On their latest ‘Fly on the Wall’ podcast episode, ‘Saturday Night Live’ alums Carvey and David Spade weigh in on the firings and hirings that have been happening over at Studio 8H, including the surprising exit of the longest-tenured female in the cast.
For some reason this season, there has been an extra level of scrutiny on the annual cast shakeup at Saturday Night Live. There have almost always been exits and new hires for each season across the past half century, but this year’s decisions appear to be raising eyebrows.
Among the exits is one of SNL‘s modern icon, Heidi Gardner, according to multiple sources, per Variety. While the comedian has yet to comment on the reports of her exit after eight seasons, SNL legends Dana Carvey and David Spade weighed in on the latest episode of their Fly on the Wall podcast.
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Carvey, in particular, had a bit of a bombshell about the reports, while seemingly also confirming her exit. “From what I know as of this recording is that it was not her idea to leave,” he said, before conceding, “Now, I could be wrong about that, but that’s what I read.”
Spade said that would be “shocking,” were that the case, calling her “one of the core ones from that show, and she always does a great job.”
Certainly Gardner has emerged as a leader on the show, proving her versatility and commitment in every scene — even when she goes viral for breaking, as she did when Ryan Gosling and Mikey Day dressed up as Beavis and Butt-head for one memorable sketch.
“You never know and it is a hard thing, but I was really, really surprised,” Carvey said of hearing that she had been let go. “I think she’s got a likability. She can play real, straight news woman, she can play big, brawn, funny, physical. So I was surprised by that.”
At the same time, both men had to acknowledge that she has been with the show for eight seasons now, which is a lot for any cast member. Most have traditionally signed an initial seven-year contract, with options negotiated yearly after that.
“Eight is a lot. Eight is enough for the show,” Spade said. Very few people have stayed longer than that, though it had started becoming more common in recent seasons with female cast members, with the likes of Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, and Cecily Strong staying 10 seasons or more.
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It’s also worth noting, though, that while final announcements have not yet been made about the Season 51 cast, there are still some male cast members who’ve been there longer than Gardner, with Day having just wrapped his ninth season, Michael Che at 11 seasons, Colin Jost at 12, and Kenan Thompson holding strong with the all-time record at 22 seasons at the close of the anniversary season. It’s not yet known if any of them will return.
Gardner is among the four cast members so far reported as exiting the series. Those exits include one of last season’s newcomers, Emil Wakim, as well as two popular cast members who’d just wrapped their third seasons. As that’s usually when cast members start hitting their stride, fans were surprised by the exits of both Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker.
Walker, in particular, garnered a lot of reaction for his exit announcement. He was the first to announce he’d been let go, and did so by describing the show as sometimes “toxic as hell.” The quote generated headlines and enough buzz that the comedian elaborated on what he meant in a new interview with Variety.
He explained that most fans know about the show’s grueling schedule and competitive element, that can be overwhelming for some. He said that anyone who is “knowledgeable” about SNL over the years “can certainly pick up on things that are toxic about it.”
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“The show hasn’t changed much in all the years they’ve been doing it,” he explained, before hinting at more: “There are things that went down on the show that I wouldn’t talk about for free. There are a lot of things I’m still trying to find the right avenue to go into detail about.”
As for how casting is handled, he said that he feels show could benefit from “a measure of humanity.” He continued, “What ends up happening over the summer is oftentimes people are left hanging with big life decisions — people trying to start families or buy homes — and there’s no word from the show about whether they have their job.”
He said that this wasn’t necessarily his situation, but he’s known others who’ve been in the throes of trying to figure things out when they find out they’ve been fired toward the end of the summer.
“If there’s one thing I hope for the future of the show, it’s that a sprinkle of humanity could be added into it. I understand it’s show business and it’s cutthroat, but people have lives, and people deserve to know the status of their job at a reasonable juncture,” he said. “Most people are told they’re coming back to work in a week.”
Along with the four reported exits so far, two cast members have had their returns confirmed, while Saturday Night Live dropped the reveal of its five newest cast members earlier this week. You can check out all the comings and goings for Season 51 just below.
