Indiana University alumnus and comedian Emil Wakim will not return to Saturday Night Live after one season, posting on Instagram that it was a “gut punch of a call” when he received the notice.
The post continued, “it was the most terrifying, thrilling, and rewarding experience of my life and i will miss it dearly and all the brilliant people that work there that made it feel like home. thank u to lorne (Michaels, the show’s creator and producer) for taking a chance on me and changing my life.”
Wakim started in stand-up comedy at the Comedy Attic in Bloomington while attending IU, and he’s scheduled to perform there Friday and Saturday. Comedy Attic owner Dayna Thompson said she was shocked to hear that Wakim will not be returning to SNL.
Thompson also said she’s proud of him and looking forward to having him back performing at the comedy club.
“It's going to be really busy, and crowds are just super excited to see him back here,” she said. “You know people are rooting him on whether or not he goes back to the show. I think he's going to do really big things in his career.”
There will be one show on Friday and two shows on Saturday at the Comedy Attic. The show on Friday will be at 7 p.m. and the shows on Saturday will be at 7 and 9:15 p.m
Wakim was on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2022 and was selected as a New Face of Comedy at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, the world’s largest comedy festival, in Montreal.