“Nothing bad can happen on Tuesday,” is my oft repeated life mantra. I found myself explaining it to the bfF just this past Monday. Tuesdays are simply the best days. Elections are held on Tuesdays. New books are officially published on Tuesdays. Typically the best TV shows air on Tuesdays. Most of the best days in my life have been Tuesdays. There’s just something in the air on Tuesdays that make them inherently good. I love Tuesdays.

I should have known that heralding the greatness of all Tuesdays would have to catch up with me eventually. There can only be so many great Tuesdays, I guess. This past Tuesday is when I received word that SNL alums Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah and single season featured player Jon Rudnitsky would not be returning for season forty-two.

I’ve spent a good deal of my summer looking forward to season forty-two of "Saturday Night Live." After last year, it’s hard to get a clear picture of the direction and tone of the show. Albeit the sketch comedy juggernaut is in a tumultuous time, there were a few things I thought were sacred and safe: Kate McKinnon’s over-the-top Hillary Clinton, Cecily Strong delivering seriously smart and biting commentary through seemingly ditzy characters, the girls of the cast making top-notch and sidesplitting music videos and--at the very heart of the show--Taran Killam.

I cannot pretend to know the inner workings of the mind of Lorne Michaels. I’ve read as many SNL-related biographies as I can get my hands on and watched every "Saturday Night Live" documentary ever made, and Lorne is still very much an enigma. I thought I was starting to figure him out based on screen-time patterns this past season, but apparently I was very much mistaken. The strategy of the long-serving and long suffering show-runner remains shrouded in mystery.

I don’t buy into this nonsense about SNL not being funny anymore. I’ll ardently defend the current lineup of Not Ready for Primetime Players until my last breath. There are way too many of them, sure, and a few are light-years ahead of their contemporaries, but the show today is not nearly as bad as critics and old fans alike make it out to be. No one is more of an SNL purist than me. Gilda Radner is my all time favorite cast member, and the first five seasons were pure magic. But the fact that the early episodes were amazing in no way detracts from the show now. Some of the funniest and most talented people ever to grace studio 8H were on "Saturday Night Live" last season.

Jon Rudnitsky’s firing probably should not have shocked me, but it did. He did not fully find his niche this season, and he was infamously late to the stage in the “Mafia Meeting” sketch. However, his "Dirty Dancing" audition and unsuspecting and unsure 50s schoolboy were both memorable performances for an SNL freshman.

Jay Pharoah is one of the greatest impressionists SNL ever had among its ranks. His seamless transitions from one impression to another in rapid-fire succession was always a joy to watch. His Jay-Z and Kanye were both exceptionally crafted, and “Waking up with Kimye” was a great ensemble recurring sketch. Perhaps Pharoah’s best work was Principal Frye, the huffing and excitable Booker T. Washington principal who had had enough of his “jivetime turkeys’” nonsense. Pharoah had an uncanny ability to become the star of every sketch he was in, even if it was just a bit part. He always gave memorable, hilarious performances, no matter how small his role was.

As shocking as the firing of Pharoah was, I always felt like SNL wasn’t utilizing him enough, and that he could find greater success elsewhere. Taran Killam, however, was being utilized constantly. Taran was woefully underrated as a cast member during his entire tenure. He paid his dues in his early seasons and worked his way up to leading man status. For seasons thirty-nine and forty, he had the most screen time of any player. He was a jack of all trades, but still found time to be master of many as well. He had that Phil Hartman quality; he was a team player, comfortable with letting the spotlight shine on those around him though he deserved it just as much. Taran was the casts’ go-to Everyman. He could play straight man opposite the most ridiculous and zany characters and never break or falter. Like Jim from "The Office," Taran could just look at the camera and smirk or grimace, and you felt a kinship to him. Likewise, he could be the ridiculous and zany character and break, and you loved him even more for it. He did not get the attention or appreciation he deserved for his work.

Taran had an affability that just drew people in. In a cast that is entirely too large, where players get lost in the shuffle all too easily, he always stood out. He seemed to be in every sketch in some capacity, often times carrying cold opens or fake advertisements. His work was also reminiscent of a young Dan Aykroyd. His all-American looks and easy charm made it all the more enjoyable for him to play sleazy characters and all the more easy for him to disappear into traditional and necessary roles. Taran seemed to get along with everyone in the cast. He and Kate McKinnon were especially fun to watch play off each other in interviews and behind-the-scenes features. On screen, however, Taran almost always found himself paired up with Cecily Strong. If his solo work was on par with Dan Aykroyd, his duos with Strong were often of the same caliber as Bill Murray and Gilda Radner's partnership. Their easy chemistry paid off in spades, and they played married couples in almost every episode, portraying everyone from Melania and Donald Trump to Charles Manson and Star Burton.

Taran is one of only four cast members in SNL history to do more than 100 impressions on the show. His Matthew McConaughey was one of the best Weekend Update visits on the show in years. His Ted Cruz was one of the few political impressions this past year with any real bite or wit to it. His Piers Morgan and Steve Doocy always made for entertaining and reliable cold opens. Unlike most SNL performers who either specialize in impressions or original characters, Taran excelled with both. “Right Side of the Bed! With Gracelynn and Cory Chisholm” obviously started as Todd and Julie Chrisley spoof, but Taran somehow made the character of Cory something new entirely. In my opinion, the second greatest character created by a member of the current cast is Killam’s own 1860s newspaper critic Jebidiah Atkinson. Atkinson hates everything and loves to offend, throwing notecards and booing back at the audience when they disagree. Taran often broke during his visits to Update as Atkinson because of the sheer outrageous nature of the character.

Part of what makes Jebidiah Atkinson so great is the apparent joy it brings Killam to embody him. In fact, a common thread throughout most of Taran’s characters is the inherent enjoyment he gets out of performing them. I commented during this past season that he is one of only three cast members who still seems genuinely excited to scream, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” His love for his job was palpable and endearing. No matter what role he was in, Taran always seemed happy to be a part of "Saturday Night Live." His energy was infectious. I would always watch the goodnights in every episode just to see him jump. When the SNL band hits a certain note at the end of the night, Taran always leaps in the air. I’ve watched for it in every episode, and he always remembers to do it. Sometimes he gets fellow cast members to join in. Often times it’s just him. It always reminds me that being on SNL is such a special, exciting thing. It’s as if Taran is filled with so much joy and enthusiasm, he can barely contain it.

In an admittedly crowded and chaotic lineup, Taran was a notable bright spot. I’ll miss many of his characters and recurring sketches, but more than anything I’ll miss his apparent joy. It saddens me that he was not more appreciated during his time on the show. Without his jumping towards the ceiling with unbridled exhilaration, the show just will not be the same. SNL was made to keep going and constantly reinvent itself, and it has weathered worse casting changes in the past. Still, though, this will be a loss deeply felt by fans. The show must go on, I suppose. As Jebidiah Atkinson would say, “NEXT!”