Kansas City native Heidi Gardner will not return to “Saturday Night Live” when the long-running sketch show returns Oct. 4, according to multiple media reports.
The comedian first joined the show in 2017 as a featured player and writer, before being promoted to the full cast. She's appeared in more than 500 sketches during her tenure, bringing such characters as Angel ("Every Boxer's Girlfriend from Every Movie About Boxing Ever") to life on screen.
She was also instrumental in bringing Kanas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce on as host in 2023.
In the meantime, Gardner has remained a fixture in the Kansas City area. She’s a proud Kansas City Chiefs fan, and led the Kansas City Current’s traditional “KC Baby” chant at a game this season.
Gardner has joined other hometown stars — including fellow SNL alum Jason Sudeikis — as a host of the annual Big Slick fundraiser for Children's Mercy Hospital. And she frequently brings her friends to the area to show off the city and its barbecue.
Gardner grew up in the city and graduated from Notre Dame de Sion, before leaving the Midwest for Los Angeles in 2004.
“I had decided that I wanted to pursue hair and makeup,” she told KCUR's Central Standard in 2018. “I was dropping out of school, and a little insecure about that, so, 'If I do it in L.A that sounds more legit.'”
Gardner spent nine years working at a salon before she began taking classes with The Groundlings, an influential improv theater — a choice that eventually brought her to the famed NBC. During the 50th anniversary season, Gardner held the title of the longest-tenured female cast member.
She bought a home in Leawood in 2021, and redecorated it with the help of Kansas City artists and designers.
In addition to her work on SNL, Gardner recently had a recurring role on the Apple TV+ series "Shrinking," and she served as a judge on the HBO Max competition show "Second Chance Stage." The winner of that show, by the way? A singer from Kansas City.
