Two SNL Head Writers Leaving the Show

Last week, Saturday Night Live welcomed seven new writers to the team. Nimesh Patel, Gary Richardson, Claire Friedman, Sam Jay, Erik Marino, Andrew Dismukes, and Steven Castillo were all added to the SNL writers’ room for the 43rd season. But today comes the news of two major departures- co-head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider are stepping away from the series according to Deadline. The two have been with SNL for 6 seasons. Kelly and Schneider, who are a writing team, were promoted to co-head writers in Season 42– widely considered to be the most successful seasons in modern SNL history.

In 2013, the duo wrote “(Do It On My) Twin Bed” which was a big hit. Some other notable sketches included “Back Home Ballers,” and “First Got Horny 2 U,” “The Beygency,”, and more recently, helped create the “Bern Your Enthusiasm” sketch.

Both writers had big outside projects. The pair was commissioned to write a Comedy Central pilot in March of this year (currently awaiting series pickup) and Schneider is a writer on Master of None, while Kelly writes for Broad City. Kelly has a promising directing career ahead of him as well. Last year, he brought his first feature film, Other People to the Sundance Film Festival. The film which centers on a struggling gay comedy writer who moves to the West Coast to help his sick mother. The film was loosely based on his own experiences.

Read more comedy news.