Chloe Fineman is leaving “Saturday Night Live.”
The actor-comedian best known for her impressions exits the NBC sketch comedy series after seven seasons.
“After 7 wonderful seasons at SNL I have decided it’s time for my next chapter,” Fineman wrote in a lengthy Instagram post announcing her departure. She concluded, “It’s really hard to leave SNL but it does feel like the right time. I’m going to miss it a lot. But the people who work there are my family and that place is my home, and I know I’ll never be too far away.”
Fineman is the first “SNL” cast member to leave the show ahead of Season 52. Yang departed the show midway through Season 51. The cast is typically finalized in early September, just weeks before the season premiere. It’s unclear how many — if any — new cast will be added ahead of the new season.
Fineman joined the ranks at Studio 8H in 2019. She was announced as a Season 45 newcomer alongside Yang and Shane Gillis, who was fired from the series before the season began. Fineman quickly became known for her range of impressions, which included Jennifer Coolidge, Timothée Chalamet, Drew Barrymore, Britney Spears and JoJo Siwa.
Read her post in full below.
After 7 wonderful seasons at SNL I have decided it’s time for my next chapter.
It’s cliche to say this but working at SNL has been the greatest privilege of my life. I still can’t really believe I got to be a part of it. I fell in love with the place the second I walked through the door. Lorne (if you’re reading this on your burner account) I want you to know that I am forever in your debt.
Every day I was lucky enough to be surrounded by the best people in the business, and I was constantly amazed watching them work. Sewing a jojo Siwa costume in 10 hours. Writing a cold open at 2pm on a Saturday. Finishing the VFX of a video minutes before dress (I don’t know if “finishing VFX” is the right technical term but you get the idea).
I’m definitely not the first to make this observation but it really is funny looking back at it all now, because at the show you get so invested in everything you work on. You sob uncontrollably when your sketch isn’t picked. You storm into a producers office telling them they just made the biggest mistake of their lives. You call everyone you know to complain. And then you look back a few years later and it was a sketch called “lipstick for thicc dogs.”
But that’s just the show. You respect it so much that you give it absolutely everything you have even when it’s incredibly stupid. So you’re ecstatic when it works out and the most devastated you’ve ever been when it doesn’t. And in the end it doesn’t matter all that much but it did at the moment.
It’s really hard to leave SNL but it does feel like the right time. I’m going to miss it a lot. But the people who work there are my family and that place is my home, and I know I’ll never be too far away.
And I swear to God, one day, sometime in the future, they WILL make lipstick for thicc dogs.