Heidi Gardner is leaving the popular American TV show, Saturday Night Live (SNL), after eight seasons on the show. Her exit follows the departures of her former castmates, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim. The drastic cast change ahead of the October 4, 2025, premiere of SNL‘s season 51 might create trouble for the showmakers. Amid the buzz surrounding Heidi’s SNL exit, her past efforts for the show, such as securing Travis Kelce as a host, gained renewed attention.
Heidi Gardner put in great efforts to get Travis Kelce to host SNL
Heidi Gardner is a native of Kansas City, which is also home to Travis Kelce. The former SNL cast member is a self-proclaimed Kansas City Chiefs fan and had once gone to great lengths to secure Travis as a host of the show. She revealed that it took ‘a couple of years’ of persistent effort to persuade the SNL creator, Lorne Michaels, to have the American football tight end as SNL‘s host. Lorne had a big condition for accepting Heidi’s request, as shared by her through a 2024-released podcast, Not Skinny But Not Fat. Revealing the demanding condition, she said:
“Lorne was like, ‘Well, he [Travis Kelce] has to win the Super Bowl.’ I was like, ‘That is so much pressure to ask. And then he won the Super Bowl.”
