Another bit the dust. After Devon Walker confirmed his departure and Emil Wakim was invited to leave “Saturday Night Live” before the next first in the 51st season on October 4, another actor fell from the list.
Deadline has learned that Michael Longfellow is the last actor to leave the show. It is not clear so longfellow left his own will or if he was not questioned for the season, but it is another part of the “upheaval” promised that the showrunner Lorne Michaels was teasing last week in Puck.
This is a fairly surprising decision, because Longfellow joined “SNL” as a star player of season 48 and was promoted to the main cast for season 50. Longfellow was in fact one of the most impressive recent additions to distribution, and making it leave the show means that Michaels is probably trying to reduce the alignment to the essentials.
Curiously, LongFellow actually joked the fact of not being in the show a lot throughout season 50, which was quite stacked due to a great casting and the frequent appearance of legacy stars as hosts, in honor of the 50th season of the series. During an appearance when updating the weekend, Longfellow noted:
“I work as 12 hours a week. When you like your work, it never feels like working. No, I’m not in as many things this season. It’s good, I walk, they don’t really keep an eye on your fate here.”
Unfortunately, “SNL” knew where it is, and they will no longer be at the Studio 8 am in the 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
What makes it particularly surprising is that Late Nighter recently reported that LongFellow actually did a screen test in May as a potential weekend update replacement, indicating that we could not see Colin Jost and Michael Che for the ordinary segment this season. This is perhaps the reason why Longfellow will not come back to the show.
Michael Longfellow made a strong impression during his stay in SNL
Michael Longfellow, seen above as a goth kid on vacation, was not exactly known for any signature or identity square character, but he still made a strong impression at “SNL”. A bit like Emil Wakim, the biggest success of Longfellow came from frequent appearances at the Update Desk weekend, which started in its very first episode in the series.
With a sardonic and dry tone, Longfellow had a comic style that felt a lot in the same vein as Norm Macdonald, which could be the reason why he has never found a larger niche to “SNL”. But that did not prevent him from having large pieces, like this one, where he played an old-fashioned cigarette:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rynxnje0ma
But Longfellow was often his best when he simply offered comments like him. His sufficient sarcasm and confidence seemed to make him success with the public, who has often applauded his appearances in a way that was only granted to certain popular actors. Take this piece where he talks about the real identification mandate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSRAQ6A2S9U
Given that the best moments in LongFellow came to the weekend update office himself, the actor could find more success as a stand-up, which he has been doing for a long time now. In addition, with “SNL” on his CV, he could end up getting more roles in television shows and films. After all, he picked up a role in “Good Burger 2” not so long ago. And let’s not forget how funny he was in this sketch with the host Nate Bargatze, who was an idea that Longfellow introduced himself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6o9zvnr6ie
Personally, I am rather sad to see LongFellow leave, but I will certainly follow his comedy career from now on. Maybe he will be invited to host one day, as is when Norm Macdonald was invited to host after being dismissed from the show.
