Saturday Night Live has announced the hiring of three new cast members for the upcoming season. The news isn’t surprising, as they had previously announced the firings of Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah, and Jon Rudnitsky. The new SNL cast members include former writer Mikey Day, Alex Moffatt, and Melissa Villaseñor. While the new cast members are far from household names, it’s rare that someone joins Saturday Night Live if they’ve already found success as a comedian. So who are these new cast members?
Mikey Day
Taken directly from the official Saturday Night Live website, Mikey Day will be a featured player on SNL after writing for the show for three seasons.
“Day was a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles. Most recently, he was a co-head writer and cast member on NBC’s Maya & Marty . He is from Orange County, CA, and his birthday is March 20.”
Maya & Marty was a sketch comedy show that aired on NBC this summer, featuring SNL alumni Maya Rudolph and Martin Short. It has yet to be renewed for a second season. More notably, Day was also a writer and voice actor on Robot Chicken , appeared frequently on Wild ‘n Out , was a recurring character on the failed American adaptation of the Australian sitcom Kath & Kim , and even made an appearance on Reno 911! in 2005 as “School Guy.”
Melissa Villaseñor
As noted by the Hollywood Reporter , Melissa may appear familiar to those who watched the sixth season of America’s Got Talent , as the L.A.-based Villaseñor was a top 16 finalist on the show. The description from SNL’s site provides a little more nuance:
“Melissa Villaseñor joins Saturday Night Live for her first season. Villaseñor is an impressionist and stand-up comedian who has headlined more than 100 clubs and colleges around the country. She hails from Whittier, CA. Her birthday is October 9.”
According to her IMDB entry , she is best known for roles in such movies as The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall And Felt Superbad About It , Guber , and The Funtime Gang .
Alex Moffat
Moffat is perhaps the least well-known of all three new SNL signings. While he has had a little acting and directing experience, this role on Saturday Night Live will be his most prestigious to date. His official SNL profile says the following.
“Moffat was a regular performer at iO Chicago and The Annoyance Theatre. Moffat is from Chicago and attended Denison University. His birthday is March 25.”
His IMDB entry is considerably shorter than either of the other two SNL additions. His biggest role to date was in the movie Uncle John . He also made appearances on the little-known TV series Couch Surferz and The State of Us .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J90xjvtbz0Y
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Diversity on SNL
Diversity has been an ongoing issue for Saturday Night Live . For those who may feel as though the show is “too white,” the transitions over the summer won’t make things any better. Jay Pharoah — who frequently utilized his impersonation skills to portray African-American celebrities from Barack Obama to Jay-Z — was let go along with Taran Killam and Jon Rudnitsky. Both Mikey Day and Alex Moffatt are white, however. While Villaseñor is a positive step towards diversity (she is the first Latina to join the SNL ranks), the cast remains as Caucasian as ever. https://www.instagram.com/p/BJjH3ClAKAq/
In terms of gender diversity, replacing one of the fired men with a woman brings the list of featured and repertory players as close to 50/50 as possible. The updated list now includes seven women and eight men.
Where To Watch Saturday Night Live
SNL returns to NBC for its 42nd season on Saturday, October 1. Neither the host or musical guest for the season premiere of Saturday Night Live have been confirmed at the time of this writing. Replays of new episodes of SNL will be available to stream on-demand beginning Sunday morning via Hulu Plus (which currently houses over 350 full episodes of SNL , ranging from Season 1 to Season 41) or NBC’s website.
[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]