The hottest New York City comedy show is no longer "Saturday Night Live" — at least not for Weekend Update city correspondent, Stefon.
Bill Hader, the man of a thousand voices and an inability to keep a straight face, will be leaving "SNL" after eight seasons. Hader's final episode will be the season finale airing on Saturday, which will be hosted by Ben Affleck.
"It was a hard decision, but it has to happen at some point,” Hader told the New York Times. "It got to a point where I said, 'Maybe it’s just time to go.'"
Hader, 34, joined "SNL" as a featured performer in 2005 and was promoted to a full cast member in 2006. He was nominated for an Emmy for supporting actor in a comedy series last year — a rarity for a show like "Saturday Night Live."
"He was so completely committed to the art of it and enough a student of it that there’s something strikingly original," executive producer Lorne Michaels said of Hader. "He didn’t explode onto the air, but gradually he found his voice, and that became a huge thing.”
Hader told the New York Times that his decision was motivated partly by seeing friends Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig move on, and partly by a desire to move his family to Los Angeles. His wife, Maggie Carey, is a filmmaker.
