Emil Wakim is having one of those career plot twists comedians dream about and dread at the same time. On August 27, 2025, the 27-year-old comic announced that he’s exiting Saturday Night Live after a single season—a “gut punch of a call,” he wrote in a heartfelt Instagram post—while also emphasizing how “terrifying, thrilling, and rewarding” the experience had been.
Multiple entertainment outlets verified the news and timing, placing his debut in September 2024 (SNL’s 50th season) and his final appearance during the May 17, 2025 episode.
Wakim’s one-season tenure puts him in a long line of comics who used a quick SNL chapter as a springboard back into stand-up, acting, and writing. He also made a bit of history along the way: coverage notes he was the show’s first Lebanese American cast member, a detail that fits with the personal specificity fans recognize from his club sets and late-night debut.
From Chicago to Bloomington to 30 Rock
Born in Chicago in 1998, Wakim grew up in a Lebanese Maronite and White American household before heading to Indiana University in Bloomington—where he started performing stand-up and began the long, unglamorous climb comics know well.
Bios and festival pages track the familiar, hard-earned milestones: Just for Laughs New Faces in Montreal, spots with Don’t Tell Comedy and Comedy Central’s Stand-Up Featuring, and opening runs for heavy hitters like Roy Wood Jr., Nikki Glaser, Hasan Minhaj, Kyle Kinane, and Neal Brennan. In 2022, he made his TV stand-up debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
That résumé—plus a growing, Brooklyn-based live presence—set the table for SNL’s 50th-season call-up. He joined as a featured player in fall 2024, rotating through sketches and landing at the desk for “Weekend Update,” where young comics get a lane to show their voice in a compressed, high-stakes format.
Why the SNL exit isn’t the end of the story
One-season departures aren’t rare at SNL; featured players sign initial deals but the show regularly reshapes its ensemble. Reporting around Wakim’s announcement points to broader cast turnover ahead of Season 51 (premiering October 4, 2025), following SNL’s extended 50th-anniversary run. In other words: change was expected; the question for Wakim is what he builds with the oxygen that follows.
He seems already in motion. Club calendars and ticketing platforms show 2025 gigs in core comedy markets and a homecoming swing through Indiana—a signal that the post-SNL chapter centers (as it should) on the stage.
The Comedy Attic in Bloomington lists him headlining on August 29, 2025, and his social feed mentions rescheduling a few summer dates into fall/winter. If you’ve been waiting to see what the SNL spotlight revealed, the next few months are your best chance to catch the material while it’s still taking shape.
What makes Emil Wakim’s stand-up click
There’s a specific sensibility running through Wakim’s work—quick, slightly left-turn punchlines delivered with a Midwestern straight face. He talks about identity without turning it into an essay, and he tags jokes with a gentle sting that lingers longer than a cheap shock.
That craft first caught industry eyes on the New Faces stage; it’s also what made his Tonight Show set feel clean and deliberate rather than viral-or-bust. The result is a comic who reads both current and durable—aware of the internet, but not dependent on it.
Verified timeline: the SNL season that was
- Sept. 28, 2024: Debuts as a featured player during SNL’s 50th-season opener.
- Fall–Winter 2024–25: Appears in sketches and at “Weekend Update,” building a modest but vocal fanbase.
- May 17, 2025: Final episode of the season (host Scarlett Johansson).
- Aug. 27, 2025: Announces exit; calls the decision a “gut punch,” while thanking Lorne Michaels and the SNL team.
Identity and representation, minus the after-school special
Wakim’s Arab Christian background isn’t a billboard; it’s threadwork. When it shows up in the act, it arrives as point of view, not lecture, which is precisely why it lands. The industry has spent years saying it wants specificity; his rise—from Chicago kid to Bloomington comic to SNL’s first Lebanese American cast member—reads like a case study in what it looks like when that promise meets execution.
What’s next: clubs, theaters, and a bigger canvas
Post-SNL, the roadmap for a strong writer-performer is well worn: work out new material, film a special, chase the right acting roles (the kind that leverage the voice you’ve built rather than flatten it), and keep saying yes to the rooms that make you better.
Dates are already popping up through late summer, including that Bloomington weekend and recent Union Hall “new stuff” workouts in Brooklyn; keep an eye on club calendars and ticket platforms for the fall/winter reschedules he’s hinted at on Instagram.
Why the moment matters for comedy fans
If you love stand-up, you know these inflection points. A comic shakes off TV hair-spray, gets back under a low ceiling, and the jokes breathe again. For Wakim, 2025 could be that year: more stage time, more risks, and the kind of crowd-crafted hour that travels beyond clips. If you only met him via SNL, go see him live—this is when comics grow the fastest.
Start here: one good read
For a straightforward, well-sourced recap of the SNL exit and what it means ahead of Season 51, Entertainment Weekly has a concise explainer that matches what other major outlets reported on August 27. (Yes, the date matters; plenty of “takes” travel faster than facts.)
Where to see him (and how to follow along)
Ticketing pages such as The Comedy Attic in Bloomington and event listings show where he’s working out material; marketplace roundups also surface one-offs in secondary markets. His Instagram remains the canonical source for last-minute adds and reschedules (he recently told fans some summer cities would slide to fall/winter). Plan for intimate rooms and fast-moving inventory.
Quick facts
- Age: 27 (born March 11, 1998).
- Roots: Chicago-born; started stand-up in Bloomington while at Indiana University.
- Breakouts: Tonight Show 2022; Just for Laughs New Faces; SNL Season 50 featured player.
- Distinction: First Lebanese American cast member of SNL.
- 2025 focus: Headlining club dates; fresh material; post-SNL projects TBA.
Bottom line
emil wakim just closed a short, noisy chapter at SNL—and opened a bigger one on his own terms. The resume (New Faces, Tonight Show, SNL) is solid; the voice is the real asset.
If he harvests the heat of this week’s headlines and pours it back into the hour, 2025 could be the year he moves from “promising” to “inevitable.” For audiences, that means simple marching orders: buy a ticket, sit close, and watch a comic in the pocket of becoming.
