Here are 14 actors who got fired from SNL:
1.
On the fourth episode of Peacock’s docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Damon Wayans said that the writers “would shoot [his] ideas down” and kept giving him stereotypical roles, some of which he’d refuse. So, 12 episodes into Season 11, he went off-book during the live-tapping of the “Mr. Monopoly” sketch, making his cop character into the “effeminate gay guy” stereotype. Lorne Michaels “fired him pretty much as he walked off the stage.”
2.
In 2019, Season 35 cast member Jenny Slate shut down longstanding rumors that she was fired from SNL a decade prior after accidentally swearing during a live broadcast. She told InStyle, “By the way, everyone always thinks I got fired for saying fuck: I didn’t, that’s not why I got fired. I just didn’t belong there. I didn’t do a good job, I didn’t click. I have no idea how Lorne felt about me. All I know is, it didn’t work for me, and I got fired.”
3.
After five years on the show, Norm Macdonald was fired alongside James Downey in 1998. In 2014, James told Vulture, “Well, that was all due to [NBC executive] Don Ohlmeyer. Norm Macdonald, the anchor for Weekend Update, and I were writing a lot of jokes about O.J. Simpson, and we had been doing so for more than three years. Don, being good friends with O.J., had just had enough.”
4.
After six seasons, Jay Pharoh’s contract wasn’t renewed in 2016. The following year, he told Hot 97, “You go where you’re appreciated. If you have multiple people on the cast saying things like, ‘You’re so talented, and you’re able, and they don’t use you. It’s unfair, and it’s making us feel bad because they don’t use you, and you’re a talent…’ They put people into boxes and whatever they want you to do, they expect you to do.”
5.
After six seasons, Adam Sandler “kind of quit at the same time as being fired” in 1995.
6.
Adam Sandler’s best friend, Chris Farley, was fired alongside him.
7.
As an already established name, Robert Downey Jr. was hired for SNL Season 8 to draw in new viewers. However, after ratings dropped to the lowest they’d ever been, Lorne Michaels fired Robert alongside most of the cast.
8.
Joan Cusack was also let go at the same time as Robert Downey Jr. In 2000, she told Fresh Air, “It wasn’t working, and it wasn’t working for me too. I was miserable.”
9.
After three years on the show, Chris Rock “got fired because [he] was leaving to go to In Living Color.”
10.
Season 34 cast member Michaela Watkins was let go in 2009. She told Entertainment Weekly, “The only explanation I got from [Lorne] — and he’s not known to say things just to make people feel better — was that he felt deep down that I should have my own show. And I agreed. SNL was a dream come true for me. It was a fantastic year. I don’t have any regrets.”
11.
Season 19 cast member Sarah Silverman “was hired at SNL and almost immediately fired.” In 2013, she told HuffPost Live, “It wasn’t like I did something wrong. I was hired, and the following season, they fired — it was like a whole new kind of — I was, I think, that last year of the Old Guard, and they started anew.”
12.
After six years, Taran Killam’s contract wasn’t renewed in 2016. He told Uproxx, “I don’t know fully. I don’t know the other side of it. You sign for seven years, so I had one more year. I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, but then heard they weren’t going to pick up my contract. I was never given a reason why, really. I can assume until the cows come home. But I do know I’m directing this movie [Why We’re Killing Gunther], and I’ll have two months of post-production that would have bled into the SNL production schedule, so we kind of communicated that.”
13.
Season 6 cast member Laurie Metcalf was only on the show for one episode before the 1981 WGA strike halted the season. She wasn’t asked to return for Season 7.
14.
And finally, Chris Parnell was fired from SNL twice — first in 2001 for unknown reasons, then in 2006 because of budget cuts. After his initial firing, he was quickly brought back.
Which actor do you think deserved a longer tenure on SNL? Why? Share your thoughts in the comments!
