It looks like Michael Che’s days may be numbered on Saturday Night Live after all. Weeks after warring reports regarding the comedian’s future on the sketch comedy, Che himself has said in a new profile he’s already thought about leaving the show plenty of times. In fact, the comedian says he likely won’t be around any longer than he’s already been on the show.
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“My head has been at leaving for the past five seasons,” Che told the paper. “I do think that I’ve been here longer than I’ll be here. This show is built for younger voices and, at some point, there’ll be something more exciting to watch at the halfway mark of the show than me and dumb Jost.”
Che first joined Saturday Night Live in 2013 as a guest writer before being promoted to a staff writer. One year later, Che took over for Cecily Strong on the show’s flagship “Weekend Update” segment. When the series wraps its 47th season next week, the comedian will have hosted the segment for seven seasons.
This March, Che said he was going to be done with SNL at the end of the season, before clarifying and saying it was all a joke the next day in an Instagram post. In the same post with the times, longtime SNL producer Lorne Michaels suggested there would be an overhaul and a “year of change” after the current season wrapped up. Still, he hopes Che returns to 30 Rock to continue his role.
“If I had my way, he’ll be here,” Michaels told the NY Times. “And I don’t always get my way. But when you have someone who’s the real thing, you want to hold on as long as you can.”
As for creatives leaving the show, Michaels himself previously said he’d like to stay on board through the show’s 50th season, which will air over the 2024-2025 fall television schedule. The producer will turn 80 in the middle of Season 50.
“You know, I think I’m committed to doing this show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years,” the producer told CBS Mornings last year. “I’d like to see that through, and I have a feeling that’d be a really good time to leave. But … I won’t want the show ever to be bad. I care too deeply about it. It’s been my life’s work. So I’m going to do everything I can to see it carry on.”
Saturday Night Live is streaming in its entirety on Peacock.
