“Saturday Night Live” director Matt Villines has died. He was 39.
Villines is the Matt in the “directed by Matt & Oz” duo; Oz is partner Oz (Osmany) Rodriguez.
Together, the two directed 2015 “Last Man on Earth” episode “C to the T,” as well as the unreleased 2014 Taran Killam film “Brother in Laws,” among other projects. They started out making videos for FunnyOrDie, before joining “SNL” in 2012.
In 2014, Villines was diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer. The disease reportedly began in his kidneys.
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Seth Meyers honored Villines on Twitter by posting a Matt & Oz pre-taped Bruno Mars sketch, “Sad Mouse”:
RIP Matt Villines who was a wonderful person and a terrific director. Here's Sad Mouse, a @mattandoz masterpiece https://t.co/Fk3icYIlJH
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) July 11, 2016
Villines also directed the sketch comedy staple’s “Monster Pals” and “Back Home Ballers,” among other notable shorts in the show’s post Lonely Island era.
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Here’s a tribute from “Saturday Night Live” co-head writer Bryan Tucker:
140 characters isn't enough, so I'm leaving this here @mattandoz pic.twitter.com/lQIC7mxjhC
— Bryan Tucker (@BTuckertime) July 11, 2016
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And here’s “SNL” writer Mike O’Brien’s own social media tribute to his friend and colleague:
