Vanessa Bayer exits Saturday Night Live after seven seasons
Another Saturday Night Live vet is turning the season 42 finale into a true finale.
Vanessa Bayer is exiting NBC’s late-night sketch series after seven seasons, EW has confirmed. News of Bayer’s exit, which was first reported by Deadline, comes just days after word of Bobby Moynihan’s departure after nine seasons.
Bayer, who recently hit the big screen in Office Christmas Party and Trainwreck, broke out with impersonations of Miley Cyrus and Rachel from Friends, as well as characters including the awkward, endearing, by-the-book Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy, child actor Laura Parsons with her trademark “news, talkin’ ’bout news” jingle, J-Pop America Fun Time Now cohost Rebecca Stern-Markowicz, and Brecky, a former porn star hawking luxury items, whose names she and sketch costar Cecily Strong often botch.
On Instagram Saturday afternoon, Bayer posted a “goodbye sketch” written by Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost along with the caption, “Thank you SNL for 7 years of laughs, love and incredible memories. It has been a dream come true.”
“She can kill with a smile / She can wound with her eyes / She can’t really sing / But she’ll constantly try / She’ll buy you a drink / As long as its free / She plays little boys / But she’s always a woman to me,” he wrote in a poem, referencing some of her characters. “Yes we have heard of bloomers / And yes, we’ve met Gwen / We’ve heard you had cancer / And met Jonah again / She’s the funniest, sunniest / Person you’ll see / Then we hide like a child / Cuz she thinks we should try a Miley.”
A post shared by Vanessa P Bayer (@vanessabayer) on May 20, 2017 at 11:25am PDT
In addition to a recurring role on Portlandia, Bayer has popped up on a variety of comedies this season, including Modern Family, Crashing, Drunk History, and The Simpsons.
Bayer was the third-longest tenured cast member, after the departing Moynihan and Kenan Thompson, who finished his 14th season and is expected to remain on the show.
Saturday’s season finale, which airs live in all time zones on NBC, features Dwayne Johnson as host and Katy Perry as musical guest.
