‘HIGH STAKES’

‘SNL’ Star Finally Admits She Was ‘Cut’ From the Cast

Heidi Gardner had not previously clarified the nature of her exit after Season 50.

Turns out Heidi Gardner really was fired from Saturday Night Live.

That’s what the eight-season veteran told Mike Birbiglia on his Working It Out podcast on Monday. Birbiglia told Gardner that while he “envied” SNL’s comedians, “the thing that would crush me is if I worked on something, and then someone was like, ‘You can’t do it.’”

Gardner agreed that having sketches cut was hard. She then added, “The majority of what you do, too, there, I think, for me.”

“I mean, I like, I ended up getting cut, so I feel like, more than anyone in the world.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to reps for Gardner for additional comment.

Gardner’s departure from the show was announced during the show’s big cast shakeup following its 50th anniversary. Other cast members asked not to return for Season 51 included Emil Wakum, Devon Walker, and Michael Longfellow. Ego Nwodim left the show of her own volition shortly after those announcements were made.

The New York Post reported that Gardner’s contract was terminated, and SNL alum Dana Carvey said he’d heard that Gardner was not asked to return—but the star never clarified the nature of her exit. Hers was the most shocking departure at the time, after eight seasons on the show as a fan favorite.

Gardner told Birbiglia Monday that she’s not “stressed” anymore after the constant grind of being on the show.

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“When I was doing it, after a while, you get to a point where you’re like, ‘Well, I’m comfortable here. I’m good. I’m comfortable, like I can just have fun.’ But no matter what, you’re always stressed. It is high stakes, and you care so much.”

She continued, “It was always like, the worst thing that could happen, or the worst thing that could happen was not getting to do your thing that week. And it was just, there were so many worse things that could happen, and at least one of the worst things would always happen.”

Last February, the former SNL star complained of “sketch fatigue” before she was cut.

Gardner opened up the most about her time on the show when she appeared on Nwodim’s podcast in October, where the two discussed why SNL wasn’t “the easiest place to work.”

“I am so honored that we worked so hard there, and then we also worked on our friendship so hard, which wasn’t hard, by the way,” Gardner said at the time, “I just mean… we’re humans, so we have egos, we want things for ourselves, we want to succeed, and there weren’t a lot of times when we were able to succeed in the way we wanted at the exact same time.”

Since leaving the show, Gardner landed a new gig on Broadway alongside fellow SNL alum Cecily Strong, Jon Stewart, Ray Romano, Sarah Silverman, and more for former SNL writer Simon Rich‘s All Out, which runs through Feb. 15.

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Eboni Boykin-PattersonEntertainment Reporter

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