Will Forte, who excelled at creating creepy and absurd characters on “Saturday Night Live,” will be leaving the show after eight seasons.
The departure was confirmed by two people with direct knowledge of the show’s planning but who were not allowed to speak on the record because “Saturday Night Live” has not officially announced details of its coming season. Representatives for Mr. Forte and for NBC’s late-night entertainment division did not immediately comment, but one of the sources said the parting was amicable and at the choosing of Mr. Forte, who plans to pursue other projects. [NYT]
I like Forte, but I’m not particularly broken up about the departure. The MacGruber character has run his course. Hamilton was creepy and kind of funny, but I’d seen it often enough. Probably my favorite Forte sketch was Closet Organizer (watch it here), and that could have been pulled off by any number of cast members. He’s good, but eight years is on “SNL” is plenty.
This is what happens. Actors leave “SNL.” Other actors replace them. Unfunny sketches go on for six minutes. A digital short makes us laugh. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin host. We argue about who sucks. Someone bemoans how it used to be better. It’s the circle of life.
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This post gave me a good idea to save SNL: fire EVERYBODY! There was a time when the entire cast would be replaced, like in 1980 and 1985 (and 1995, kind of), and I think it made the show stronger for the long run. When you have a majority of the cast sticking around for 8-10 years, you get the same sketches over and over and over AND OVER again!
Replace the entire cast and writing staff, and cross your fingers that something great will come from it….and I also realize that the show won’t really improve until Lorne leaves.
Perhaps mercifully we will only have one more from Keenan Thompson, who has been on the show for seven. Seven years that felt like an eternity…. in hell…. where one is forced to watch nothing but SNL sketches from the last seven years that prominently feature Keenan Thompson.
BRING BACK CHRIS ELLIOT!!!
/don’t bring back Chris Elliot
See, the thing is, SNL has been so painfully unfunny for so long now, I’m having a hard time remembering that there was ever a time when it actually was funny. I mean, I know it was, because I can watch things like this and laugh my ass off…but it astonishes me that people still bother to watch the show in its current iteration.
Actors leave SNL…
Apparently Darrell Hammond missed this memo a few times.
Anybody that has watched SNL for a number of years knows that the show has ALWAYS been very hit or miss.
Forte hit much more than he missed. I will always think of him when the show lacks absurdity.
I for one will miss Tim Calhoun.
@Seany
Agree completely- I love it when people talk about x or y era of SNL being SO much better than today. Even at the supposed peaks you’d rarely find an episode that was funny all the way through. I’d stack the John Hamm episodes against alot of what people remember as the “good” years.
But seriously- we can all agree that Keenan Thompson owns a Lorne Michaels snuff film right? I’ll accept no other explanation for his continued involvement in the show.
Does this mean no more songs about babies, Model T cars, rocket ships and glass jars?
So Fred Armisen is the only openly gay cast member left?
Sorry to hear Will is leaving…but I have the perfect replacement! [stickyegg.com]
Godspeed, Brown Eggz.
Forte’s always been better outside of SNL. The 30 rock guest arc was the funniest thing he’s ever done.
I used to watch SNL back in 1977 and 1978.
This generation has nothing on the original NRFPTP’s.