Saturday night live says goodbye to Chloe Fineman, who has officially announced her departure from the iconic NBC sketch show after seven seasons.
The comedian and actress shared the news with her fans in a heartfelt Instagram post on Thursday, revealing that she is ready to embark on the next chapter of her career.
His departure comes ahead of the show’s upcoming 52nd season this fall.
Fineman’s departure marks the latest departure in what has been a period of great upheaval for the cast of the long-running late-night show.
Before season 51 last year, Saturday night live saw a massive shakeup with the departures of veteran cast members Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim, along with Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow.
Bowen Yang also parted ways with the show mid-season.
To help fill the void, SNL brought in five new standout players last year: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska.
Reflecting on his time at Studio 8H, Fineman wrote a touching tribute to his colleagues and the show’s creator, Lorne Michaels.
“After 7 wonderful seasons in SNL “I’ve decided it’s time for my next chapter,” he wrote.
“It’s a cliché to say this, but working in SNL It has been the greatest privilege of my life. I still can’t believe I got to be a part of this. I fell in love with the place the moment I walked through the door. Lorne (if you are reading this in your scrap account) I want you to know that I am forever in your debt.”
He went on to praise the great dedication and hard work of the production team behind the scenes.
“Every day I was lucky enough to be surrounded by the best people in the business, and I was constantly amazed by watching them work,” Fineman wrote, noting the high-pressure environment where crew members would sew a JoJo Siwa costume in 10 hours, write a cold open at 2 p.m. on a Saturday, or finish visual effects for a preview film just minutes before dress rehearsal.
The comedian also laughed at the extreme emotional highs and lows that each writer and performer experiences on the show. “I’m definitely not the first to make this observation, but it’s really fun to watch it all now, because on the show you get so invested in everything you work on,” she noted. “You cry uncontrollably when your sketch isn’t chosen. You barge into a producer’s office telling them they just made the biggest mistake of their lives. You call everyone you know to complain. And then a few years later, you look back and it was a sketch called “lipstick for thick dogs.”
Fineman explained that this absorbing intensity is simply part of the show’s unique magic. “But that’s just the show. You respect him so much that you give him absolutely everything you’ve got, even when he’s incredibly stupid. So you’re elated when it works and more devastated than ever when it doesn’t. And in the end it doesn’t matter much, but it did in the moment.”
In the end, Fineman decided that while walking away is difficult, it’s the right time to move on.
“It’s very difficult to leave SNL, but it feels like the right time,” he admitted.
“I’m going to miss it a lot. But the people who work there are my family and that place is my home, and I know I’ll never be too far away.”
She closed the emotional post with a final joke to her fans: “And I swear to God that one day, sometime in the future, I WILL make thick dog lipstick.”
Fineman originally joined the show in 2019 as a featured actor and earned a promotion to the repertory cast two years later.
Over the course of its seven seasons, it became a fan favorite largely thanks to its incredibly sharp impressions, which ranged from an on-point Drew Barrymore to an amazing Timothée Chalamet.
While Saturday night live Fans will surely miss his presence in the live sketches, Fineman already has many exciting projects lined up outside of the night scene.
His acting credits outside of SNL already include roles in Stranger Fridayas well as voiceover roles in successful animated projects such as big mouth and Despicable Me 4.
Fans can also expect to see her in Prime Video’s upcoming romantic comedy sequel. Red, white and royal wedding.
