On Friday, there was big news: Pete Davidson was finally going to do what he’s long threatened, which is leave SNL. Word of his departure came before — and even wound up eclipsing — an even bigger announcement: Three other cast members were leaving as well. Saturday’s Season 47 finale will be the last dance for not just Davidson but also Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney.
While Davidson has been on SNL since 2014, all three others have been around longer. McKinnon joined in 2012 and Mooney in 2013. Davidson holed out his own specific niche on the show, rarely doing the traditional role of impersonations and recurring characters, instead mostly playing, well, Pete Davidson. (Mooney, meanwhile, has often been in his own, strange, delightful world.)
McKinnon and Bryant, though, have been workhorses, appearing frequently, sometimes even carrying the show, occasionally even breaking character, even together. They’ve been game for anything, from nailing impersonations of political figures great and not-so-great. Just as it’s hard to imagine an SNL without Kenan Thompson and/or Cecily Strong, it’s hard to imagine it without McKinnon and Bryant (and Davidson and Mooney). But when the show return in the fall, that’s what we’ll have to do. Nice work, you four.
(Via Variety)