“Saturday Night Live” alums Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim got emotional over their “challenging” on-set dynamic at the NBC show after their shocking exits .

Nwodim admitted on her “Thanks Dad” podcast Tuesday that the sketch comedy show was “not the easiest place to work” while calling Gardner “such a light in what can be such a challenging place.”

The 37-year-old gushed, “In a place where it can get so competitive and you can become so self involved, if you can leave and be still remarkably lovely and such a light and still pouring into other people like you, I think you succeeded.”

Gardner, for her part, tearfully opened up about how “hard” the comedians worked on their friendship in the competitive environment.

“We’re humans, so we have egos, we want things for ourselves, we want

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