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 fans in a heartfelt Instagram post on Thursday, revealing that she is ready to embark on the next chapter of her career.
Her exit comes ahead of the show’s upcoming 52nd season this fall.
Fineman’s departure marks the latest exit in what has been a period of major upheaval in the cast of the long-running late-night show.
Prior to Season 51 last year, Saturday Night Live experienced a massive shake-up with the departures of veteran crew members Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim along with Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow.
Bowen Yang also parted ways with the show halfway through the season.
To help fill the gap, SNL brought in five new featured players last year: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska.
After reflecting on his time at Studio 8H, Fineman penned an emotional tribute to his colleagues and the show’s creator, Lorne Michaels.
“After 7 wonderful seasons at SNL I’ve decided it’s time for my next chapter,” she wrote.
“It’s a cliché to say this, but to work on SNL has been the greatest privilege of my life. I still can’t really believe that I got to be a part of it. I fell in love with the place the second I walked in the door. Lorne (if you’re reading this on your burner account) I want you to know that I am forever in your debt.”
She went on to praise the production team’s great dedication and hard work behind the scenes.
“Every day I was lucky enough to be surrounded by the best people in the business and I was constantly amazed to watch them work,” Fineman wrote, highlighting the high-pressure environment where crew members sewed a JoJo Siwa costume in 10 hours, wrote a cold open at
The comedian also laughed at the extreme emotional highs and lows that every writer and performer experiences on the show. “I’m definitely not the first to make this observation, but it’s really fun looking back on it all now because on the show you get so invested in everything you work on,” she noted. “You sob uncontrollably when your sketch isn’t chosen. You storm into a producer’s office and tell them they just made the biggest mistake of their lives. You call everyone you know to complain. And then you look back a few years later and it was a sketch called ‘lipstick for fat dogs.’
Fineman explained that this all-consuming intensity is simply part of the show’s unique magic. “But it’s just the show. You respect it so much that you give it absolutely everything you’ve got, even when it’s incredibly stupid. So you’re ecstatic when it succeeds and the most devastated you’ve ever been when it doesn’t. And in the end it doesn’t matter that much, but it did in the moment.”
Ultimately, Fineman decided that while it’s hard to walk away, the timing is right for her to move on.
“It’s really hard to leave SNL, but it feels like the right time,” she 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 captioned the emotional post with one final joke to her fans: “And I swear to God, one day, sometime in the future, they WILL make lipstick for fat dogs.”
After joining the show in 2019 as a featured player, Fineman was promoted to repertory two years later.
During her seven seasons, she became a fan favorite, largely thanks to her incredibly sharp impressions, which ranged from a spot-on Drew Barrymore to a creepy Timothée Chalamet.
While Saturday Night Live fans will definitely miss her presence in the live sketches, Fineman already has plenty of exciting projects lined up outside of the late night scene.
Her non-SNL acting credits already include roles in Freakier Fridayas well as voice-over roles in hit animated projects such as Big Mouth and Despicable Me 4.
Fans can also look forward to seeing her in Prime Video’s upcoming romantic comedy sequel, Red, white & royal wedding.
