After Last Night’s Saturday Night Live Season Finale Two Longtime Cast Members Say Goodbye

Saturday Night Live has had a ratings resurgence this year, with it having had it’s best season numbers in the past two decades. But even as that good news was still sinking in, word has been emerging that not one but two longtime cast members will be saying goodbye and moving on in their careers. Both Vanessa Bayer, who joined the cast as a featured player back in 2010 and was promoted to a repertory player, and Bobby Moynihan are departing the cast.

Moynihan had made his announcement late last week, saying he’s moving on to his own CBS series, Me Myself & I, as well as voicing a winged horse character in the upcoming Syfy series Happy. With his tenure with the show of 9 years, only Kenan Thompson at 14 years has been with the venerable series longer. His original character of Drunk Uncle on Weekend Update is among his most memorable, along with his political portrayals of Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie.

Bayer’s characters spanned a wide range over her tenure, from impersonating Jennifer Anniston’s Rachel Green from Friends to Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy on Weekend Update segments.

Bayer has not yet announced her future plans.