Chloe Fineman Describes Her SNL Exit Call With Lorne Michaels

Chloe Fineman told Lorne Michaels she was leaving Saturday Night Live last Wednesday—just one day before news of her departure became public.

Speaking publicly about her exit for the first time Monday night, Fineman revealed that Michaels was attending the England-Argentina soccer match when she called to deliver the news.

“In classic form, he was watching England vs. Argentina,” Fineman told Variety at the Los Angeles premiere of her new Apple TV movie, The Dink.

“He was like, ‘I’ll call you back. I’m at the game,’” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘The soccer game?’ Then I made a joke, I was like, ‘I assume you’re rooting for England because you’re energetically very British.’ Then he called me back, and we had a really lovely chat.”

The timing of the match places that conversation on Wednesday, the day before Fineman announced her impending departure.

Fineman’s exit came as she reached the end of her SNL contract and landed a series-regular role on Netflix’s upcoming Harlan Coben drama Myron Bolitar, which begins production this week.

“Seven years is kind of like the classic way [at SNL], and then like right as my contract was up, this amazing David E. Kelley opportunity came in like completely out of the blue,” Fineman told The Hollywood Reporter. “I did a little chemistry read and it was off to the races; it just felt like a perfect time.”

Fineman will play Parker Quinn, a sports reporter for a major publication, in the series from Kelley and co-showrunner Kyle Long. She joins a cast led by Colin Woodell as sports agent Myron Bolitar, with KJ Apa, Diane Guerrero, Jabari Banks and Jamie McShane also set as series regulars.

The role represents both a dramatic change of pace and a full-circle moment for Fineman. After Netflix announced her casting, she revealed that her SNL audition tape nine years ago included impressions from Kelley’s Big Little Lies.

“I never thought that one day I’d actually get to be part of a David E. Kelley show,” she wrote on Instagram, calling the opportunity “a very cool surreal full circle moment.”

Fineman joined SNL as a featured player in 2019 and was promoted to the repertory cast two years later. Over seven seasons and 135 episodes, she became one of the show’s most prolific celebrity impressionists, portraying figures including Britney Spears, Timothée Chalamet and Scarlett Johansson.

She formally confirmed her departure late last week, writing on Instagram that working at SNL had been “the greatest privilege of my life.”

“It’s really hard to leave SNL but it does feel like the right time,” she wrote. “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.”

Speaking Monday, Fineman appeared to leave the door open to future drop-ins at Studio 8H.

“I’m gonna be in New York. I’m down the street. Maybe you’ll see me,” she said.