When FBI Director James Comey first learned that he was fired on Tuesday afternoon, he thought it was a 'fairly funny prank.'

Comey was speaking to a group of FBI employees in Los Angeles when he saw the news that he had been terminated being played on a TV in the background, according to the New York Times.

He reportedly even laughed at the news before staff asked him to step into another room.

Before leaving, though, Comey shook hands with some of the FBI employees he had been talking with. His staff then confirmed that he had, indeed, been fired.

Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in a surprise decision on Tuesday afternoon

But Comey, whose motorcade was later seen on a Los Angeles freeway after the firing, first learned of his termination after seeing it on TV in Los Angeles

Comey (the first one boarding the plane) and his entourage were pictured getting on a private jet at Los Angeles International Airport shortly after he was called and told he had, indeed, been fired

A letter from Donald Trump was delivered to the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC around the same time.

'While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau,' Trump wrote.

'It is essential that we find new leadership for the F.B.I. that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission.'

FBI sources told ABC News that Comey was finally read his termination letter over the phone.

GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo took to Twitter to express his disbelief over the way the firing was handled.

'No one should find out via the television that they've been fired. If true, that's poor form and plain unprofessional. #Comey,' he wrote.

Comey's firing was effective immediately, and deputy director Andrew McCabe was quickly made the acting head of the FBI. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions reportedly recommended that Trump fire Comey.

The news of Comey's termination sent shock waves through the nation's capital.

PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON'S 'SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE' Following the President's firing of FBI Director James Comey, who was the head of the investigation into collusion between Trump's administration and Russia, some were quick to ask whether or not this would be his 'Saturday Night Massacre'. In 1973, President Richard Nixon also fired the official responsible for investigating potential wrongdoing in his administration. On October 20, 1973, President Nixon fired independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was head of the investigation into the Watergate Scandal. His firing lead to the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. That Saturday night, news broadcast networks turned their airtime over to the 'firestorm' and 'constitutional crisis.' The pushback against these firings was so significant that Nixon was forced to name a new special prosecutor, Texas lawyer Leon Jaworski. The story then played out over the next 10 months, ending when a unanimous Supreme Court forced Nixon to hand over the tapes. Their contents proved the cover-up that led to Nixon's eventual resignation. Advertisement

Attorney General Jeff Sessions told the president it was time for Comey to go after his evidence that Huma Abedin forwarded hundreds or thousands of emails to her husband Anthony Weiner, some of them classified, was wrong

HERO TO ZERO: FIRED FBI BOSS ENDED UP HATED BY EVERYONE Attorney General James Comey sealed a reputation as a brave and principled actor after a 2004 standoff during the Bush administration, when he refused White House efforts to get him to reauthorize warrantless eavesdropping while Attorney General John Ashcroft was hospitalized. Comey had been appointed deputy attorney general by President George W. Bush, having served as a U.S. attorney in New York under Rudy Giuliani in New York. With Ashcroft incapacitated, Bush administration officials wanted Ashcroft, and then Comey, to sign off on an extension of the authority, with just hours to go before an N.S.A. program expired. Comey refused. His stand was a major reason why President Obama nominated him to be head of the FBI in 2013. Obama hailed Comey as a person of 'fierce independence and deep integrity' as he nominated him for the FBI post, which carries a 10-year term. A devout Catholic, a registered Republican and a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he seemed to radiate independence from the Democratic machine. And many congressional Democrats became far less supportive of Comey after the 2016 presidential election. Obama's man: Republican James Comey was chosen by the Democratic president for his principled stand but ended up in the words of one senator as 'as popular as cholera' Led by defeated candidate Hillary Clinton, many have griped about Comey's handling of the Clinton email scandal. On July 5th, 2016, Comey personally announced the FBI's decision not to charge Clinton in connection with its investigation of her private email server and handling of classified material. He nevertheless called her conduct 'extremely careless.' Then on October 28, he told lawmakers the bureau was reviewing newly discovered emails in connection to the investigation. The FBI had uncovered thousands of emails on disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner's laptop that had been sent to his wife, longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Comey drew the Democrats' ire once again when he announced two days before the election that the investigation hadn't turned up anything to alter the decision not to prosecute. Clinton said it only made matters worse and stole headlines. In the congressional hearing where he made inaccurate statements about about Abedin's emails, Democrats grilled Comey about why he had not revealed the existence of an ongoing investigation into alleged Russian election interference. Comey said the FBI 'didn't say a word about' the Russia investigation until months into, whereas he had testified under oath about the existence of the Clinton investigation. Advertisement

Comey has been heading an investigation into the connections between Trump's advisers and the Russian government before the 2016 presidential election. He was also responsible for handling the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server last fall - a lengthy process that Trump once called 'gutsy.'

In July, Comey stated that the bureau 'did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information,' but that they had been 'extremely careless.'

Rosenstein wrote in a letter released by the White House that he did not appreciate the findings that Comey had come to.

'I cannot defend the director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken.'

Comey's motorcade was later seen on a Los Angeles freeway after the firing as it made its way through slow-moving traffic.

THE LETTERS WHICH ENDED JAMES COMEY'S CAREER