We won't have Chloe Fineman to kick around anymore.
The seven-year "Saturday Night Live" star is leaving the NBC sketch series. She's already lined up a new gig - an upcoming Netflix series - and leaves the show on the best of terms.
Reportedly.
We'll always remember her for classic sketches like, er, well, uh, we're sure there's a few. And remember her breakout movie roles in "Babylon" and "Freakier Friday?"
No? Well, that's because "SNL" no longer is in the movie starmaking business. That wasn't the case for decades, though.
Think superstars like Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase, David Spade, Chris Farley, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, Dan Aykroyd and many more. That assembly line of comedy giants eventually slowed after Fey and Amy Poehler left the long-running series.
Now, Not Ready for Prime Time Players come and go, and the mainstream audience just shrugs. Remember when Bowen Yang called it an "SNL" career mere months ago? The media covered it aggressively, but most Americans just let out one loud yawn.
It's not that the show doesn't attract talent. Nor do Fineman or Yang lack comedy chops. It's simply that "SNL" is no longer a cultural tastemaker, doesn't deliver subversive material and is more obsessed with partisan comedy than comedy-comedy.
That's a pretty big deal.
It also reminds us there is no R-rated comedy marketplace to peddle a rising star's talents. We used to have movies like "Step Brothers," "Caddyshack" and "Ghostbusters" where "SNL" regulars could make us howl (and generate millions at the box office). That assembly line slowed to a crawl, too. Perhaps hits like "Scary Movie" will revive it, but that could take a while to happen.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest stand-up talents in the country nearly joined "SNL," but show creator Lorne Michaels pulled the plug for a very woke reason. Michaels tapped Shane Gillis on the shoulder and asked him to join the once-mighty sketch series in 2019.
Michaels quickly rescinded the offer after some "problematic" jokes from Gillis' past magically resurfaced.
That looked like curtains for Gillis' career, but he kept plugging away on comedy club stages nationwide. He also produced funny sketch material as part of the "Gilly & Keeves" duo. And his star just kept rising. He grew so big that "SNL" invited him on to host the show - twice.
Now, Gillis is unofficially rubbing the dismissal in the show's face. He just set a world record for the most tickets sold for a comedy show.
NEW: Shane Gillis sets a Guinness World Record for the largest audience ever for a comedian, drawing 73,946 people to Lincoln Financial Field.
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) July 19, 2026
Think "SNL" could use a name like that for its upcoming season, number 52? Here's guessing Gillis might return as a guest host in the foreseeable future. He's just too busy to join the show now.
And, frankly, that would be a career demotion.
There's a better chance Gillis will headline a bawdy, mainstream comedy before Fineman or Yang ever does.
