SNL: The Current Cast Discussion

[M. Darcy]

I rewatched the season premiere with Tina Fey on Saturday where she introduced all the new cast members.  Except for Jost, I couldn't not remember anything that any of the new cast did all season.  None of them seemed familiar.  And, I only recognized Jost because of Update.

[nowandlater]

I rewatched the season premiere with Tina Fey on Saturday where she introduced all the new cast members.  Except for Jost, I couldn't not remember anything that any of the new cast did all season.  None of them seemed familiar.  And, I only recognized Jost because of Update.

 

But Jost wouldn't have been on Tina's episode. And since only 2 of those 6 new cast members will be back (on screen, at least) then you probably are better off not remembering any of them.

[M. Darcy]

I thought I saw him in the crowd behind Tina.  Heh, they really do all look alike. 

[BoogieBurns]

only 2 of those 6 new cast members

 

I thought Beck, Kyle, and Mike were all back this season? Did I get my wish of Mike leaving my screen?

[helenamonster]

Yep, he's back to the writers' room. Of the original 6 new cast members from last season, only Beck and Kyle are left. So I guess the "let's throw all these white guys out there and hope they stick" plan didn't work. Shocking.

[vb68]

I know it's been said before, but with Cecily moving off Update, it  really was pointless for Seth to stay on last season like he did.  I think the idea was for him to help her get the feel for it.

[nowandlater]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but based on some research:

 

First cast member born in the 60s: Eddie Murphy, age 19, joined December 6, 1980.

 

First cast member born in the 70s: Jay Mohr, age 23, and Sarah Silverman, age 22, (both born in 1970) joined on Oct. 9, 1993.

 

First cast member born in the 80s: Casey Wilson, age 27, joined on Feb. 23, 2008

 

First cast member born in the 90s: Pete Davidson, age 20, joined Sept. 27, 2014.

[Trini]

So Pete Davidson's "miscellaneous" face is going to be an asset, but can he do impressions?

[BoogieBurns]

but can he do impressions?

 

 

Who is currently in the cast who is good at impressions? Kate, Taran and Jay? I'm interested to see this new season, because a lot of last season was crowded. They will get to show their strengths with a slightly smaller group. Pete could probably play Bobby Jindal better than Nasim. No offense to Nasim, she was just about a foot too short to be believable.

[formerlyfreedom]

The 41st Season Cast

 

Cast member/Year started

Kenan Thompson/2003
Bobby Moynihan/2008
Vanessa Bayer/2010
Taran Killam/2010
Jay Pharoah/2010
Kate McKinnon/2012
Aidy Bryant/2012
Cecily Strong/2012
Kyle Mooney/2013

Beck Bennett/2013
Sasheer Zamata/2014
Colin Jost/2014
Michael Che (f)/2014
Pete Davidson(f)/2014

Leslie Jones (f)/2014

Jon Rudnitsky (f)/2015

 

* (f) indicates featured player

[pivot]

So how many of the interchangeable white guys are left from last season. I could never tell any of them apart. They were all equally unfunny and boring so it was too much to try to remember their names. I do think it is interesting that the head writer got to keep his WU job when he was horrible at it, while the much more talented female anchor got booted. And considering how bad the writing was last season, the head writer should have been fired from both jobs.

[possibilities]

Michael Che will be great. He's perfect for WU. My only problem with him getting the chair is that it surely means he's leaving The Daily Show. And I do agree that it's disappointing they left Jost there, and removed Cecily. I didn't like Cecily as WU anchor, but I thought Jost was worse, and I was hoping for a female co-anchor.

 

Male to female ratio: 9 to 5.

[helenamonster]

So how many of the interchangeable white guys are left from last season. I could never tell any of them apart. They were all equally unfunny and boring so it was too much to try to remember their names. I do think it is interesting that the head writer got to keep his WU job when he was horrible at it, while the much more talented female anchor got booted. And considering how bad the writing was last season, the head writer should have been fired from both jobs.

 

Of the original five interchangeable white guys from the beginning of Season 39 (Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Mike O'Brien, and Brooks Wheelan), only two are left: Beck and Kyle. John and Brooks were fired earlier this summer along with Noel Wells, and Mike has been moved back to the writers' room, where he was for four years before joining the cast. Imo, Beck deserves to be there. He works as a straight man but can also do really quirky characters like Baby Boss (a personal fave). Kyle is clearly only still there because of Beck (they do the Good Neighbor shorts together).

[Princess Sparkle]

Kyle is clearly only still there because of Beck (they do the Good Neighbor shorts together).

Yeah, I feel like Kyle owes Beck one hell of a gift basket.

[augmentedfourth]

I used to think the same, but then I thought that Kyle started to come into his own throughout the season. At least he was more memorable than the other non-Beck interchangeable white guys. "Memorable" can go either way - sometimes I thought he was great, while other bits fell flat (and fell flat hard), but hey, at least he tried? Either way, I could pick him out of a crowd, which is far more than I can say about John Milhiser (whose name I had to scroll up for, since I wouldn't have remembered it on my own). I don't think he's as good as Beck, but I'm okay with him staying.

 

I think Noel could have been good if they'd given her more time, but I'm not particularly torn up over her being let go. At least she'll always live on in the brilliant and amazing "Twin Bed". 

[vb68]

 

I used to think the same, but then I thought that Kyle started to come into his own throughout the season.

 

I thought Kyle was clearly gaining momentum as the season closed out, especially in live sketches.  He  greatly improved his character on Update with a second appearance, and he completely stole the Camp sketch in the finale from Aidy and Kate with his impression of a six year old.  He also had that short with Vanessa where he was too nervous to ask her out.  He was really starting to get a hang of how the show works.  He also has the advantage of being able to look completely different with various wigs on.  

 

The only thing i remember Noel doing in the latter part of the season was a truly horrible Nancy Grace impression.  And Brooks and John Milhiser didn't even match that.

Edited September 16, 2014 by vb68

[Miss Scarlet]

I found last night's premiere episode disappointing and this got me thinking about casting issues on the show. I'm sure this has been brought up before, but Lorne really needs to stop recruiting from the same 3 places (Groundlings, Second City and UCB). I know that sometimes he gets cast members other ways, like apparently he got the Lonely Island from a referral from Jimmy Fallon (I think?) and gets stand-ups in other ways. In general though, I think he relies too much on these 3 training centres and I think it shows.

 

During every show I say to myself, I can't believe this is what the best writers and comedians in the U.S. came up with, but then I have to remind myself that they're not really the best ones. They were the best at Groundlings, Second City or UCB. So theoretically they should still be pretty good, but maybe some years they're just not. It's like instead of auditioning thousands of people (which is not practical, I realize) and picking the best ones, he's really auditioning like 8 or 9 and picking the best of those. I think it's hard to find the best ones that way.

 

Plus, does anyone know what the requirements are to get into the upper levels of Second City or The Groundlings? I know you have to go through the program and audition, but is it actually very difficult to get through? Or is it more of a "wait your turn and everyone gets in eventually" kind of deal? If it's the latter then pretty much anyone could get into the upper levels of these programs.

 

I also realized after last night's episode that Vanessa Bayer is now the most senior female performer and Kate, Cecily and Aidy are the most senior after her, even though this is only their third season. That's because there was this gap between Kristen Wiig starting and Vanessa Bayer getting hired because Lorne fired all the other women (except Nasim) hired between 2005-2010. This female cast is strong, but looking back, I wonder if that was such a good idea.

[nowandlater]

Bill Hader is filming a movie with Amy Schumer directed by Judd Apatow.
 

This young guy named Pete Davidson has a small part in it.

 

Bill Hader calls up Lorne Michaels, and says this Davidson kid is pretty funny.

 

And that is how Davidson ended up on SNL...

 

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/09/29/bill-hader-pete-davidson-snl/

 

 

[Wolfy Mojo]

Bill Hader is filming a movie with Amy Schumer directed by Judd Apatow.

 

This young guy named Pete Davidson has a small part in it.

 

Bill Hader calls up Lorne Michaels, and says this Davidson kid is pretty funny.

 

And that is how Davidson ended up on SNL...

 

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/09/29/bill-hader-pete-davidson-snl/

 

 

 

That's awesome. Isn't that how Bill ended up on SNL too...a referral from Megan Mullally?

[helenamonster]

wudpixie, I agree with your whole post. Also, I think it might be time to revamp the SNL audition process in general, assuming it's still the same (you get about five minutes to stand on the stage, by yourself, and pretty much present all the material you have). For a show that's supposed to be rooted in improv, wouldn't it make more sense to have a few people who are already cast members on standby and bring them out for some improv games/exercises? I mean, they could still do the solo part (which is necessary if they have characters or impressions they want to show), but there's no way to tell if a potential cast member would work well with the current ones unless you do a chem test. Other television shows do it when they're casting people who are supposed to be romantically involved, family members, etc., so why can't SNL do something similar? If you get people who work well together, the quality of the show overall is sure to improve.

 

In the Chris Pratt episode thread, someone mentioned seeing Beck and Kyle hug during the goodbyes and how great it must be to come onto SNL with a friend. And it got me thinking...how many of the current cast members knew and worked with at least one of the other cast members before their time on SNL? I feel like even 10 or so years ago it was common to have people in interviews saying, "Oh, I've known so-and-so for years, that sketch we did was based off of something we did together in our improv days..." I mean, look at Tina and Amy. Their WU chemistry wouldn't have been what it was if they hadn't known each other for a significant amount of time before that. I just feel like the show as a whole would seem cleaner and more put together if Lorne focused on getting people who worked well together, as opposed to just focusing on people who are funny individually.

 

And yes, Kristen's reign definitely severely impacted the female representation on this show, which is really unfortunate. I loved Michaela Watkins, thought Jenny Slate and Casey Wilson had potential, and thought Abby Elliott was pretty good at impressions. That's four women (which is a relatively large number when talking about ladies on SNL) who, in any other era, might have been able to stay on. I appreciate everything Lorne's done for this show and the entertainment industry as a whole, but part of me can't wait until he retires and we get an executive producer whose ideals aren't so goddamn ass-backwards.

 

Also, speaking of cast members who were recommended, I think Nasim (even though she was a Groundling) was recommended by Tina to Lorne after Tina saw her one-woman show.

[VCRTracking]

 

Plus, does anyone know what the requirements are to get into the upper levels of Second City or The Groundlings? I know you have to go through the program and audition, but is it actually very difficult to get through? Or is it more of a "wait your turn and everyone gets in eventually" kind of deal? If it's the latter then pretty much anyone could get into the upper levels of these programs.

If you want to know about the Groundlings process, alumnus Wendi McLendon-Covey(Bridesmaids, Reno 911!, The Goldbergs) goes into detail about it in this Nerdist Podcast interview from a few months ago:

 

http://www.nerdist.com/pepisode/nerdist-podcast-wendi-mclendon-covey/

 

The latest Onion AV Club Random Roles  interview is with Kurt Fuller, he's one of those "Hey it's that guy!" character actors where you recognize the face but not know the name. He recently played Rachel McAdams dad in Midnight in Paris. I know him best as Rob Lowe's henchman in Wayne's World. I love the scene where he tries to stop Garth and the "Benjamin's my friend!" and Garth is like "No. Benjamin's nobody's friend. If Benjamin was an ice cream flavor, he'd be 'pralines and dick'" Anyway he talks about the movie:

 

 

Again, I was asked to do a reading of the script, and it was just a general reading, but the reading went really well—I made Lorne Michaels laugh—and I got the role. Nobody making the movie thought it was going to be—we had no idea what it was going to be. It was total anarchy on the set, with [director] Penelope Spheeris and Mike Myers. I had no idea what was going on. I had great affection for Dana Carvey, and I think we all thought, “Dana’s the guy. There’s the comic genius.” And it just goes to show you. The guy with the great idea… Mike Myers, I don’t think, was the performer that Dana Carvey was, but he had some great ideas, and he emerged as sort of the uber-talent for, what, 10 years? But I had a lot of fun doing it. Everybody was really nice to me, and it helped my career a lot, to be in that movie. And I wish I could get a part like that now. Those are hard parts to get now. There are no Russell Finleys in my future. I was the old guy even then, and that was 20 years ago!

[nowandlater]

After reading all the negative Mulaney reviews, I've gotta ask: What are the chances Nasim returns this season?

[helenamonster]

As much as I'd love to have her back, I think that's doubtful. Have there ever been any cast members who left and then came back when the project they left for failed? She put her eggs in the Mulaney basket, and if it doesn't work out, well, that's life. I think she's talented enough to find something else. I haven't watched Mulaney yet but my guess is that whatever the problems are, she's not high on the list.

[nowandlater]

As much as I'd love to have her back, I think that's doubtful. Have there ever been any cast members who left and then came back when the project they left for failed? She put her eggs in the Mulaney basket, and if it doesn't work out, well, that's life. I think she's talented enough to find something else. I haven't watched Mulaney yet but my guess is that whatever the problems are, she's not high on the list.

 

This is probably not what you're asking for. But around February 2012, Abby Elliott joined a Fox pilot (apparently with Lorne's blessing).

 

A month later, she was fired from the pilot.

 

I don't think, though, that she ever left SNL during that period.

 

She was of course fired from SNL over summer 2012.

[Maverick]

Is Parnell the only cast member to have left and returned?

[nowandlater]

10 years ago today, Weekend Update was freakin' awesome.

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyorley/amy-plus-tina-plus-weekend-update-equals-magic

Edited October 2, 2014 by nowandlater

[Princess Sparkle]

Is Parnell the only cast member to have left and returned?

I think the only one with a significant length of time - he was fired and then rehired a season later. Tim Meadows was fired, but then was rehired before the next season started, so he didn't actually end up missing any episodes.

[Fannysue]

After reading all the negative Mulaney reviews, I've gotta ask: What are the chances Nasim returns this season?

I miss her too! Maybe when they want to do a Kim Kardashian skit, they will invite her back.

[ChromaKelly]

I know the common theory is that Jenny Slate got fired over the F bomb, but how true is that? That happened on her first episode. Wouldn't Lorne Michaels have fired her sooner, rather than let her finish out the season? I thought she was really good on SNL. I loved her Doorbell recurring sketch.
Michaela Watkins, I don't even understand why she was let go. She seemed to be doing fine and then she just wasn't back. Noelle Wells didn't get much of a chance. I thought she might get more airtime since she came out big with the Girls spoof. Maybe she wasn't good at getting herself written in sketches.

[cpcathy]

I only could watch about five minutes of Mulaney, but I think Nasim made a HUGE mistake! Perhaps her SNL salary was just way too low for her to continue.

[nowandlater]

What do y'all think of this?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/the-current-cast-of-snl-ranked-from-best-to-worst

[Princess Sparkle]

I can't sign off on any list that has Beck listed as 10th and Bobby listed below Aidy.  And that's from someone who really likes Aidy.

[vb68]

I think most people would rate Kate and Taran as one and two.

 

Taran way down at number eight is a joke.

[BoogieBurns]

That ranking was clearly meant for people to re-rank. More clicks. Taran and Kate run the show. 

[helenamonster]

That list and its nut butter maybe need to dial it back a little bit. In what universe is Aidy above Taran, Bobby, and KATE? And #1 at that? Also, Kyle Mooney is such a non-entity outside of the Good Neighbor shorts.

 

The only thing that saved that sham of a list was calling Colin an 8-gallon jug of mayonnaise. Hee. Poor Colin. Don't give up, lil fella!

[nowandlater]

[Traveller519]

The cast seems more balanced this year. Everything's getting spread around a good bit. It'll be interesting to see if it stays that way or if things will start to go more to certain people as the season progresses.

[nowandlater]

Oh, man: When is this going to happen?

 

[Princess Sparkle]

Bobby is such a delight; I just love him.

[VCRTracking]

 

Oh, man: When is this going to happen?

 

It happened yesterday. Unfortunately, Amy was interviewed separately from the new cast because she's promoting her book.

I could only find the interview with Kate, Aidy and Cecily:

 

http://www.today.com/klgandhoda/saturday-night-live-women-talk-laughs-tough-impressions-today-1D80249219

[helenamonster]

Ugh, that interview was a hot ass mess. I mean, the SNL ladies were great, but KLG and Hoda...yikes. I know Kathie Lee is a joke but she's been dragging Hoda down to her level recently and it's just so sad. I mean, neither of them knew about Kate and Aidy being nominated for "Twin Bed"? THEY LITERALLY SHOWED IT. Or Kate getting the Supporting Actress nod? They didn't mention that at all! There wasn't an intern around to hand them those little factoids? I kind of hate when they talk about SNL on that show because it's clear that neither of them really watch it nowadays (and sometimes I doubt whether they ever have) and it's so blatantly obvious that they don't know what they're talking about. Kathie Lee's insensitive crack about everyone who's played Hoda getting fired? Yeah, Michaela and Jenny did, but Nasim left on her own. I'm sorry to rant but those two (more so KLG; Hoda's fine when she doesn't get sucked into her nonsense) are downright unbearable.

 

On a positive note, I loved how they just started cracking up whenever Kate was talking.

[Miss Scarlet]

Kate was at her finest in this interview. She was more, I don't know, enthusiastic (?) than I've seen her in other interviews. I haven't seen many with her, but in the others she has seemed more quiet or calm or something. Maybe it was the wine in this one. Also, I have never watched Kathy Lee and Hoda before. So Kristen's Wiig impression was all the wine guzzling is actually pretty accurate. Lol.

 

It was interesting to hear that they're given impressions to do the night before a show. Wow. Obviously I knew that there were lots of changes made on Saturday, but for some reason I always assumed that they would have more times to work on impressions. So I guess one of the reasons Cecily gets so much screentime is because she's reliable and they can give her things really last minute that she can pull off pretty well. I liked when she was talking about Kate and Aidy being nominated for an Emmy and she said "They can't say it, but I can". It's sweet that she's proud of her friends/fellow cast members. 

[vb68]

Here's some food for thought about Micheal Che and his twitter.   I usually agree with Mike Ryan on matters relating to SNL, and I do here as well.

[helenamonster]

I follow Michael on Instagram and he posted screeshots of both the original post and his "apology" (he's now taken them both down, and I assume he's taken down the original statements from Facebook as well, not sure about Twitter). When I saw the first post, I thought he was joking and making fun of men who get butthurt when women dare to not respond to their catcalls on the street. But then I saw the "apology" and realized that he really was just being totally tone deaf to the current climate of sexism and I was really disappointed. I don't want to totally write him off because I've been enjoying him so far, but I'd have to turn over my feminist membership card if I completely ignored something like this. Hopefully one of his more feminist-minded colleagues can enlighten him. I'm hoping this is more a case of "I don't totally understand the issues that women face today and I'd be willing to become better informed" and not "women are just complaining about nothing and I am unwilling to change my views on this."

 

I really hope he doesn't address it on the show. Not only is it not the time or the place, but there are plenty of people who would be watching who would have no idea about any of this and just be really confused.

[pythonite]

It's not smart for Che to clumsily weigh in on hot button issues when WU is at such a low point.

 

I'd love to see both of them replaced with Beck and Cecily. It's fallen a long way since Tina & Amy!

[BoogieBurns]

I don't want to totally write him off because I've been enjoying him so far, but I'd have to turn over my feminist membership card if I completely ignored something like this.

 

I feel the same. One one hand, he is a newly-famous comedian who likes to get a reaction. On the other hand, if people think women should be flattered by strangers yelling compliments at them, then those people are dumb. 

 

So, he gets one freebie. But I will not be vouching for him any time in the near future.

[Miss Scarlet]

Ugh. This is very upsetting. I live in Canada and we're dealing with Jian Ghomeshi-gate (information coming out that Jian, a famous radio broadcaster and media personality, has been sexually assaulting girls/women for over a decade), so between that and Michael Che, it's been a horrible week for this kind of stuff.

 

Michael Che also has an instagram photo of a child dressed up as Ray Rice with the caption "this is why I don't buy into mass outrage". I don't even know what to make of that. I looked at his twitter and it's...controversial. He has a tweet about white women always stealing cabs from him. I think that's toeing the line of appropriateness. 

 

Taran is now defending Michael on twitter, which is disappointing a) because Taran seems like a cool guy and b) because for some reason I thought the current cast was pretty feminist. Sasheer posted a link earlier today about how women can handle street harassment. Several people commented that she should send it to Michael Che. I also saw a video a few weeks ago for a magazine where she answered questions from fans. One was how to handle street harassment and she gave really great and thoughtful answers to it.

Edited October 31, 2014 by wudpixie

[opus]

I do agree with Taran that no topic should be off limits in comedy.Yes, even if 90% of people will be offended. You have to admit, it's one way to get people talking about sensitive subjects, as we are doing right now.

[Hava]

What he wrote didn't even come off as a joke to me. It reeked of the same defensiveness and, honestly, anger that some other men have displayed when confronted with their entitled, sexist, or misogynistic behavior. Sorry, no pass from me here. To me, Weekend Update has always been--or seemed to be--a place where the status quo is challenged and privilege is undermined. Something like male responses to the harassment would be ripe for the skewering on Weekend Update, so it is weird to hear this coming from one of the anchors. With that said, I am not calling for his termination or anything. 

Edited October 31, 2014 by Hava

[possibilities]

I love the Jessica Williams "field piece" on street harassment (for The Daily Show). I think we are all capable of telling the difference between a benign "hello" and verbal abuse. If Che lacks that ability, and dismisses the need to acquire it, it says more about him than about the women he's targeting with his unwelcome comments.