One of Saturday Night Live’s most high-profile writers is not returning for Season 50—and it would seem it wasn’t his decision to leave.
“Hello world, I have officially been relieved of my duties at SNL,” English posted to Instagram Saturday. “I’m grateful for these past three years and yadda yadda yadda. With that said, to any and all stand up bookers, I am BACK IN THESE STREETS, so holla at ya boy!”
English, who’s also written for The Rundown with Robin Thede on BET, HBO’s That Damn Michael Che, Neflix’s The Fix with Jimmy Carr, and Pause with Sam Jay on HBO, joined the SNL writers room in 2021.
While on staff at the show, he helped create a string of memorable characters and sketches, including “Hot Girl Hospital,” “Nice Jail,” and Charlotte the Pregnant Stingray. But the character he’s most closely associated with is Ego Nwodim’s Lisa From Temecula, which was apparently inspired by a holiday dinner with his family.
“We were on hiatus prior to that episode,” English explained in an interview with Wired last month. “I’d gone home to Detroit for Christmas. I was at dinner with my family, and my cousin was there. She ordered a steak well done. Our food arrived, and while we were talking, she started cutting it. It wasn’t as bad as Lisa, but the drinks were shaking. And no one was saying anything to her. In my mind, I was like, could this be something? Me, Gary Richardson, and Michael Che got together and wrote that.”
Even while writing for Saturday Night Live, English has maintained an active stand-up calendar. For the last five years he’s co-hosted Dad, a monthly comedy show in New York City, alongside Devon Walker (who joined the SNL cast in 2022) and fellow SNL scribe Gary Richardson.
Several of English’s SNL colleagues, including writer Jake Nordwind and Please Don’t Destroy’s Martin Herlihy and Ben Marshall expressed their support in response to his post.
SNL cast member Punkie Johnson, who announced her own departure from the show earlier this month, commented “Outside is fun. Let’s play.”
Saturday Night Live kicks off its 50th season on September 28th.
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