SNL News - Will Forte leaves SNL

MacGruber has survived his last explosion.

Will Forte is keeping up the "Saturday Night Live" tradition of late-August departures by not coming back to the series for Season 36.

The New York Times reports that multiple sources say Forte won't be coming back and that the parting was amicable -- though at Forte's request. He wants to devote more time to other projects.

Hopefully those other projects will bring him more success than "MacGruber," the hilarious but certifiable bomb adaptation of one of his many "SNL" characters.

And there've been so many... the Falconer, Clancy T Bachleratt, absent-minded ESPN Classic commentator Greg Stink and, most recently, the monotone lothario Hamilton, whose inappropriate speeches at weddings, funerals and Q&As made for some of last season's funnier sketches.

UPDATE: NBC referred Zap2it to Forte's personal publicist who confirmed the news, saying, "After eight great seasons, Will has made the decision to move on from SNL to pursue new opportunities. He is eternally grateful to Lorne and all of the incredible people he worked with over the years."

So what do you think -- a good or bad move for Forte? And, most importantly, how much will you miss him?

From:
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/08/saturday-night-live-will-forte-not-returning-next-season.html
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Thanks to TheKinkySurgeon for the scoop!

Okay, so I'm actually more surprised that this came at Will's request. Lorne will need to clean house soon (the average stay is approaching 8 years instead of 4-6), but he does need to line up new performers.

So Lorne is probably happy about this, because he has one less tough decision about who to ask to leave.

My personal opinion is that Will won't be terribly missed. He is a great straight man, MacGuber is amazingly and consistently funny on SNL, and his songs are hilarious (and I love his dancing coach), but his humor is usually too weird. He's bombed in two movies now that he's starred in.

So is this a good move for Will? Hard to say. He was great and valuable on SNL, but it's better to leave voluntarily for your career than to get kicked off. He picked a great time to go. So really it's just a question of what he has in mind and if it will succeed. If it's another movie... probably not.

We told you so! Oh, and I have to leave you a "We told you so!" I wasn't sure that it would come from Will Forte (versus from Lorne and SNL), but over here we predicted that Will would depart soon...

7/30/10 - Our cast change picks
2/29/08 - Is Will Forte next to leave SNL?


What do you think? Will you miss him? Is this a good move for him?

Enjoy!