“Saturday Night Live” boss Lorne Michaels was a bit tied up when Chloe Fineman called to say she was leaving the show.
“In classic form, he was watching England vs. Argentina,” Fineman told Variety at Monday night’s premiere of Apple TV’s “The Dink” in Los Angeles. “He was like, ‘I’ll call you back. I’m a the game.’ And I was like, ‘The soccer game?’ Then I made a joke, I was like, ‘I assume you’re rooting for England because you’re energetically very British.’ Then he called me back, and we had a really lovely chat.”
Fineman also shared that when the news of her “SNL” exit went live, she was very emotional.
“I cried when it was announced,” she said. “You really become a family [with the cast]… I wept when Colin Jost called me today, like, they really are my family. I’m happy that after seven years, I leave on a high note.”
Fineman announced on July 16 that she was exiting the show. “After 7 wonderful seasons at ‘SNL’ I have decided it’s time for my next chapter,” Fineman wrote in an Instagram post. She concluded, “It’s really hard to leave ‘SNL’ but it does feel like the right time. I’m going to miss it a lot. But the people who work there are my family and that place is my home, and I know I’ll never be too far away.”
The actor-comedian joined “SNL” in 2019. She quickly became known for her range of impressions, which included Jennifer Coolidge, Timothée Chalamet, Drew Barrymore, Britney Spears and JoJo Siwa.
Fineman’s first post-“SNL” gig will be as a series regular role in the “Myron Bolitar” series currently in the works at Netflix. Series regulars will also include Jabari Banks (“Bel Air”) and Jamie McShane (“Task,” “Wednesday”). Ben McKenzie (“Everyone is Lying to You for Money,” “Gotham”) will appear in a recurring guest star role.
Series leads include Colin Woodell, KJ Apa, and Diane Guerrero. Netflix originally announced the series pickup in May as part of their upfront presentation to advertisers. The show is inspired by Harlan Coben’s popular Myron Bolitar books, of which 12 have been published. The logline for the show states, “After an injury ends his NBA dreams, Myron Bolitar (Woodell) reinvents himself as a sports agent — using charm, smarts, and a ruthless partner to navigate the high-stakes and dirty world of sports, where saving his clients often means risking himself.”
In addition to Fineman, the cast of “The Dink,” a sports comedy about pickleball, includes Jake Johnson, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Patton Oswalt, Martin Kove, Mary Steenburgen and Ed Harris, as well as tennis legends Andy Roddick and John McEnroe.
“The Dink” premieres on Apple TV on July 24.