Entertainment

Saturday Night Live boots out rookie performers

Saturday Night Live is booting out a number of rookie featured players who had just joined the sketch show last fall.

Noël Wells, John Milhiser and Brooks Wheelan joined the sketch show's cast last fall

Saturday Night Live cast members John Milhiser, Bobby Moynihan, Noel Wells and Brooks Wheelan are pictured here at a gala in New York City. Milhiser, Wells and Wheelan have been booted out from the long-running sketch show. (Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

It appears as though some Saturday Night Live players really aren't ready for prime time. 

Deadline.com reports that the long-running comedy sketch show will not be renewing the contracts of first-year performers Noël Wells and John Milhiser.

The news comes hot on the heels of another rookie's departure, Brooks Wheelan, which he announced via Twitter on Monday.

Wells, Milhiser and Wheelan are three of eight new featured players who joined the cast of SNL last fall for the show's 39th season. The show also later added Sasheer Zamata, the first black woman on its cast since 2007, after the show was criticized for a lack of diversity.

Along with the ousting of the rookie performers, longtime cast member Nasim Pedrad is also leaving the show to co-star in Fox's Mulaney, which debuts this fall.