Headshot courtesy Devon Walker
Three-year Saturday Night Live cast member Devon Walker is departing the legendary sketch show ahead of its 51st season.
Walker announced the news Monday in an Instagram post. “To me, jobs in this industry feel like a bunch of little marriages,” he wrote. “Some of ‘em last for a long time if we’re lucky, but most of them are fleeting. Permanent until they’re not. That’s the deal. You know what it is when you sign up.”
“Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell,” he added. “But we did what we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a fucked up lil family.”
Walker was one of four new featured players added at the start of the show’s 48th season, all of whom came from a standup background: Marcello Hernández, Molly Kearney, and Michael Longfellow.
Among the highlights of his 150 sketches on the show were his Tim Scott impression, British rap duo Milly Pounds and Shirty (with James Austin Johnson), and “HIV commercial” from the Aubrey Plaza-hosted episode in 2023.
He also had a showcase moment this past season when he parodied Ashton Hall’s viral morning routine videos from the “Weekend Update” desk.
Walker told LateNighter earlier this summer that he loved being on the show and was “excited to keep working there as long as they’ll have me.” More recently, he struck a more tentative tone when asked whether he’d be returning this season, telling us “We’ll see,” and “talks are ongoing… TBD.”
A ten-year veteran of the standup stage, Walker has continued to perform nationally during his SNL run, and released his newest standup special on Hulu, LOL Live with Devon Walker, just this summer.
He also hosts My Favorite Lyrics, the music-centric podcast he launched earlier this year, and co-hosts with former SNL writers Alex English and Gary Richardson, “Dad,” a monthly live show in New York City that the trio are developing into a screen project.
In his SNL Instagram farewell, Walker wrote, “More than anything, I’m just really happy I got to do it with Gary and Alex. Niggas really went from running a bar show to working together at 30 Rock. It’s a beautiful thing,”
Walker’s news comes on the heels of SNL writers Celeste Yim and Rosebud Baker both confirming their departures from the show over the last 24 hours.
In an interview with Puck’s Matt Belloni late last week, Michaels said he feels pressure to reinvent this season, with Belloni reporting that multiple cast members are expected to depart.
SNL‘s 51st season kicks off Saturday, October 4.
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