Former SNL Cast Member Slams Show For Being ‘Comedy Dinosaurs’

noel wells snl

Oh, burn! Former SNL cast member Noel Wells is apparently not too fond of her alma mater.

Wells became a full-fledged player on SNL for a year before she got the boot. But it turns out the actress is grateful she didn’t get sucked into what she calls “the establishment” for longer. She told Vanity Fair,

SNL is the comedy establishment. Of course, you want to go through that because you want that stamp of approval. But it has its own identity, and our voices didn’t mesh for whatever reason—or they decided we didn’t belong. I think a lot of us would have liked to keep trying and have our own voices shine through. For whatever reason, we got rejected. But that’s O.K.! It’s actually more rock ’n’ roll. The quicker you find out that you’re not going to go through the Establishment, the quicker you can decide to make your own version of how you want your craft to be.”

She added that post-SNL, she doesn’t try to get approval from the show.

“I think telling S.N.L. that they have to accept us is just going to water us down. We’re much stronger doing our own things. Don’t we want to make rock ’n’ roll? Why are we all trying to be accepted by all these comedy dinosaurs? S.N.L. has become what it was always trying to make fun of. It’s become this big machine. I don’t want to be plugged into a machine.”

Wells is referring to what a lot of fans have picked up on: the show is just not what it used to be. Prior to this season, many felt the show was in a downward spiral and losing touch with reality. The show has had an uptick in viewership since the 2016 election but now that Alec Baldwin plans on ending his impression of Donald Trump, the show’s recent success could end very soon.

Noel Wells has since gained fame as Aziz Ansari’s girlfriend on the hit Netflix show Master of None. The couple broke up by the end of the season so no word yet on whether Wells will return for the next season.

[related_post themes=”flat”]

Lena Finkel
Lena Finkel is the Editor and Founder of Femestella and The Feminist Health Source. Prior to starting Femestella, she worked at People, InStyle, Tiger Beat, and Sesame Workshop (aka Sesame Street). She loves all things Real Housewives and The Challenge. When she's not busy binge-watching TV, you can find her taking an absurd amount of photos of her tuxedo cat Tom.