Will Forte Leaves 'Saturday Night Live'

Will Forte is leaving his gig as a "Saturday Night Live" castmember after bringing the laughs for eight seasons on NBC's late-night sketch-comedy show. The comedian's rep confirmed Forte's exit to MTV News.

"After eight great seasons, Will has made the decision to move on from SNL to pursue new opportunities," his rep said in a statement. "He is eternally grateful to [executive producer] Lorne [Michaels] and all of the incredible people he worked with over the years."
Forte has played a host of characters throughout his "SNL" career and is perhaps best known for his bumbling action star MacGruber, a thinly veiled send-up of the '80s action TV character MacGyver who came up with ingenious ways to slip out of sticky situations. A movie version of the popular sketch hit theaters in May and Forte told MTV News that he wasn't sweating any pressure to live up to "SNL" sketch-turned-silver-screen smashes like "The Blues Brothers" or "Wayne's World."

"The 'SNL' track record is about the same as the movies-in-general track record," Forte said. "There are a lot of crappy movies out there and a lot of great movies. Sure, there has been some 'SNL'-based movies that have sucked; there have been some great ones."

While Forte built upon the winning formula of MacGruber, he also said he wasn't concerned with slavishly replicating the minutes-long sketch on the big screen. Instead, the former television producer and writer, who honed his comedic chops behind the scenes on shows such as "3rd Rock From the Sun," was more focused on creating a hilarious experience for theatergoers.

"We weren't worried about the 'SNL' aspect of the movie," Forte said. "We just tried to make the best movie we could."

What are some of your favorite memories of Will Forte on "SNL"? Let us know in the comments below!

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