Taran Killam Will Star in Showtime's Anthology Dating Comedy Mating

The reason Taran Killam left Saturday Night Live is suddenly clear.

The comedian will be joining Mating, a half-hour comedy created by Parenthood's Jason Katims and written by The Affair's Stu Zicherman. Killam will star as "a recently divorced guy who married young and now finds himself completely unprepared for the brave new, frank and fluid world of dating and hooking up." The show is a comedy anthology, meaning that each season will focus on a different protagonist's journey through the dating life.

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Showtime made the announcement that it was picking up Mating and casting Jay Pharoah in the new comedy White Famous during the network's executive session at the Television Critics Association fall previews on Thursday. The news of both castings comes just days after the news that Killam and Pharoah were departing from Saturday Night Live's forty-second season.

Showtime boss David Nevins said that the network had been prepared to work around both actors' SNL schedules, but after conversations with both of them, the actors decided to leave the sketch show. Killam previously said that he did not know why his contract at SNL wasn't renewed.

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