons, being the only Black cast member made him a novelty that prompted "SNL" creatives to put him in stereotypical roles. Meanwhile, Rock admired the largely Black-dominated cast of their rival sketch comedy show, "In Living Color," which not only delivered edgier comedy, but it featured players doing more diverse characters. 

"The people at 'SNL' are the nicest people ever," Rock said on "WTF with Marc Maron" in 2011. "I'm friends with everybody there. So it wasn't that ... The reason for wanting to be on 'In Living Color' was just hip, man ... History showed that I had a sense of humor in me, but I was never going to be able to do that stuff at 'SNL.'" Whether he was fired or left "SNL" on his own accord is still debatable. But suffice to say, he managed to land a spot on "In Living Color" in 1993 for the final season before the series was canceled.