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Middle-age is no joke.
And as “Saturday Night Live” has its 50th birthday on the horizon — the show premieres Season 48 on October 1 — some are wondering if the years have taken a toll.
Eight of the main cast members have left: Pete Davidson, Chris Redd, Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, Aidy Bryant, Melissa Villasenor, Beck Bennett and Alex Moffat. Featured player Aristotle Athari is also gone, while Cecily Strong, who seemed to suggest on last season’s finale that she was out, will be returning, according to a source.
As of press time, only four replacements have been announced.
Meanwhile, several large questions loom over the show: Where does it go from here? What happens when creator Lorne Michaels, now 77, finally retires — and when will that be? And has the show lost all its youthful buzz with tabloid favorite Davidson — famous for his romantic life (Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, Margaret Qualley, Kate Beckinsale), feuds (Kanye West) and honesty about his mental-health struggles — dropping out?
Multiple sources told The Post that the decision not to replace everyone is calculated, as the large size of last year’s cast — 16 repertory players plus five featured cast members — was actually hurting it.
“Their cast last year got to be pretty sizable, but what my understanding from Lorne was, during Covid everyone wanted to stay together. It’s unusual they had such a large cast,” said a TV industry source. “One thing I had heard is that there were so many people last season that they weren’t able to feature people in the way that they wanted to.
“Now, [Michaels] has got to develop new people.”
A spokesperson for Michaels confirmed to The Post: “Because of the pandemic, no one left [for the past couple years” — but that didn’t stop the show from adding newcomers. “The way the series has survived is by renewal. Because if the show doesn’t add people every year, the show isn’t the show.”
Some, like McKinnon, “were natural to leave,” the insider said. “Kate was going to leave forever; obviously, she had a few things on the side” — including voiceover work such as “The Magic School Bus” series. Davidson, meanwhile, has regularly been making movies (“Bodies Bodies Bodies,” “The King of Staten Island”) and Bryant starred on Hulu’s “Shrill.” Redd is set to voice a lead role in a yet-to-be titled project from Michaels’ Broadway Video and Audible and is attached to star in the feature film “Cyber Monday.”
The industry source, however, hinted that there might be more to Redd’s departure, which was just announced this week: “Not the easiest person, to be honest. [There was a need to] calm him down over stuff. [He had] one foot in, one foot out.”
A representative had no comment but a source close to the show said: “Chris Redd is amazingly talented and is always a pleasure to work with.”
According to Asylum NYC improv club owner Norm Laviolette, Michaels and others in his talent acquisition crew have not seem freaked out by what seems like a mass exodus of talent.
As usual, “SNL” casting executives arranged showcase auditions in various cities across the US, including the Asylum in Chelsea. There were 25 performers culled from hundreds of contenders from stand-up stages, the Internet and social media.
“There is no more urgency [than in previous years],” said Laviolette. “It gets tricky when all of a sudden a big percentage of your ensemble moves on. But are all the people leaving on their own accord? Or did ‘SNL’ shepherd some of them out the door? I would argue that if somebody has been there for 12 or 13 years, they are holding a spot for someone.
