Chris Redd After SNL: What Happens When a Sketch Comedy Star Goes Back to the Microphone Alone

Chris Redd is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and former Saturday Night Live cast member (2017–2022). He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and has appeared in films including Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and A Black Lady Sketch Show. He performs regularly at the Comedy Cellar in New York City.

Here’s a question that nobody asks about famous comedians but should: what happens after the show gets cancelled? After the contract ends? After the five-year run on the biggest sketch comedy show in television history is over and the person goes home and looks at a blank notebook?

Chris Redd knows.

From 2017 to 2022, Chris Redd was a cast member on Saturday Night Live. That’s five seasons of live television, weekly sketch performances, celebrity impressions, and the kind of visibility that turns a working comedian into a household name. He won an Emmy for original music and lyrics. He was in movies. He was the guy that people recognized in airports.

And then he wasn’t on the show anymore. And the question became: now what?

The Cellar Is Where You Find Out Who You Are

I watched a Mint Comedy clip of Chris Redd at the Comedy Cellar — the bit is titled “Go get your own” — and what struck me wasn’t the jokes. It was the energy. Because the energy of a comedian who is working out who they are post-SNL is different from the energy of a comedian who is promoting a show.

When Chris Redd walks into the Cellar, he’s not Chris Redd from SNL. He’s Chris Redd from St. Louis who moved to Chicago, learned improv, did stand-up in small rooms, and clawed his way to a level where someone offered him the biggest platform in comedy. And now that platform is in the rearview mirror, and he’s standing on a stage in a basement with about 115 people, and the only question that matters is whether the next five minutes are funny.

That’s the realest thing a comedian can do. Strip away the credits, strip away the recognition, strip away the comfort of a writers’ room and a cast and a live studio audience that’s primed to laugh — and find out if you’re still funny with nothing but a microphone and a thought.

What SNL Gives You (And What It Doesn’t)

Saturday Night Live makes you famous. It makes you versatile. It teaches you how to perform under pressure — live television, no second takes, millions of people watching. Those are real skills and Chris Redd earned every one of them over five years.

But here’s what SNL doesn’t give you: your voice. Sketch comedy is collaborative. You’re performing other people’s words, inhabiting characters, serving the show’s point of view. The individual comedian’s perspective — the thing that makes stand-up stand-up — gets set aside in service of the ensemble.

So when a comedian leaves SNL and comes back to stand-up, they’re not just “returning” to something. They’re rediscovering something. They’re finding out what their voice sounds like after years of using it for other purposes. And the Comedy Cellar is where that rediscovery happens most honestly, because the room doesn’t care about your credits. The room cares about your next joke.

Watching Chris Redd at the Cellar through the Mint Comedy stream, you can see the rediscovery in real time. The material he’s working on isn’t sketch premises. It’s personal. It’s observational. It’s the kind of comedy that comes from a person who has been through something — the fame, the pressure, the transition — and is now processing it through the most direct art form available: one person, one microphone, one room.

The “Go Get Your Own” Moment

The clip on Mint Comedy — “Go get your own” — is a window into where Chris Redd is right now as a comedian. Without spoiling the bit (you should watch it), the premise operates on a level that sketch comedy can’t reach. It’s personal without being confessional. It’s sharp without being mean. And it has the kind of punchline construction that only comes from someone who has been doing stand-up since before the cameras were on them.

What I noticed watching it on the stream is how the Cellar audience responded. This isn’t a crowd that laughs because someone is famous. This is a crowd that laughs because something is funny. And when Chris hit the turn in that bit — the moment where the premise reveals what it’s actually about — the room responded the way rooms respond when a comedian earns it. Not polite. Not starstruck. Earned.

That distinction matters. Because working out material at the Cellar is a test, and Chris Redd is passing the test not because of who he is but because of what he’s bringing to the stage.

Why the Post-SNL Chapter Is the Most Interesting One

Every comedian who leaves a major platform faces the same question: can I do this without the machine behind me? And the answer is always found in the same place — alone on a stage, with new material, in front of an audience that doesn’t owe them anything.

Chris Redd is in that chapter right now. And from what I’ve watched on Mint Comedy, it’s the most compelling chapter of his career. Not because the SNL years weren’t impressive — they were. But because the stand-up work he’s doing now is unfiltered by the demands of a show, a network, or a writers’ room. It’s just him. His perspective. His voice. His experience of the world, processed through the craft of stand-up and delivered to a room that will tell him the truth.

His full profile on Mint Comedy gives you the career overview — the SNL years, the Emmy, the film credits. But the Cellar clips give you the comedian. And right now, the comedian is doing some of the most interesting work of his life.

If you’re a Chris Redd fan from the SNL days and you haven’t seen what he’s doing at the Comedy Cellar, you’re missing the most important part of the story. The sketch comedian was impressive. The stand-up comedian is revelatory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Chris Redd still doing stand-up comedy?

Yes. After leaving Saturday Night Live in 2022, Chris Redd has returned to stand-up and performs regularly at the Comedy Cellar in New York City. His Cellar sets have been captured on Mint Comedy’s live stream, where he has been developing new material that draws on his personal experience and post-SNL perspective.

Where can I watch Chris Redd’s stand-up?

Chris Redd’s live stand-up clips from the Comedy Cellar are available on Mint Comedy, including the set “Go get your own”. His full comedian profile on Mint Comedy includes additional content and career information.

What has Chris Redd done since leaving SNL?

Since leaving Saturday Night Live after 5 seasons (2017–2022), Chris Redd has focused on stand-up comedy, performing regularly at the Comedy Cellar in NYC and developing new material. He continues to act and perform across multiple platforms while rebuilding his identity as a stand-up comedian.

Did Chris Redd win an Emmy?

Yes. Chris Redd won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics during his time on Saturday Night Live. His television career also includes work on A Black Lady Sketch Show and films including Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.