Heidi Gardner is leaving “SNL” after 8 seasons.
Gardner has been a most valuable player on the show’s team, a strong member of the cast who can do anything.
For years she’s also been the “straight woman,” not gender or sexually, but the female lead off of whom quirky types could play their games.
Gardner reached a kind of zenith this past season in the Beavis and Butthead sketch with Mikey Day.
Now she joins a list that includes Michael Longfellow, Emil Wasim, and Devon Walker. Who’s next?
Executive producer Lorne Michaels is rarely off his game. But is he making mistakes with the 51st season? Longfellow, for example, was a strong young part of the team with a promising future.
As for Gardner, she’s been raking it in doing commercials with Dan Levy. She’s got great comedy chops and should be able to use “SNL” as leverage into prime time either on linear, cable, or streaming. She will really be missed.
So who’s next? The guillotine just keeps falling. Michaels must have found a superior group of newbies, that’s for sure.
