After leaving Saturday Night Live ahead of season 51, Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim spoke candidly about work culture on the iconic late-night sketch show.
Nwodim, who hosted Gardner on the podcast “Thanks Papa,” said the “SNL” cast has to spend a lot of “intimate” time together during scripts and rehearsals, which can either bring everyone together or create disdain within the group.
“Whenever we were rehearsing for hours on Saturday, Thursday, Friday, we had to share such an intimate space together, so yeah, we bonded quickly,” Nwodim explained. “But it doesn’t necessarily have to work that way. It doesn’t make us closer. It can make us hate each other. We can make each other feel like, ‘We’re sharing space with this person.'” But I’m so grateful that we’re so close. ”
Gardner added that she was grateful for the friendship she and Nwodim formed during the show and was grateful that their egos didn’t get in the way.
“I’m so honored that we worked so hard there and then we worked so hard on our friendships as well. And by the way, it wasn’t hard,” Gardner said. “We’re human beings, so we have egos, we want what’s ours, we want to succeed. We haven’t often been able to succeed in the way we wanted to at the same time.”
Later in the discussion, Nwodim said it can be difficult for the SNL cast to feel like they’re “winning together,” which makes the show “not the best place to work,” among other reasons. However, she praised Gardner for being “such a light in such a difficult situation.”
She added, “But if you can leave, in a place where it’s so competitive and so self-centered, and you can still be so amazingly lovely and so radiant and continue to pour into other people like you, then I think you’ve succeeded.”
Gardner announced his departure from SNL on August 28 after appearing on the show for eight seasons, and Nwodim left on September 12 after his seventh season. The cast of “SNL” underwent a major shake-up before Season 51, with Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow all leaving the show. Please Don’t Destroy member Ben Marshall has been promoted to the main cast, Martin Herlihy has moved to the writing staff, and John Higgins has left the show.
