{"id":199840,"date":"2025-09-04T15:14:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/199840\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T15:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:14:13","slug":"dana-carvey-reveals-shocking-truth-about-heidi-gardners-snl-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/199840\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana Carvey reveals shocking truth about Heidi Gardner’s ‘SNL’ exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dana Carvey is spilling the tea about the brutal \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d cast shakeup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The comedian, 70, shared intel about Heidi Gardner\u2019s exit from the NBC show<\/a> on Wednesday\u2019s episode of his \u201cFly on the Wall\u201d podcast <\/a>with David Spade.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I know as of this recording, that it was not her idea to leave,\u201d Carvey claimed.<\/p>\n

David Spade and Dana Carvey on their podcast.<\/p>\n

Heidi Gardner in an \u201cSNL\u201d skit in 2018. NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI could be wrong about that,\u201d he added, \u201cbut that\u2019s what I read.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spade, who was on \u201cSNL\u201d for six seasons in the 1990s, said he finds it \u201ca little shocking\u201d that the show would fire Gardner.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause she really is one of the core ones you know from that show and she always does a great job,\u201d Spade, 61, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know, and it is a hard thing, but I was really, really surprised,\u201d Carvey replied. \u201cI think she\u2019s got a likability. She can play real, straight news woman, she can play big, brawn, funny, physical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I was surprised by that,\u201d he added of Gardner\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

Heidi Gardner at the 2025 Big Slick Party and Show in Kansas City. Stephen Lovekin\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

As Carvey also pointed out that Gardner did eight full seasons on the show, Spade added, \u201cEight is a lot. Eight is enough for the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post confirmed Aug. 28 that Gardner is not returning to \u201cSNL\u201d for Season 51.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gardner was the longest-tenured woman on the show as of last season. She joined the sketch comedy juggernaut during Season 43 as a featured player before being promoted to the main cast in 2019.<\/p>\n

Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow on \u201cSNL\u201d in March 2024. Will Heath\/NBC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Heidi Gardner at a \u201cSNL\u201d FYC 2025 event. Todd Williamson\/NBC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

She has yet to publicly address her exit.<\/p>\n

The Post has reached out to Gardner\u2019s rep for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alongside Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow\u00a0are also leaving the show<\/a>, while five newcomers<\/a> have been added to the Season 51 cast.<\/p>\n

Emil Wakim, Devon Walker and Michael Longfellow at the American Museum of Natural History\u2019s Museum Gala in Dec. 2024. Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s give our props to Michael Longfellow, a really cool, interesting character,\u201d Carvey said on the podcast, as he shouted out the trio exiting the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmil was an adorable person and funny out there,\u201d Carvey continued about Wakim, 27. \u201cThey can\u2019t have 100 cast members. I don\u2019t know how these people feel, but I give them my props. I was there with all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heidi Gardner and Michael Longfellow on \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d Holland Rainwater\/NBC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

James Austin Johnson and Emil Wakim on \u201cSNL.\u201d Will Heath\/NBC<\/p>\n

Carvey also recalled talking to Walker \u2014 who called the show \u201ctoxic\u201d <\/a>as he announced his departure \u2014 about the difficulties of \u201cSNL.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDevon had told me that when you don\u2019t get on the show a lot,\u201d Carvey said, \u201cthen when you get out there and you have a moment, you\u2019re not relaxed because it\u2019s like, if you don\u2019t score here, you go back in line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devon Walker playing Michael Strahan on \u201cSNL.\u201d Will Heath\/NBC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it can be emotionally violent depending where you are in the show or it could be a magic ride,\u201d Carvey added. <\/p>\n

\u201cSNL\u201d Season 51 premieres Oct. 4 on NBC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dana Carvey is spilling the tea about the brutal \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d cast shakeup. The comedian, 70, shared…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":199841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[24793,171,48551,103064,1747,110691,1933,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-199840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-dana-carvey","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-firing","11":"tag-heidi-gardner","12":"tag-saturday-night-live","13":"tag-sketch-comedy","14":"tag-snl","15":"tag-tv","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115146684398656149","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}