Tina Fey leaves "SNL" cast

The "Weekend Update" desk on "Saturday Night Live" will have a noticeable absence behind it next season.

Tina Fey, cast member and head writer on "SNL," is leaving the show to devote her attention to her new series "30 Rock," she said Friday on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

"I'm not going to do 'Saturday Night Live' any more. I wish I could," she said on the show. "I wanted to stop doing 'Saturday Night Live' so I could spend more time with Star Jones."

In addition to playing a character on "30 Rock," Fey is also a writer and executive producer of the show.

"I'm going to go nuts," she said at the Television Critics Association meeting Saturday. "I do not understand the train that is about to hit me. We're trying to get as much done in the writers' room now before we start and I tried to gather a staff of writers who are experienced so they can proceed when I'm on the set."

Back at "SNL," auditions will be held in September to determine who will be replacing Fey at the "Weekend Update" desk, which she co-anchored for six seasons.

"If you're asking if I'm happy about it, no. Tina disappearing is a huge hole in the writing staff," said "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels.

Fey stars in the new show as the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy show. The series, also starring Alec Baldwin and former "SNL" cast members Rachel Dratch and Tracy Morgan, premieres Oct. 11.