The cultural institution known as Saturday Night Live is a bit of a revolving door for cast members and writers. The latest cast member to split with the team is Devon Walker, who announced his departure from the show on Instagram recently.
Though the caption was short and sweet, he further elaborated in a note later in the post. Despite labeling the note as "wait...did he quit or did he get fired?" he actually did not answer that question.
Instead, Walker characterized working on SNL and the rest of the industry as a bunch of "little marriages....Permanent until they are not."
Then he got down to some real honesty about the environment of working on the show, continuing the marriage metaphor.
"Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell....even amidst all the dysfunction. We made a f**ked up lil family."
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Commenters were vocal in their support of him and thanked him for a good run on the show.
Many people's first knowledge of Walker was through SNL. The comedian actually has a master's degree in organizational leadership, but got his comedy career began at an open mic night in 2014, right around when he was starting grad school.
Since then, he has written for shows like Big Mouth, as well as performing his own stand-up set for a special on Comedy Central Stand Up Featuring.
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He joined SNL in 2022 originally as a featured player, later promoted to the repertory cast in 2024. All in all, he was on SNL for 3 seasons. Though a relatively short run for the show that made comedic titans like Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, and countless others, audiences liked Walker's presence on the stage.
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He played many characters in his time on SNL, but one commenter thought his impression of NBA player Draymond Green was especially worthy of praise.
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A great run.
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As for the whole 'toxic' workplace thing, Walker is not alone. Lorne Michaels, the creator and now 40-year showrunner for SNL has a particular style of running a workplace that can rub people the wrong way.
The same day that Walker posted his resignation, writers Celeste Yim—the first non-binary and first out trans writer—as well as writer Rosamund Baker also announced the conclusion of their time on SNL.
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To those like Walker, who still has not made it clear if he left the show voluntarily or was fired, commenters had some sage wisdom.
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As the show's 50th birthday is this year, it appears there will be further shake ups of the cast, including in the writing room.
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