Shane Gillis: Who are SNL's shortest-tenured cast members?

Nate Chute
York Daily Record

Less than a week after announcing three new cast members, Saturday Night Live announced they have parted ways with one of these hires.

Shane Gillis, a Pennsylvania native, was called out for his use of a racial slur on a podcast and other comments made while performing stand-up material.

SNL said they were unaware of the comments Gillis made before extending a job offer to him.

Shane Gillis' tenure on 'SNL' was short-lived: Four days, to be exact.

"The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable, " the NBC show said in a statement. "We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”

In his own statement, Gillis said he happy to apologize to those who have been offended by his comedy, but that sometimes being the best comedian "requires risks."

His association with the show will be one of the shortest-lived in the iconic brand's history: just four days. Few others have had such a short amount of time connected to SNL.

Hired by SNL, this actress left the show before recording an episode 

In 1981, Catherine O'Hara, an understudy of Gilda Radner's at Second City in Toronto, was hired to join the show just weeks before the season was supposed to begin. A week after joining, O'Hara left without recording an episode.

Actor Catherine O'Hara attends the premiere "Schitt's Creek" season 4 at ArcLight Hollywood on January 16, 2018 in Hollywood, California.

"I just was so uncomfortable, and I can’t even explain why. I was just in the wrong place. It was wrong for me," O'Hara said on a Marc Maron podcast in 2013.

One reason O'Hara accepted the SNL job was because "Second City TV" was no longer on the air. But it came back after NBC picked it up, and O'Hara knew she had to return, joining legends like Eugene Levy and John Candy, who turned down SNL's offer that same year, too.

"I had to come home. I couldn't not be with them," O'Hara told the Toronto Star.

The shortest tenured cast members on SNL

For those who have been credited with being on the show, two actors are tied for the shortest time on the show

Emily Prager has only been credited for appearing in the show's season finale in 1981, but in fact, did not appear in that episode despite being seen in cameo roles in previous episodes while working as a writer on the show. 

Laurie Metcalf was also credited with appearing in that season finale, but only made an appearance in a pre-taped segment during "Weekend Update."

Nate Chute is a producer with the USA Today Network. Follow him on Twitter at @nchute.