Image Credit: NBC

Four more years… of Jay Pharoah on Saturday Night Live! Barack Obama’s reelection all but ensures that SNL‘s talented impressionist will enjoy job security through at least 2016. But the status of Pharoah’s sparring buddy is a lot less certain. Mitt Romney’s big loss could easily mean that Jason Sudeikis will soon go the way of Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg, two longtime SNL cast members who exited the show at the end of last season. Sure, Sudeikis also plays Obama’s vice president — but can we really expect him to stick around just to occasionally caricature Joe Biden?

Rumors about Sudeikis’s impending departure began flying last spring and intensified over the summer — especially after Sudeikis himself hinted he was on his way out in interviews with Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone, and the L.A. Times. But in September, NBC confirmed that Sudeikis was sticking around for Saturday Night Live‘s 38th season — or, at least, the first half of it. “Right now the idea is that Jason will go through at least until January,” Lorne Michaels told the New York Times. Sudeikis became a featured player on SNL in 2005.

If he does say “adios” in early 2013, Sudeikis won’t be the first cast member to exit SNL mid-season.  READ FULL STORY »