Lorne Michaels didn’t bother to call comedian Michael Longfellow to let him know he would not be returning to Saturday Night Live this fall, the Daily Beast can reveal.
Longfellow, who was axed last week after three seasons on the show, has revealed that he found out he’d been fired at an airport in Utah amid a bloodbath following the show’s celebratory 50th season.
But it wasn’t Michaels who delivered the news. Instead, he got a call from his agent, who broke it to Longfellow while he was surrounded by other passengers waiting to board their flights. While Michaels occasionally calls cast members or writers to tell them they have been hired, more often than not comedians find out that they are joining the show from one of his subordinates and learn they’ve been fired either from their agents or, in some rare cases, news reports.
The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives for SNL for comment but did not receive a response.
The cold-blooded firing, which left Longfellow grappling with the news in a public place, came as Michaels got rid of three relatively new cast members. In addition to Longfellow, Devon Walker, who had also been at the show for three years, and Emil Wakim, who just joined last season, did not have their contracts renewed.
Walker said SNL could be “toxic as hell” in his departure announcement, and Wakim called his firing a “gut punch.”
SNL writers Rosebud Baker and Celeste Yim, the first out trans writer in the show’s history, also confirmed they will not be returning for the next season.
Heidi Gardner, who has been in the cast for eight seasons, is reportedly leaving as well, but in her case it was almost certainly her decision to move on. After cast members on the show complete their initial seven-year contracts, which can be terminated at any time by the show, they typically have the ability to either renegotiate one-year extensions or quit.
It would be far more rare for a long-running cast member like Gardner to be shown the door. Also, earlier this year, Gardner told former late-night host Craig Ferguson that she was starting to feel “a little bit is just sketch fatigue, or idea fatigue” after being on the show since 2017.
Longfellow, 31, was speaking on Sunday to a crowd at Brooklyn comedy venue The Bell House where he was a surprise guest at a show for James Austin Johnson, SNL’s resident Trump impersonator who Michaels confirmed will be staying for Season 51, premiering Oct. 4.
One audience member who attended the show told the Beast that Longfellow looked “super bummed” as he took questions on his SNL departure. “He was downcast. He was trying to hide it, but you could tell it sucked for him,” the audience member said.
Another person who attended the show posted on Reddit that Longfellow explicitly told the crowd that getting fired “sucks” because it became so public. “My neighbor knows I’m fired,” he was quoted saying from the stage. “I don’t actually know my neighbor. He doesn’t know me. But he knows I’m fired.”
In an Instagram post Thursday, Longfellow, 31, announced he had been kicked off the show and wrote, “Will not be returning for a 4th season at SNL. Wish I was but, so it goes.” Calling the experience the “best three years” of his life so far, he added, “I feel nothing but gratitude for the experience and everyone there. Lorne, you gave me the greatest job in the world and changed my life.”
Among those who commented in support were two SNL cast member who are presumably returning this fall, Bowen Yang and Marcello Hernandez. SNL alum Molly Shannon wrote, “You RULE michael. So honored and happy to have gotten to meet you and work with you. Congratulations on an excellent run on SNL! loved talking to you when I was there. Wishing you so much continued success.”
Longfellow’s firing came after SNL celebrated its half century on the air with a star-studded anniversary special that welcomed back nearly every major star from the past 50 years. Michaels, 80, revealed his plans to “shake things up” ahead of the 51st season in an interview last month, including a possible change to the long-running “Weekend Update” duo Colin Jost and Michael Che.
Before Season 50 ended, Longfellow reportedly screen-tested for one of the “Weekend Update” seats along with SNL writer KC Shornima—a rumor Longfellow has denied. Not only did he apparently not get that gig, but Michaels ultimately decided to cut him loose altogether.
For more, listen to SNL alum Beck Bennett on The Last Laugh podcast.
