Just as Saturday Night Live. fans thought the cast changes were complete, Ego Nwodim is announcing she’s leaving the show after seven seasons.
“The hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight. But after seven unforgettable seasons, I have decided to leave SNL,” Nwodim posted an Instagram Story on Friday.
She continued, “I am immensely grateful to Lorne for the opportunity, to my castmates, the writers, and the crew for their brilliance support, and friendship. week after week on that sage taught me more than I could have ever imagined, and I will care those memories (and that laughter) with me always.”
Nwodim joined the SNL cast in 2018 at the start of season 44 and has proven to be standout in both sketch work and “Weekend Update” appearances over the years, but really broke out the last few seasons.
She scored a viral hit in season 48’s “Lisa From Temecula” sketch, which has since racked up 8.5 million views on YouTube. The sketch saw her titular character disrupting a celebratory meal by trying to cut into her “extra extra well done” steak (“Cook my meat!”) and shaking the entire table so hard it caused a scene and a mess. It also caused the episode’s host, Pedro Pascal, and several costars, including Punkie Johnson and Bowen Yang, to burst into real laughter. The character recurred two more times.
Then last season, Nwodim made headlines with a hysterical “Weekend Update” bit that resulted in the entire studio audience being censored for yelling out a swear word. As her alter ego comic stand-up comic persona Miss Eggy, she performed a Def Comedy Jam-style routine in front of the news desk.
Mimicking an audience call-and-response, she said, “This Miss Eggy, and Miss Eggy don’t what?” she asked, as the crowd yelled back, “Play!” After laughing off their surprise correct answer, she continued, “Cory Booker out here with his filibuster. Shooot. I had my fill of busters. ‘Cause these men ain’t what?” she asked, again pointing the mic to the studio audience, who exclaimed, “S—,” resulting in a bleep during the live NBC broadcast.
Nwodim used her extensive improv background to hilariously handle the shocking live moment, joking, “Y’all gonna have to pay for that. Lorne gonna be mad at y’all.”
In an Emmys For Your Consideration panel earlier this summer, she explained, “The audience never says anything on Saturday Night Live. We didn’t expect them to say anything. They’re just supposed to laugh or not laugh.”
She admitted, “They really threw me for a loop, but it was so exciting because I love improv and so getting to play with them was so fun.”
Will Heath/NBC
Nwodim’s exit comes after castmates Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow, and featured player Emil Wakim were previously confirmed as not returning for the upcoming season.
SNL also announced the additions of five new featured players joining the season 51 cast: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, Veronika Slowikowska, and Ben Marshall from comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy, which has been producing pre-recorded videos on the sketch show since season 47.
Saturday Night Live season 51 premieres Saturday, Oct. 4 at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT, on NBC and Peacock.
