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Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah, Jon Rudnitsky leaving SNL

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B

backflip10019

Member
From The Hollywood Reporter last night:

Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah won't be returning for season 42 of Saturday Night Live, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Killam and Pharoah, who have each been with the NBC sketch show for six seasons, are leaving the Lorne Michaels-helmed franchise to pursue other opportunities, creating a major void for the show's fall season that is sure to be filled with political bits.

Pharoah is best known for playing the likes of President Barack Obama, Jay-Z, Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington and former GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, creating an immediate void heading into the upcoming presidential election and Obama's last days in office. When he joined the show, he was the second-youngest black male cast member (after Eddie Murphy). When creator Michaels was the center of headlines in 2013 criticizing the long-running series over its lack of diversity — specifically black female actresses — Pharoah memorably tackled the issue head on in a sketch with Kerry Washington where the Scandal star impersonated multiple black women in the same sketch including first lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/taran-killam-jay-pharoah-departing-918195

And just now:

Saturday Night Live is losing another key player for season 42.

Featured player Jon Rudnitsky is also leaving the Lorne Michaels-produced veteran sketch show, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The stand-up comedian and Groundlings alum joined the series in season 41. He performed a sketch in which he portrayed Anderson Cooper serving as a moderator for a Democratic presidential debate (Cooper wasn't a fan) as well as a Dirty Dancing bit (which was better received).

Rudnitsky was the only cast addition for season one of SNL. He joins Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah as key members of the ensemble sketch show who will not be returning for season 42 as the series is expected to add a few new faces for its upcoming fall debut.
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...dberg&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_breakingnews

taran_killam_jay_pharoah_split_h_2016.jpg

631814689ap00092_3rd_annual.jpg


The house that Lorne built is crumbling.

I personally liked both Taran and Jay -- hope they can find replacements that can do some justice to their great impressions. Jon was not used very often last season, so I can see why he would leave. There's some great talent out there from UCB that deserves to be up on that stage.
 
M

McDougles

Member
Considering Cecily Strong out-Sudeikis-ed Killam last year, and they all but dropped Jebidiah Atkinson from Weekend Update early on, the writing was on the wall.

But having no impersonator of the President seems like an odd move. They must be signing someone to replace Pharoah.
 
S

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
Always wonder why these folks leave on their own terms this early.

It's not like they have Hollywood knocking on their door - at least, not yet.
 
B

backflip10019

Member
Skel1ingt0n said:
Always wonder why these folks leave on their own terms this early.

It's not like they have Hollywood knocking on their door - at least, not yet.
Click to expand...

Well Taran has a new movie coming out -- they just released the trailer yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh-dTxPn9Pk So this kind of makes sense if he wants to launch a film career a la Sudeikis.

Jay's future seems to be a little less decided since he hasn't done many TV/film appearances to my knowledge.

I'd be Jon was just pissed off that he was barely used last season.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Skel1ingt0n said:
Always wonder why these folks leave on their own terms this early.

It's not like they have Hollywood knocking on their door - at least, not yet.
Click to expand...
Because the show doesn't pay that well, the Jost head writer era seems to be falling out of the public consciousness, and you have to jump out at some point or become Keenan.
 
Barrage

Barrage

Member
With a million TV channels handing out money, it would make sense that guys like Pharoah go out and try to get their on show, even on a tiny network that would still pay better/ pay off more if its successful than SNL.
 
B

backflip10019

Member
dave is ok said:
Keenan knows this is it. He's not going to get a bunch of starring roles in movies if he leaves.
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To be fair, he's got it made at SNL. His comedic voice is so strong and identifiable that you can tell it's easy to write for. All he has to do is show up and do his thing. Then he gets to smoke blunts with famous people after the show (according to a friend who was at the after party).
 
M

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
Skel1ingt0n said:
Always wonder why these folks leave on their own terms this early.

It's not like they have Hollywood knocking on their door - at least, not yet.
Click to expand...

SNL cast members sign 7 year contracts, so it looks like both Killam and Pharaoh are being released a year early.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Taran seemed like 'The Guy' on the show and then slowly started getting less parts.
 
C

Ceres

Banned
McDougles said:
Considering Cecily Strong out-Sudeikis-ed Killam last year, and they all but dropped Jebidiah Atkinson from Weekend Update early on, the writing was on the wall.

But having no impersonator of the President seems like an odd move. They must be signing someone to replace Pharoah.
Click to expand...

They have Kate McKinnon already.
 
C

cwmartin

Member
I feel like Lorne is just completely out of touch. I get the sense he had an excellent grasp on what was funny and innovate for comedy and TV the time he started penning SNL His interview on Comedians In Cars was awful and pretty much proved how out of touch he is with comedy in general.
 
M

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
Killam has made it sound like it wasn't his choice to leave, so it's not like he's gotten bigger than his britches here.
 
F

Futureman

Member
It was probably just Larry David being awesome, but I watched that ep this year and it was hilarious. Just make LD a permanent cast member if you want SNL to be good again Lorne.
 
K

Kyzer

Banned
taram killam is easily one of the worst ever so im ok with that, he tries way too hard, was the same on mad tv

jay pharoah is a major loss for them tbh, big impressionist

jon actually made me laugh sometimes.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Won't happen, but the show could do with a ground up reboot.

Blasphemy I know.

Hell take a year off.

Cut the show down to an hour.

Retool the opening monologue.

Get rid of all of the current segments.

Redo the set to give it a fresh look.

Up the pay to make it a destination vs a spring board to better things.

Get rid of Lorne Michaels and Don King and bring in fresh younger blood.
 
K

Kyzer

Banned
McDougles said:
Considering Cecily Strong out-Sudeikis-ed Killam last year, and they all but dropped Jebidiah Atkinson from Weekend Update early on, the writing was on the wall.

But having no impersonator of the President seems like an odd move. They must be signing someone to replace Pharoah.
Click to expand...

they brought back one of the old cast members for Trump since a long time ago, Killam got demoted to Ted Cruz impersonator lol
 
J

jstripes

Banned
Wonder who they'll bring in to replace them.

backflip10019 said:
The house that Lorne built is crumbling.
Click to expand...
People leave SNL every year. SNL thrives on talent churn. Careers are developed there.

Vanillalite said:
Won't happen, but the show could do with a ground up reboot.

Blasphemy I know.

Hell take a year off.

Cut the show down to an hour.

Retool the opening monologue.

Get rid of all of the current segments.

Redo the set to give it a fresh look.

Up the pay to make it a destination vs a spring board to better things.

Get rid of Lorne Michaels and Don King and bring in fresh younger blood.
Click to expand...
Two years later: "To much relief, SNL returns to its original formula!"
 
M

Mariolee

Member
ZeroX03 said:
SNL sucks compared to seasons 44-45.

And Killam didn't choose to leave.

http://uproxx.com/tv/taran-killam-leaving-snl-interview/
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Whoa that's rough. I cannot imagine what's going through his mind knowing his last episode was one he didn't even know would be his last. Taran was always one of my favorite parts of the last 6 years, along with Jay. I have no idea who Jon Rudnitsky is. SNL will be losing a lot of talent over the next season.
 
N

nomster

Member
I always thought that Taran came off like he was still doing improv theater. Needed to tone it down for tv.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Taran's last impersonations were all really bad.

Trump
Ted Cruz
Kristofer Waltz during that Jeopardy Skit.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Sapiens said:
SNL sucks compared to [the season/year it aired when you were 13].
Click to expand...

It's an over simplification of a real looming SNL problem.

Every season or crew has had ups and downs. Good EPs and bad EPs. Ditto with the cast.

Even the ratings if you look at it over time have been fairly constant with a mattered range.

The problem isn't so much ratings as it is cultural relevancy and the idea that eventually at some point the shows original creator in Michaels has to step aside. Even if he doesn't want to time and age will dictate for him as it will us all (he's 71 currently).

The question begs what happens in the next 5-10 years? Will NBC create a gradual process for Michaels to step down? Will they try and groom a successor or bring in someone from the outside? Will NBC just ride it out and see what happens when it happens?

How will the show look when undoubtedly the person at the helm ends up being 10, 20, even 30 years younger than Michaels is now. How will that influence the show? Won't the new person at the top want to pick their own director and put their own personal stamp on the show?

How much leash will that person be given vs dictated by corporate suits at NBC that see SNL as a penned in sure thing for that time block on Saturday night for basically all eternity?
 
T

TheCochese

Banned
Vanillalite said:
Won't happen, but the show could do with a ground up reboot.

Blasphemy I know.

Hell take a year off.

Cut the show down to an hour.

Retool the opening monologue.

Get rid of all of the current segments.

Redo the set to give it a fresh look.

Up the pay to make it a destination vs a spring board to better things.

Get rid of Lorne Michaels and Don King and bring in fresh younger blood.
Click to expand...

They did that already, it was called Mad TV.
 
G

GuitarAtomik

Member
That's too bad. I feel like Killam had finally come in to his own the past few years as kind of the Will Ferrell of the current cast, and Pharoah was good but always felt underutilized outside of the Carson impressions (I didn't realize he'd actually been on that long). Rudnitsky has never had anything stand out that I can think of though. I assume he felt like they'd never really let him step up and he'd be more creatively fulfilled outside of the commitment of the show.
 
T

The Jackdog

Member
whenever i catch SNL on demand, it always shocks me just how fucking long weekend update is.

cut the show down to an hour, dedicate far less time to that, one musical performance with two songs back to back.

much easier viewing
 
DOWN

DOWN

Banned
Crumbling? These people aren't a huge irreplaceable change. That last crumble was when we lost Wiig, Sandberg, Rudolph, Sudeikis, etc.
 
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