Saturday Night Live alum Chloe Fineman announced today that she is leaving the iconic comedy show after seven years.
Fineman, 37, made a statement on Instagram today, writing that “after 7 wonderful seasons in SNL I decided it was time for my next chapter.”
The actress said being on the show was the “greatest privilege” of her life and she fell in love with working on the series. SNL “the second I walked in the door.”
But she also reflected on some of the more challenging aspects of working on the show, where she and her co-stars competed each week to get their sketches aired:
“I’m definitely not the first to make this observation, but it’s really funny to look back on it all now because on the show you’re so passionate about everything you’re working on. You cry uncontrollably when your sketch doesn’t get picked. You storm into the producer’s office and tell them they just made the biggest mistake of their life. You call everyone you know to complain. And then you look back years later and you see that it was a sketch under “Lipstick for fat dogs,” she wrote.
Fineman said it was “very difficult to leave.” SNL but it seems like now is the right time. I’ll miss this very much. But the people who work there are my family, and this place is my home, and I know I’ll never be too far away.”
The actress illustrated her post with a series of behind-the-scenes shots from her time on the show, including one dressed as JoJo Siwa, others with famous hosts like Glen Powell and Ariana Grande, and finally a candid photo from the dressing room that showed her topless in some sort of latex chest cast.
Fineman joined Saturday Night Live as a leading player in September 2019, and was promoted to the main squad two years later.
Fineman’s departure came six months after another popular SNL actor Bowen Yang announced he was leaving the show, also after seven seasons.
Young’s departure was more unusual because it came midway through the show’s 51st season, which ended in May.
“I liked working at SNLand most of all I loved people. I was there at a time when a lot of things in the world started to feel worthless, but working at 30 Rock taught me the value of showing up whenever people are worth it,” Yang announced on Instagram last December. He left the show after the next episode.
“It’s his choice. People have no idea what’s really going on,” an insider told The Post on Friday. “It happened unexpectedly, but it’s not surprising.”
Months earlier, several others SNL cast members including Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim left the show before its debut in season 51.