Saturday Night Live‘s 39th season was a tough one. After a transitional year of rebuilding the cast after losing Bill Hader, Fred  Armisen, Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis in the previous season, Seth Meyers leaving to host Late Night and facing criticism regarding a lack of diversity in the cast, Lorne Michaels was quoted in an interview with Deadline last month as saying that the show was “still in the middle of rebuilding” and that there would be “changes” regarding the cast for the upcoming 40th season. It appears that the first casualty of those changes is freshman cast member Brooks Wheelan.
Wheelan too to Twitter to announce that he had been “fired” from the show on Monday afternoon saying:
Had a blast and loved every second of it. I’m totally honored to be able to make this next joke… FIRED FROM NEW YORK IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!
— Brooks Wheelan (@brookswheelan) July 14, 2014
It is also expected that Nasim Pedrad will not be returning to Saturday Night Live next season. The actress, who was best known for playing Kim Kardashian on the late night sketch show, will be co-starring in the new sitcom Mulaney from former SNL writer John Mulaney premiering on Fox later this year.
While it’s easy to remember a lot of the lows of SNL‘s previous season, there were a lot of highs too, including Andy Samberg hosting the season finale, the return of Jimmy Fallon and Charlize Theron, and cast member Kate McKinnon receiving an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the comedy category.
Saturday Night Live also has a big 40th anniversary special planned and is scheduled to air February 15, 2015 on NBC.
Sweet. He is so unfunny. Who strives to be the next dane cook? Best move snl has made in years.
I thought he was funny, but they never really let him expand beyond being the guy that was just kind of “there.” Only two appearances that pop out at all were both as himself: once on Family Feud where Steve Harvey (Kenan) didn’t recognize him and he responded with, “Yeah, I’m not on a lot, but it’s cool.” and then his “Done Drinking” piece on Update, which I thought was hilarious both in writing and delivery. Regardless, there were too many new members. Bennett, Wells, and Zumata are likely staying, though, I’m guessing.
Showing yet again that the comedy scene from the middle of Iowa is “meh.”