Former ‘Saturday Night Live’ Star Felt ‘Relieved’ To Be Fired

NBC

For many aspiring comedians and actors, landing a coveted spot in the cast of “Saturday Night Live” has been a launching pad to stardom. That’s been the case for the likes of Bill Murray, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and numerous others.

For some, however, coping with the breakneck schedule and relentless pressure has proven overwhelming.

Such was the case for one former cast member who revealed the mixed feelings she experienced when she learned she’d been let go after just season.

Chloe Troast Joined ‘SNL’ in 2023

Chloe Troast joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” for Season 49 in 2023.

As she explained during a recent appearance on the “But Also With Michael and Asher” podcast, she quickly discovered that what she expected working on the show to be like was far different from the reality she experienced.

After learning that the decision to bring her back was placed on hold over the summer, she received some highly critical comments from the show’s creative team that left her shattered. When she was ultimately informed she wouldn’t be returning, her response wasn’t what she expected.

“There was a type of psychic experience of when something like that happens, and you go like, ‘They’re not gonna take me back.’ Or like, ‘I’m getting fired,’ or whatever, and then when it does happen, you’re like, ‘I knew it,’” Troast said (as reported by Entertainment Weekly).

“And there’s some type of relief in that. And, definitely, when I finally got that piece of news, I was relieved to know that I wouldn’t then have to walk into a place that I was now deeply scared of,” she added, revealing that the criticism she was given “changed the place for me” irrevocably. 

‘Dread and Anxiety’

In fact, the possiblity she would have to return for another season left her terrified.

“There was a deep sense of dread and anxiety thinking that I would have to step back in that workplace and engage with the same people that I now had a completely different relationship with,” she said. “Because of the comments [and] because I actually realized how it worked in that time, where I went like, ‘Dang, this is just hard to be in this environment.’”

She continued, “That was a relief that, at that point, I was like, ‘Okay, alright, well, now I know I don’t have to be randomly nice to people that I think are quite mean,’ or stuff like that.”

A Deluge of Support

When news of her firing broke, she was engulfed in a deluge of support from those she’d worked with on the show.

“The public didn’t know, and friends didn’t really know, and so then I got this like influx of calls from everyone inside,” she recalled.

“That was amazing of just… it almost made a lot of us closer, at least for me, my relationship to them [was] closer because they were so kind and supportive and had my back and wanted to see me, wanted to hang out, wanted to do shows, like same old, same old in that way,” Troast added.

“In that moment, when we would have discussions and phone calls and things like that, they all wanted to be super there for me and everything. And they still are,” she said.

“I still do shows with all those guys,” she shared, adding, “The group that you surround yourself with, if they’re not sticking their neck out or reaching out even in moments where you flop…maybe you need to reevaluate your crew. And, at that time, I was like, ‘Oh, this crew is steadfast.’”