Michael Che Eyes ‘SNL’ Exit: ‘My Head Has Been at Leaving for the Past Five Seasons’

Christian Zilko
·2 min read
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Next weekend marks the end of “Saturday Night Live” Season 47, and the show’s summer vacation is always accompanied by rumors about cast members departing.

“SNL” has become increasingly flexible in recent years, allowing top cast members to take hiatuses to work on other projects as an attempt to keep them on the show. Still, the grueling schedule inevitably gets old and most cast members eventually move on.

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One name who could be plotting his exit? Michael Che, who has co-hosted “Weekend Update” with Colin Jost since 2014. The two men are also the show’s head writers, but that arrangement could change very soon. In a new interview with The New York Times, Che revealed that he does not plan to stick around “SNL” much longer.

“My head has been at leaving for the past five seasons,” Che said. “I do think that I’ve been here longer than I’ll be here. This show is built for younger voices and, at some point, there’ll be something more exciting to watch at the halfway mark of the show than me and dumb Jost.”

If Che leaves after this season, it seems like it won’t be much of a surprise to Lorne Michaels. In the same New York Times story, Michaels said that “a year of change” could be in store for his show after this season. However, he made it clear that he would prefer to keep Che behind the “Weekend Update” desk.

“If I had my way, he’ll be here,” Michaels said. “And I don’t always get my way. But when you have someone who’s the real thing, you want to hold on as long as you can.”

Che isn’t the only “SNL” cast member rumored to be eyeing the door. Pete Davidson has often teased his eventual exit, saying in a 2020 interview that he wished 2019 was his last year on the series.

“I have a weird feeling in that building where I don’t know whose team they’re playing for,” Davidson said. “If I’m the joke or I’m in on the joke. I really wanted [2019] to be my last year, but I’m still around and trying to knock it away.”

Season 47 of “Saturday Night Live” is set to end on May 21, with Natasha Lyonne hosting the season finale and Japanese Breakfast serving as the final musical guest.

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