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Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim are in their feelings after their shock exits from “Saturday Night Live.”
The former co-stars had an emotional reunion as they talked about their friendship on Tuesday’s episode of Nwodim’s podcast, “Thanks Dad With Ego Nwodim.”
“Getting to spend seven years of my time on ‘SNL’ with you [was] one of life’s greatest gifts,” Nwodim, 37, told Gardner, 42.
“It’s not the easiest place to work,” Nwodim added of the NBC sketch comedy series, “but you were such a huge gift, and I absolutely adore and love you and am so grateful for that time.”
Nwodim also recalled that the pair formed a “really deep, really fast” friendship on the set of the show.
“One of us got called to the floor to rehearse a silly sketch, and it’s like, okay, I just told you everything about my life. And the thing you said to me is, I was called to exit, you were like, ‘Well, that’s more than I know about anyone who works here, and I’ve been here more than a year,'” Nwodim shared.
Gardner, who starred on “SNL” for eight years, told Nwodim she is “honored” to have worked with her, and that it was “beautiful to watch” her fellow comedian succeeded.
In return, Nwodim praised Gardner for how she’s handled herself since leaving the show.
“What I think matters most is the kind of person you are when you leave that place,” Nwodim told her former co-star. “In a place where it can get so competitive and you can become so self-involved, if you can leave and be still remarkably lovely and such a light and still pouring into other people, I think you succeeded. That’s what I think success is there, and you did that a million times over.”
At the end of the podcast, Nowdim said to Gardner that “there’s just nobody like you and you were just such a light in what can be such a challenging place to so many people.”
Gardner and Nwodim were shed from the “SNL” cast after Season 50, alongside Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim and Devon Walker.
The Post exclusively reported that Gardner’s contract was not renewed.
“It’s time for a new cast,” an insider shared.
Gardner still hasn’t publicly spoken out about her exit from the show.
Nwodim, meanwhile, released a statement last month claiming it was her decision to depart the series.
“The hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight. But after seven unforgettable seasons, I have decided to leave ‘SNL,'” she wrote on Instagram.
Nwodim added, “Week after week on that stage taught me more than I could have ever imagined, and I will carry those memories (and that laughter) with me always.”
English (US)