{"id":259037,"date":"2025-10-29T16:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/259037\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T16:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:37:08","slug":"heidi-gardner-ego-nwodim-call-snl-a-challenging-place-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/259037\/","title":{"rendered":"Heidi Gardner & Ego Nwodim Call ‘SNL’ A “Challenging Place” To Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tHeidi Gardner<\/a> and Ego Nwodim<\/a> exited Saturday Night Live<\/a> ahead of the Season 51 premiere on NBC.<\/p>\n

\n\tGardner had been on the late-night sketch show for eight seasons while Nwodim, who was initially expected to return<\/a>, announced her exit<\/a> following seven seasons.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe SNL<\/a> alum recently recalled their time on the show, revealing it was a \u201cchallenging place\u201d to work.<\/p>\n

\n\tGardner made an appearance on Nwodim\u2019s Thanks Dad podcast, where they revealed they shared a dressing room and formed a friendship.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not the easiest place to work, but you were such a huge gift, and I absolutely adore and love you,\u201d Nwodim told Gardner.<\/p>\n

\n\tNwodim recalled a situation on the show where she had \u201ctwo sketches on or something,\u201d and noticed Gardner was \u201cfrustrated about something.\u201d Nwodim recalled Gardner telling her, \u201cI want you to know I\u2019m frustrated, but I\u2019m happy for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: \u2018SNL\u2019 Stars Bowen Yang, Marcello Hern\u00e1ndez, Chloe Fineman & More React To Cast Exits Ahead Of Season 51<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI love you so much, and I am so honored that we worked so hard there,\u201d Gardner added. \u201cAnd then we also worked on our friendship so hard, which wasn\u2019t hard, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGardner acknowledged that as humans \u201cwe have egos\u201d and \u201cwant things for ourselves\u201d and \u201cwe want to succeed,\u201d adding, \u201cAnd there weren\u2019t a lot of times when we were able to succeed in the way we wanted at the exact same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNwodim said that she hoped they could be \u201cwinning together\u201d so they could have a \u201cfull celebration and not one of us mourning or frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: \u2018Saturday Night Live\u2019: List Of All Cast Members Not Returning For \u2018SNL\u2019 Season 51 On NBC<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tGardner recalled Nwodim having \u201cthe moment of the year\u201d when Gardner\u2019s \u201chero\u201d Jack Black hosted the show in 2024, which made her feel a type of way.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s a part of me, like if I think about it, I\u2019m like, wait, but I should want that for me. But you had it and it was f**king awesome,\u201d Gardner said.<\/p>\n

\n\tNwodim added, \u201cIt\u2019s so easy to be caught up with your own stuff at SNL, and what you\u2019re getting on and what you\u2019re not getting on, and how you\u2019re succeeding and how you wish you were doing better, or how I want what that person has.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNwodim praised Gardner, saying there was \u201cnobody like you,\u201d and adding, \u201cYou were just such a light in what can be such a challenging place to so many people. And that\u2019s just where you stood, and you worked from love, and you came from love. I feel honored to have been there at the same time as you. And I feel honored to have gotten the gift of a best friend out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Ego Nwodim Lands First Gig Following \u2018SNL\u2019 Exit & Joins \u2018The Comedy Series\u2019 Lineup<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tAs part of her departing message, Nwodim shared on social media in September, she said, \u201cI am immensely grateful to Lorne [Michaels] for the opportunity, to my castmates, the writers, and the crew for their brilliance, support, and friendship. Week after week on that stage taught me more than I could have ever imagined, and I will carry those memories, and that laughter, with me always.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim exited Saturday Night Live ahead of the Season 51 premiere on NBC. Gardner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[93404,88,75715,12015,12016,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-259037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-ego-nwodim","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-heidi-gardner","11":"tag-saturday-night-live","12":"tag-snl","13":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}