After eight seasons, Heidi Gardner is leaving the cast of Saturday Night Live.
Vulture was first to report her departure late Thursday afternoon.
Gardner joined the show in 2017 for Season 43 and closds out her run with 159 episodes under her belt. She’s among SNL’s most prolific performers–in fact, her very last sketch as a cast member (“Victorian Ladies Who Lunch”) also happened to be her 600th sketch on the show.
Appearing on Craig Ferguson’s podcast in February, Gardner hinted this could be her last season, telling the host that sketch ideas had stopped coming to her as readily as they once did, and that she’d begun considering what might be next for her.
“At this point, after doing Groundlings and SNL for so long, I’m like, ‘I’ve written a lot of sketches.’”
“It does happen some weeks where I’m like ‘I do not have an idea for a sketch, a game, or a character,’” she added. “Luckily we have amazing writers at the show that will be like, ‘But I have an idea for you.’ That’s the only thing that has gotten a little tough.”
In recent years, she’s branched out beyond the show, with guest appearances on multiple television shows, including You, Shrinking, and Girls5eva, along with film roles in Hustle with Adam Sandler, and the upcoming Will Ferrell starrer Judgment Day. She’s even tried reality TV on for size, serving as a judge on the HBO Max talent competition Second Chance Stage last fall.
As LateNighter recently reported, she shot a role in the upcoming indie film comedy Transcending in her hometown of Kansas City this summer.
What’s next for Gardner? “I’d love to have a show that I co-star in and co-write, and it’s a character and it’s a world,” she revealed in conversation with Ferguson. “And it’s a character I get to live in for a while and explore more.”
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Oh boy, the first major cast member is out!
Bad move, the market for comedy films is not what it use to be. You have to be stupid, looking at what is out there, to walk away a guaranteed paycheck with a part-time job.
You’re assuming the ultimate decision to leave was hers.
Because she’s been on SNL for 8 years, if Lorne thought it was time for her to go, he’d give her the opportunity to play it off as solely her decision.
She was pushed out….Lorne wants newer people that cost less.
Too bad….best looking cast member fired.
I guess she has the Homes.com commercials to fall back on for a while.
Why are you such a stupid racist, and projecting your racism onto others, boy? Why do you despise black people so much that you want to kill them, you racist filth?
What makes you think a low info, poorly educated loser like you is superior to any black person?
Stop being racist.
Lorne and Heidi are not Black, but rather Caucasians.
Why the fuck do you keep on putting words in my mouth, retard? Where do you get this meth filled notion that I called Lorne Michaels and Heidi Gardner black?
You really can’t think for yourself, can you? You make shit up, then project it onto others, and then try and accuse them of the thing you made up! I’ve come across so many ignorant right wing MAGA trolls over the years, but you’re an extra special kind of stupid!
Are you a ten year old? Or are you a mental patient that escaped from the hospital?
Grow up and get help, bitchole!
Why are complaining about black people? You’re worse than that Canadian racist, Victor the KKK
Also, heidi and lorne are not black…please post accordingly because they are white.
“Why- are-complaining-about-black-people?”
And you have the fucking gall to complain about my spelling, MAGAtard!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
And about an hour to respond! Yup, you have no life, other than trolling here, loser!
And you fucking keep projecting your racism onto others!
Are you really that stupid, that you can’t come up with something new, rather than the same lame projecting shit that pea sized smooth brain of yours can manage?
Lame!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Again…
Stop being racist.
Lorne and Heidi are not Black, but rather Caucasians.
So the answer is yes, you do want to keep projecting your racism onto others, because you haven’t an original thought of your own, yet feel the need to feel superior to others!
Sad! Sucks being you loser!
She is hilarious! Sad to see her go
Part of the SNL problem, in my opinion, is that the cast departures are automatically replaced. In recent times, the on-air cast roster is so bloated that it is impossible for new cast members to develop, establish themselves with the audience and, hopefully, break out. With 17-18 cast members, there just is not enough air time to go around.