Saturday Night Live has spent most of this year celebrating its 50th anniversary, featuring legacy cameos, archival sketches, and a carefully curated special that filled every Hollywood A-lister into the cramped, canary-yellow stadium seats of Studio 8H. However, now that the nostalgia has worn off, the show is back to the chaotic business of live comedy, which means it’s also back to quietly cycling out cast members and longtime writers in pursuit of its own reinvention.
Newer additions like Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Emil Wakim have unceremoniously been let go, eagerly sharing their “toxic as hell” experiences online. Immensely talented voices like transgender trailblazer Celeste Yim put down their pens to prioritize their mental health, and incredibly gifted comedians like Heidi Gardner, who’ve spent years creating comedy gold without receiving enough credit for it, have also issued their shocking farewells. It’s no surprise, then, that the next installment of SNL arrives not with excitement, but with baggage. One thing is absolutely certain: SNL is experiencing an identity crisis.
‘SNL’s Big Changes Ahead of Season 51 Paint an Uncertain Future
Of course, every season of SNL comes with changes… but this one feels different. The cast isn’t just shifting; it’s being reshaped. Who leaves, who stays, and who steps in next may ultimately define what SNL becomes after its 50th. Currently, the departures are what’s making headlines. Walker was a stand-up comic who joined the show in 2022 and shared on Instagram that his time on SNL was a bit of a two-sided coin. “Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell,” he wrote. “But we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction.” While his exit feels more like a mutual decision, Wakim’s omission from the Season 51 roster took him by surprise. The comic revealed that he received the news during a birthday outing at an amusement park and “it was a gut punch of a call to get.”
However, Longfellow’s phase-out feels the most surprising, especially after rumors circulated that he was one of the potential replacements for Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che. Gardner’s announcement that she was leaving the show after eight years comes right in the middle of the sketch show’s tumultuous firing spree and perhaps points to the show’s chaotic, toxic culture. Gardner hasn’t commented on her departure but admitted recently in an interview that the show was becoming “a little tough.” Combined with the loss of Yim, who’s helped write some of Bowen Yang’s most popular skits over the years and who cited “exhaustion” due to the show’s “grueling schedule,” this sad news is unfortunately not surprising.
‘SNL’ Has a Few Cast Members It Can Rely On
But SNL still has a solid group of players, namely Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernández, and Andrew Dismukes. They aren’t just surviving — they’re giving the show an actual personality, each with their own unique comedic styles that feel more vital than ever. (Of course, it goes without saying that SNL legend Kenan Thompson is also a key part of what makes the sketch series what it is.)
The cast has made space for sketches that aren’t afraid to be niche, chaotic, and most importantly, funny. Even though that adjective is subjective and hard to quantify, the fact that they appear in almost every clip circulating online and in sketches that receive awards recognition is sufficient evidence of their value. Still, if SNL wants to reflect current trends rather than simply chase them, its infrastructure and some inherited comedic instincts might need to change.
‘SNL’ Needs To Let Its New Cast Members Take Risks
A part of the issue might be that SNL still clings to its self-image as a comedy boot camp where newcomers must prove themselves worthy of airtime by working insane hours alongside demanding and divisive talent. Those rites of passage are viewed by newer generations of comedy fans as problematic at best and don’t seem to benefit the talent that SNL aims to recruit. Why onboard young comedians like Longfellow and Walker if you’re not going to take risks? Why is SNL so hesitant to experiment with the talent they’ve cultivated, forcing them to conform instead of using this opportunity to branch out?
If comedy is inherently fluid and defined more by cultural moments than anything else, why does the show insist on adhering to formulas that worked two decades ago but may not translate well in today’s streaming era? The long-standing blind spots (loyalty to one-note frat guy types, reflexive celebrity worship, and a debatable definition of “edgy”) are all starting to clash with those keeping the show culturally relevant.
A new generation of talent is present on the roster with the potential to reshape the show’s internal dynamics… if given the chance. Through character-driven absurdism, identity satire that doesn’t pander, and sketches that go viral because they are sharp and relevant, they’re offering a version of SNL that feels like comedy right now. But how long can they sustain this momentum without an evolving structure around them? Genuine evolution would likely require rethinking its entire pipeline: how it auditions talent, who it promotes, what kinds of voices it empowers, and whether it can finally stop treating political impressions as its most prestigious output. But is this something Michaels has both the capacity and desire to do? For a show that has always presented itself as a reflection of contemporary culture, lately it resembles more a museum — too reverent and too afraid of breaking things to actually create something better.
‘SNL’ Needs To Remain a Key Part of the Comedy Conversation in Season 51
