Another Saturday Night Live Cast Member Is Leaving the Show Ahead of Season 42

Following Taran Killiam and Jay Pharoah's depatures, Jon Rudnitsky is also leaving the longrunning NBC sketch comedy series

By Tierney Bricker Aug 09, 2016 3:36 PMTags
Jon Rudnitsky, Saturday Night Live, SNLMary Ellen Matthews/NBC

And the Saturday Night Live exodus continues.

Following the surprising news that Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah will not be returning for season 42, E! News has confirmed that Jon Rudnitsky will also be leaving the show. 

Rudnitsky made his debut during the 2015-16 season and was the only newbie in season 41, but really didn't have a standout moment until he performed a Dirty Dancing parody during Weekend Update in a February episode, hosted by Larry David. He also did impressions of Tom Cruise, Vladimir Putin and Anderson Cooper during his time on the show. 

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Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah Won't Be Back on Saturday Night Live
Dana Edelson/NBC

While Rudnitsky has yet to sound off on his departure, Killam, who had been on the show for six seasons, admitted in an interview with Uproxx that he "doesn't know why" SNL decided not to pick up his contract. 

"You sign for seven years, so I had one more year," he said. "I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, but then heard they weren't going to pick up my contract. I was never given a reason why, really." (Killam noted he is set to direct a movie, Why We're Killing Gunther, and speculated that his commitment to that may have played a factor.) 

Still, Killam is "grateful" for his time on the show, saying, "My feeling about it is I got my dream job. 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."

Pharoah has yet to comment on his exit from the show. SNL is expected to announce new cast members for season 42 in the next few weeks.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBC Universal family.)

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