Michael Che says comments he made on Friday night at a Minneapolis pop-up comedy show about leaving Saturday Night Live were just jokes.
“To comedy fans; please stop telling reporters everything you hear at a comedy show, youre spoiling the trick,” Che wrote as the caption of an Instagram slide show under a screen shot of a Huffington Post article titled “Saturday Night Live Co-Head Writer Michael Che Says He’s Leaving ‘Weekend Update.’”
“I’m not leaving SNL,” he wrote, according to The New York Daily News. “I said it at a comedy show and some dork transcribed it and wrote an article.”
Che’s Instagram post has since been deleted. But he has left standing another post, a screenshot of an article titled “Michael Che Won’t Leave Weekend Update on SNL.” He captioned it: “‘WONT’ leave?! dont say it like THAT! i wasnt ASKED to leave! ill leave at SOME point!”
“This is my last year,” Che said during the stand-up pop-up show at Steller Hair Co., according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “You know my tie is a clip-on, right? What man wears a clip-on tie to work for eight years — that’s embarrassing.”
The comedian joined Saturday Night Live as a writer in 2013, before becoming a featured player in 2014. He became Weekend Update co-anchor in Sept. 2014, alongside Colin Jost. The pair became head writers in 2017, and Che is the first person of color to co-lead the team.
According to Deadline, Che has the second-most Weekend Update appearances, only behind his co-host. Che surpassed Seth Meyers’ number of appearances in January.
Che has been busy between appearances on the show. He had a six-episode HBO Max series, That Damn Michael Che, and a Netflix comedy special, Michael Che: Shame the Devil.
The star appeared at several unusual spots in the Twin Cities, including the beauty salon, where about 50 people attended, and at a brewery.
Che asked patrons to take photos but not videos. He said, “This is my diary,” The Star Tribune reported. “Can’t a man have a private conversation into a microphone in front of strangers without the whole world finding out about it? Jesus. I’m just telling you my secrets.”
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