Saturday Night Live Loses Another Cast Member Ahead of Season 50

Molly Kearney is the latest SNL cast member to announce their departure.

By Jamie Jirak

Saturday Night Live will be returning for its 50th season next month, and fans are eager to see how the show celebrates such a huge milestone. It's already been confirmed that SNL alum Maya Rudolph will be coming back to play presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and a couple of cast members have also announced their departure. It was announced this week that Punkie Johnson would be leaving the show after four seasons, and she's not the only one. Molly Kearney took to their Instagram today to reveal they are also leaving the show after two seasons as a featured player. Kearney marked the first non-binary cast member in the show's 49-year history. 

"Yall that's a wrap on my time on SNL! Reflecting on the amazing 2 seasons I got on this show, it was such a dream come true. So incredibly grateful for this period in my life. So much love to all my big hearted buddies behind the scenes who make the magic happen every week. So many bald caps, so little time. It was a true honor to work with such a talented group of writers and DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE CAST. Special shout out to my day 1 crew @marcellohdz @internetdevon and @longfellow_michael. Head up and heart out! Harold forever!!!!!" Kearney captioned the post, which also featured lots of fun behind-the-scenes photos from their time on the show. You can check it out below:

Maya Rudolph Talks Playing Kamala Harris:

Saturday Night Live – Season 46
(Photo:

Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris during the "VP Fly Debate" Cold Open on Saturday Night Live

- Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

As soon as sitting President Joe Biden announced he was backing out of the 2024 election and decided to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination, SNL fans immediately wondered if Rudolph would come back and do her fan-favorite impression of the politician. Previously, Backstage asked Rudolph what the key to paying Harris was and how she approaches her impersonations. 

"It's sort of like playing dress up, or like when my son puts on superhero costumes," Rudolph explained. "You want to emulate that person. I think in the world of comedy, for me, what I like trying to go after is finding the thing that creates a character that's got some sort of a goofy joy."

Bowen Yang Calls SNL "Cringiest Thing in Show Business:"

Saturday Night Live – Season 49
(Photo:

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- Episode 1860 -- Pictured: (l-r) Musical guest Raye, host Kristen Wiig and Bowen Yang during Promos in Studio 8H on Thursday, April 4, 2024 -- (Photo by: Rosalind O'Connor/NBC via Getty Images)

- NBC)

Bowen Yang is one of the most popular current cast members on Saturday Night Live, and he recently earned his fourth Emmy nomination for working on the show. However, he's the first to admit the show can be cringey. 

"Bitch, I know about working through cringe, climbing a cringe mountain, I work at Saturday f---ing Night Live, the cringiest thing in show business on every level. Cringe mountain is SNL," Yang said on the latest episode of his podcast.

Yang went on the clarify that fan reactions to the series are often the biggest reason why he feels like SNL is the cringiest thing in show biz.

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"Eternally grateful that I work there, will be the defining thing of my life and career, and yet it is a cringe mountain because to live through working at SNL and to have people constantly tell you how much it sucks, how bad it is, how it's not as good as it used to be, for your career — that has to do something to you psychologically where you emerge and go, 'I don't give a f---,'" he added.

Stay tuned for more updates about SNL. 

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