Kate McKinnon Reveals the Reason She's Leaving 'SNL'

“Leaving was in the back of my mind for a while, because it’s just a grueling schedule,” Kate said while appearing on Vulture’s podcast. “I mean, I could do it for the rest of my life, happily, if the schedule were not so grueling and if I was not naturally a person who liked to wake up at 8 a.m. and go to bed at midnight.”

“I was having trouble staying up until 1 a.m. And I was like, ‘OK, I have to go. As scared as I am and as sad as I am, it’s time,’” she said.

Then, Kate got emotional and said, “Telling Lorne [Michaels] was really hard. He knew it was coming. He was very sweet. But he has been a father figure to me, and so much more. It was just really hard — simple human emotions, not wanting to say goodbye to something you love. This is fresh. It only happened two months ago.”

Be sure to check out this hilarious compilation of Kate and some other SNL stars breaking character!