It feels like every year, there are reports and questions about Michael Che’s future on Saturday Night Live. While he and Colin Jost have said it’d be hard to say goodbye to SNL, Che also joked that he personally says he’s going to leave every year. So, it’s hard to get a read on if he’ll come back season after season. But he always returns. Why does this keep happening? Well, the long-time Weekend Update host explained his reasoning.
Thankfully, Mike Birbiglia also had this question, asking Che why there are always headlines about him not coming back for another season. Without hesitation, the comedian explained on the Working It Out podcast:
I think it’s ‘cause I keep posting that I’m not coming back.
He went on to say that he thinks the outlets are getting this information directly from the source himself. However, the thing is, Che never leaves. In fact, he’s been on Saturday Night Live for 13 seasons as a full-time cast member. To put that in perspective, while Colin Jost is the longest-running Weekend Update host, Che is not that far behind him, with well over a decade behind the desk.
With that in mind, Birbiglia asked, “what the psychology” is behind the comedian saying he’s not going to return every year. In response, Michael Che started talking about his mother on Thanksgiving:
I always think I’m not coming back… I think I get it from my mom, you know, every year my mom complains about doing Thanksgiving and how much she has to do for Thanksgiving. She has to stay up all night, and everybody’s like, ‘Well, why don’t you just not do it? We’ll go somewhere else.’ And she’s like, ‘Well, then y’all going to complain.’ Like, ‘No, we won’t complain.’ But she has to do that. She has to tell herself that she has to do it even though she doesn’t want to do it, so that everybody can say, ‘Well, we’re glad you did it.’
Now, you might be wondering how this anecdote ties back to SNL; trust me, I was too. Don’t worry, Che brought it all back around to his work on the show, saying:
I don’t know, and maybe that’s what it is. Maybe for me, I need to tell myself I’m leaving so that I can stay.
He then joked that he needs people to “fight” for him to stay, which got Birbiglia laughing. After that, Che got real again about why he goes through this rollercoaster every year. Part of it comes down to just how exhausting and hard it is to work at Saturday Night Live, as he said:
It’s a lot when you really, really care. I’ll say that, ‘cause it could also be a real little bit. But it’s a lot when you’re trying to be – like, I don’t know what it is, but on that Sunday after a Saturday, I could sleep 12 hours straight. It’s exhausting.
He went on to reiterate how difficult the show is, saying it’s more “draining” than any standup he’s ever done. So, by the time they reach the end of a season, like they just did on the 2026 TV schedule, Che is left thinking:
By the time you’ve done 20 [episodes] in a year, you’re like, ‘I don’t want to do this again.’
However, despite SNL being rough at times and really hard work, it’s great work. And during the summer, after a much-needed break, Che is usually reminded of all that, as he said:
And then you kind of have summer where you start to hear people say, ‘Boy, we love this. Good job.’ They remember like two or three moments. Of all the stuff you’ve done, they remember like two or three things you’ve done, and they like ‘Oh man. I love that. I can’t wait ‘til it comes back.’ Or anything that happens in the news, you get your inbox flooded with ‘Oh, you guys got to do this.’ It makes you care about going back, and you get excited about going back.
He also said it’s exciting to welcome new cast members and hosts, and all that hype makes him want to return.
So, in short, it’s all a cycle. Now, we’re at the end of one, and I’ll be curious to see if Michael Che decides to stay or say goodbye. My guess is he’ll stick around for Season 52. However, SNL saw a big cast shakeup for Season 51, so anything can happen. However, I will say, if you see Michael Che say he’s going to leave, maybe take it with a grain of salt until the official cast list comes out.
