Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner may have made memorable sketches on it Saturday evening livebut it didn’t come without challenges.
The former cast members of the comedy sketch show shared their raw and vulnerable experiences following their surprising exits ahead of season 51.
Nwodim, 37, invited Gardner Thanks dad podcast on Tuesday, where she called the late-night show “not the easiest place to work” while appreciating her co-star for being “such a bright spot in what can be such a challenging place.”
The comedian continued, “In a place where it can get so competitive and you can be so self-involved, if you can go out and still be remarkably sweet and so light and still move on to other people like you, I think you’ve succeeded.”
She added that the “intimate space” where they rehearsed together every Saturday and other days made them very close very quickly.
Gardner, 42, agreed with Nwodim and became sentimental about the friendship they formed despite always being in a competitive environment.
“We’re human, so we have egos, we want things for ourselves, we want to succeed, and there weren’t many times where we could succeed in the way we wanted to at the exact same time,” Gardner noted.
While Nwodim intervened saying, “I remember thinking so many times, why can’t we win together at the same time so that it can feel like a complete celebration and not one of us is grieving or frustrated and one of us is on cloud nine.”
However, both friends agreed that it doesn’t have to be this way. They both tried to celebrate each other’s success, even if it wasn’t a reflection of their own.
Both Nwodim and Gardner left the show without revealing the reason behind it.
