Michael Longfellow Details Brutal ‘SNL’ Exit After Three Seasons on the Show: ‘It Sucks’

Michael Longfellow’s firing from Saturday Night Live was as public as it was painful.

On Sunday, August 31, Longfellow popped up as a surprise guest at Brooklyn’s Bell House during a show for former SNL costar James Austin Johnson — who is staying on for season 51 — where he admitted that the nature of the firing stung the most.

“My neighbor knows I’m fired,” Longfellow quipped onstage, according to a post shared on Reddit. “I don’t actually know my neighbor. He doesn’t know me. But he knows I’m fired.”

According to the Daily Beast, fans in the audience said the comedian looked “super bummed” as he discussed what had happened. “He was downcast,” one person said “He was trying to hide it, but you could tell it sucked for him.”

Longfellow, 31, was at an airport in Utah when his agent called to deliver the news that his three-season run had come to an end, per the outlet.

The decision was part of a broader cast shakeup following the show’s 50th season — Devon Walker and Emil Wakim were also let go. After the news broke, Walker didn’t hold back, calling the work environment “toxic as hell” in an Instagram post announcing his exit. Meanwhile, Wakim admitted in his own Instagram post that the news felt like a “gut punch.”

Writers Rosebud Baker and Celeste Yim, the first out trans writer in the show’s history, are also not returning.

Even longtime cast member Heidi Gardner was reportedly pushed out, with alum Dana Carvey suggesting her exit was not “her idea.”

Despite his sudden departure, Longfellow shared his gratitude in an Instagram post last week while announcing the news he was leaving.

“Will not be returning for a 4th season at SNL. Wish I was but, so it goes,” he wrote, before calling the show the “best three years” of his life and thanking Michaels for giving him “the greatest job in the world.”