Saturday Night Live‘s ritual of saying farewell to fellow members has become an unforgettable segment over the past decade—and this past Saturday’s season finale of Saturday Night Live marked the memorable departure of Bill Hader and, unofficially, Fred Armisen, as well as the fifth show Ben Affleck has hosted.
Hader has been a part of SNL for the last eight years and made his mark by doing impressions of various celebrities like Vincent Price, Alan Alda, Charlie Sheen and John Mayer, and through his original roles of Herb Welch and Vinny Vedecci. Hader’s most memorable character, Stefon, a news correspondent for the Weekend Update segment, made the biggest impact on Hader’s career at Saturday Night Live. During the season finale on Saturday, Hader played Stefon who went through “just about everyone he’s talked of at the desk over the years”, reports Rolling Stone.
Armisen, who is becoming more well-known because of the hit show, Portlandia, has not officially announced his departure like Hader. However, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Armisen unquestionably left the audience wondering about his departure from the show mainly due to his segment as Ian Rubbish, “the Johnny Rotten-esque character introduced just last month,” who “declared, ‘It’s our last night here.'” Armisen is recognized on Saturday Night Live for his roles as Barack Obama, Prince, Ice-T and Saddam Hussein as well as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, a character played during the season finale of SNL this past Saturday.
The season finale also seemed like it was waving goodbye to Seth Meyers, the Weekend Update anchor and head SNL writer. Last week, the Associated Press reported that Meyers will be taking over the role of Jimmy Fallon in his late night talk show due to Fallon’s promotion as Jay Leno’s replacement in the Tonight Show. Rolling Stone noted, “[Meyers] has said that he’d stay on SNL through the Fall, since one week’s notice for leaving didn’t feel right.”