In a new interview with Splitsider, long time Saturday Night Live cast member Fred Armisen confirms that he left the show following the season 38 finale in May.

Despite no reports announcing or suggesting he was leaving, Armisen felt his send off was there. “I think it’s clear,” he said. “I didn’t do any kind of official announcement, but I really felt like it was obvious. An ending that was a love letter to all the music I grew up with, and also to my friends and to SNL and to Lorne and to the cast. There was a lot of emotion attached to it, but it was a very positive emotion.”

Armisen said that leaving at the end of the most recent season was a natural step forward for his career. “I love Saturday Night Live, and I really feel like people who have left before me have always stayed with the show. They never really quite left, which is nice. Everyone kind of stays close. For example, like when Kristen [Wiig] left, we saw her again.”

Numerous other actors left at the end of Saturday Night Live season 38 which is what pushed Armisen to head out the door too. “I was really enjoying and it just felt—it’s almost hard to define. Bill [Hader] was leaving, and Kristen and Andy had left. It just felt like I was very happy, maybe this is like a good time to do it.”

Armisen will use his newfound free time to focus on his IFC comedy Portlandia. “Portlandia started to pull me away more and more, schedule-wise, and I just felt like it’d be nice to focus on it a little more and go into the fall a bit more with shooting. So it was because of that. And also it was just a feeling.”

Below is Armisen’s final sketch:

Armisen was best known on Saturday Night Live for an endless list of recurring characters including New York Governor David Paterson and television personality Joy Behar.

Thanks, Splitsider.