‘Saturday Night Live’ Should Fire Michael Che If He Keeps Making Cryptic Posts About His Potential Exit

Longtime Saturday Night Live cast member and former co-head writer Michael Che can’t stop making coy, cryptic posts about his possible departure from the show while his colleagues are getting the ax. Maybe Lorne Michaels should lower the bar on his “only fire the hot guys” strategy.

This past Sunday, Che took to Instagram to tease SNL drama without actually spoiling any of Michaels’ offseason plans or revealing any new information, posting a pitch-black story with the suggestive caption, “this next week may determine the rest of my comedy career.” Che followed up that ominous non-announcement with a picture of a latte, captioning the story, “THIS.” as part of his running joke that, once he leaves SNL, he’s going to leave the comedy business behind and start a career as a barista.

Then, today, Che posted another Instagram Story showing a screenshot from a fed-up fan who asked the SNL veteran, “Are you leaving SNL or what?”

“lol everybody keeps asking me that..,” Che wrote, as if he hasn’t been deliberately fanning the flames of his own SNL exit rumors while Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow all give bittersweet goodbyes to the show. If Che is going to keep doing this coquettish, fake-bashful bit while his former colleagues cope with such a major blow to their careers, maybe Michaels should find a new “Weekend Update” anchor who doesn’t post like he’s a 16-year-old girl contemplating potential prom dates.

Che has been hinting at his exit from SNL since at least 2022, when he told a Minneapolis crowd at one of his stand-up shows that he was going into his final season with the show. Then, back in the fall, he told Howard Stern that he wasn’t having fun at SNL anymore, and during a social media exchange with a fan back in April, just a few weeks before the finale of SNL Season 50, Che teased that he’s going to stop being famous in “3 more episodes.” 

Nevertheless, at the time of writing, Che is still a member of the SNL cast, and he hasn’t yet posted a picture of his employee badge from Starbucks.

Everyone knows that the Saturday Night Live offices of 30 Rockefeller Plaza are some of the most taxing and high-stress workplaces in all of entertainment, but considering how SNL fan-favorite Wakim called the news that he had been fired after only one season a “gut punch,” Che is demonstrating exceptionally poor taste and a desperate need for attention by pulling this will-he-won’t-he after 11 seasons on the show as both a writer and a performer.

If Che is going to keep making his fans beg for him to return while comedians who want the job more than him have to make peace with the end of their dream come true, then clearly Che isn’t deserving of the spot at SNL that he can’t stop saying he hates. Michaels can find someone else to make Colin Jost look racist.