Heidi Gardner came to comedy later than some of her Saturday Night Live colleagues. Rather than jumping straight from college to an improv-class version of grad school to SNL auditions, she worked for nearly a decade as a hairstylist before auditioning for the Groundlings and eventually landing on the NBC sketch-comedy show in 2017. Maybe it was her extra time spent in the non-performing world that allowed her to hone her observational skills; regardless, Gardner quickly established herself as the kind of SNL player who can imbue even the most outsize characters with recognizable human behavior.

Following the show’s landmark 50th anniversary , Gardner is leaving SNL after eight seasons of physical comedy, straight-woman reactions, and virtuoso solos at the “Weekend Update” des

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