Saturday Night Live has lost three more cast members not long before season 48 is set to premiere.
The recent dropees are Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and Aristotle Athari. Saturday Night Live lost a number of other cast members following season 47. Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant, who joined in 2012, departed, while Kyle Mooney and Pete Davidson, who joined in 2013 and 2014, respectively, also took their final bow. McKinnon and Bryant are two of the longest-tenured females in Saturday Night Live history, with current cast member Cecily Strong not far behind.
Moffat and Villaseñor joined Saturday Night Live during season 42 and lasted six seasons. Athari, meanwhile, was on the show just one season, joining a surprisingly long list of one-season cast members that at least includes luminaries like Billy Crystal, Martin Short and, uh, Randy Quaid.
Alex Moffat may be best known for playing Joe Biden, which he took over from Jim Carrey. Villaseñor, who debuted with a terrific Sarah Silverman impersonation, is one of the few Latinas to be on the cast of SNL. Athari’s contributions to SNL are certainly limited but he does have the distinction of being the first Middle Eastern male cast member.
With seven cast members leaving after season 47, 2022 has the highest number of departees from Saturday Night Live since 1995, which saw 11 sketch comedians leave Studio 8H.
Saturday Night Live producer and creator Lorne Michaels has suggested he may be done soon as well, saying, “I think I’m committed to doing this show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years…I’d like to see that through and I have a feeling that’d be a really good time to leave.”
What are your thoughts on so many cast members leaving Saturday Night Live prior to season 48?