“It’s cliche to say this but working at SNL has been the greatest privilege of my life. I still can’t really believe I got to be a part of it. I fell in love with the place the second I walked through the door. Lorne (if you’re reading this on your burner account) I want you to know that I am forever in your debt.
“Every day I was lucky enough to be surrounded by the best people in the business, and I was constantly amazed watching them work. Sewing a jojo Siwa costume in 10 hours. Writing a cold open at 2pm on a Saturday. Finishing the VFX of a video minutes before dress (I don’t know if “finishing VFX” is the right technical term but you get the idea).”
Fineman told how she has “sobbed uncontrollably” when her sketches haven’t been picked for broadcast, and she has been “the most devastated” when things haven’t worked out on the show.
But she has also had plenty of “ecstatic” moments on the programme.
Chloe Fineman described her experience as a “privilege” and said it was “the right time” to leave. Photo / Getty Images
She added: “I’m definitely not the first to make this observation but it really is funny looking back at it all now, because at the show you get so invested in everything you work on. You sob uncontrollably when your sketch isn’t picked. You storm into a producers office telling them they just made the biggest mistake of their lives. You call everyone you know to complain. And then you look back a few years later and it was a sketch called ‘lipstick for thicc dogs’.
“But that’s just the show. You respect it so much that you give it absolutely everything you have even when it’s incredibly stupid. So you’re ecstatic when it works out and the most devastated you’ve ever been when it doesn’t. And in the end it doesn’t matter all that much but it did at the moment.”
Fineman admitted it was a tough decision to depart SNL, but said it is “the right time”.
She added: “It’s really hard to leave SNL but it does feel like the right time. I’m going to miss it a lot.
“But the people who work there are my family and that place is my home, and I know I’ll never be too far away.
“And I swear to God, one day, sometime in the future, they WILL make lipstick for thicc dogs.”
Hollywood actress Natalie Portman commented: “You’ve made us all laugh so hard for so many years! Excited for what you’ll do next”