Is Michael Che Quiet-Quitting ‘SNL’ on Social Media?

Michael Che was at it again this morning. 

On Che’s Instagram story, Colin Jost’s longtime Weekend Update co-anchor on Saturday Night Live posted cryptic messages that appeared to suggest a change is coming. Is he finally getting ready to abandon the anchor chair? 

Here’s the rest of Che’s post:

Whew. That’s a lot to unpack for one mad-lucid morning post. 

Is Che just letting off some steam? Or is he stepping down from Saturday Night Live in front of our eyes? It’s not hard to understand why he’s tired of “consuming all these stories of rapes and murders and scandals and all this foul shit .. for the sake of gossip and ‘content,’” but does that mean he’s done with it? And since he and Jost rebake those very stories for us every Saturday night, is he admitting he’s complicit in foul-shit culture? And what stuff are we supposed to be careful with — consuming toxic content or misinterpreting what he’s trying to say?

We’ve seen Che vague-post about his murky SNL future before. Just six months ago, he used Instagram Stories to proclaim a full-time return to stand-up.

In 2022, he did a pop-up show at a Minneapolis hair salon where he announced he was out at SNL. “This is my last year,” Che said. “You know my tie is a clip-on, right? What man wears a clip-on tie to work for eight years — that’s embarrassing.”

On the Fly on the Wall podcast this year, Che revealed he almost bailed years earlier over a punny punchline Jost had written. “I was like, ‘If you tell that joke on air, I’m leaving. I’m quitting the show,’” Che said. “And he did it on air, and it destroyed. And I was so frustrated. I was so frustrated. I was like, ‘I don’t even know what we do anymore.’”

In September, Howard Stern advised Che and Jost to keep riding the Weekend Update train. “You enjoy it, no?” 

Che winced and shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t know,” he said.

“Uh-oh,” replied Stern.

After years of teasing his imminent departure, have we finally reached the time when Che pulls the plug for real? 

Tune in Saturday night to find out.