For the upcoming 42nd season of “Saturday Night Live,” two familiar faces will not be returning to the show. Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah will reportedly be departing the long-running comedy after both having been on the show for six seasons.
Killam, 34, and Pharoah, 28, were most well-known for their impression skills. They impersonated everyone from actors to politicians. Pharoah’s most notable impression is a spot-on portrayal of President Obama.
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In an interview with Uproxx published on Monday, Killam addressed the recent news. He claimed that his original contract with a seven-year deal, and that he had assumed that the upcoming season would be his last. However, his contract was not picked up for the upcoming season.
“I don’t know the other side of it,” Killam stated. “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 starring Arnold Scwarzenegger] and I’ll have two months of post-production that would have bled into the ‘SNL’ production schedule, so we kind of communicated that.”
Killam explained, “I honestly don’t know what happened on the other side, but I do know we had expressed I have work on this film and in bonding this picture, that has to get cleared with ‘SNL.’” He added, “And then [another offer] came up. I wasn’t’ going to have to take any time off to do it, but it was a thing that they would have had to okay.”
He admits that it’s “always hard and sad to say goodbye,” but mentions that it feels like “an appropriate time.”
“I am so grateful to have been a cast member on ‘Saturday Night Live,’” Killam said. “I set out to be on ‘SNL’ and I got to do that and I did very well. And I love and adore and will forever have close ties and tight bonds with the brilliant, smartest, funniest people I’ve ever met in my life. So, I have no gripes at all. I am so, so, so lucky to have been given the time I’ve been given.”
Are you sad to see Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah leaving “Saturday Night Live?”
