NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which a year ago recruited a trio of Second City vets (Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong and Tim Robinson) to freshen its cast, this season may add a quartet of Upright Citizens Brigade players.
Per our sister site Deadline, AT&T pitchman Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney (who also perform with the sketch comedy group Good Neighbor), female impressionist Noël Wells and comedian John Milhiser (photo, far right) are being eyeballed to round out the Season 39 cast, which will be sans Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and, come early 2014, Seth Meyers.
Most recently, Upright Citizens Brigade gave unto SNL Bobby Moynihan and Kate McKinnon. Source
Some videos also at the source. I was hoping for a WOC but at least we're getting a woman (if these rumors are true)
Clockwise: Beck Bennett, Lorne Michaels, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Noel Wells, Mike O'Brien
How 'Saturday Night Live' Found 5 New Castmembers
Live from New York: It's an all-new Saturday Night! With the departures of Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis -- plus Seth Meyers' planned midseason exit to take over for Jimmy Fallon as host of NBC's Late Night -- SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels has undertaken one of the most ambitious overhauls in the NBC sketch show's 38-year history.
"This was the most public search for talent that I've seen," says one comedy veteran of the hunt, which reached far beyond the Los Angeles-Chicago-New York circuit to such alt-comedy hotbeds as Portland, Ore., and Boston. Adds the insider, "Everyone was talking about it, and everyone was aware of it." The result: Five new faces will join SNL's cast this year, the most for a single season since 1995, when Will Ferrell made his debut.
Among the additions are Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney, friends from USC who formed the sketch group Good Neighbor. Bennett stars in AT&T's "It's Not Complicated" ad campaign, and the troupe recently shot a Comedy Central pilot produced by Ferrell and Adam McKay. Michaels arranged to get the pair out of that commitment. Their loopy brand of "bro humor" is expected to help SNL -- which pulled in $111 million in ad revenue during the 2012-13 season, according to Kantar Media -- remain current while filling a void left by Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island.
Also joining the cast are John Milhiser and Noel Wells, both gifted physical comics and talented mimics (Wells does a spot-on Zooey Deschanel) who honed their chops at L.A.'s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. And Mike O'Brien, a writer on the show for four seasons, has been upped to featured player.
The "rebuilding" process, as Meyers refers to it, kicked into high gear in the spring, with scouts scouring comedy clubs nationwide in search of the next Kristen Wiig. At a series of August showcases in L.A. and New York, invitees were given five minutes to wow execs like Lindsay Shookus, one of the SNL producers who oversees casting. Wells "blew everyone away," says one attendee, with her impression of a Vine video. (She played a screaming fan at a Rihanna concert who falls and repeats the embarrassing moment again and again.) That earned her a trip to New York for an audition in front of Michaels and his trusted comedy consiglieri Steve Higgins -- best known as Fallon's Late Night announcer -- among other SNL writers and producers.
"It's a mercurial process," is how one knowledgeable source characterizes the final decision, made invariably by Michaels and his golden gut. In Milhiser's case, a spot-on impression of Jon Cryer, among other characters, was all it took to earn the show creator's approval, while Bennett won Michaels over playing a man trapped inside a baby's body. But for a majority of hopefuls who made the pilgrimage to 30 Rock for a once-in-a-lifetime shot at network stardom -- sources say there were about two dozen -- the answer was a soul-crushing no. Source
Cheat Sheet: Get to Know the 5 New Faces of 'SNL'
KYLE MOONEY
BASICS: The San Diego native studied film at USC, where he met the other members of Good Neighbor -- SNL's new answer to The Lonely Island. He’s guest-starred on NBC's Parks and Recreation, and recently wrapped filming on a Good Neighbor pilot for Comedy Central, produced by Will Ferrell and former SNL head writer Adam McKay.
SHTICK: Todd, a sensitive, uber-straight SoCal surfer dude; Chris, a Jesse Pinkman-esque high school ne’er do well
SNL-GEBRA: The Method commitment of Bill Murray to the power of the surreal sensibility of Will Forte.
JOHN MILHISER
BASICS: The Brooklyn-based comic is a member of sketch group Serious Lunch, featured on The Tonight Show and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Milhiser was also chosen this year to take part in the Just for Laughs comedy festival's New Faces showcase.
SHTICK: A guy from the wrong side of the tracks in "Clap It Up," a Step Up parody about competitive patty-cake; the acne-plagued man in "Facialique," a disturbing satire of a Proactiv ad.
SNL-GEBRA: The boyish eagerness of Dana Carvey divided by the dark undercurrent of Chris Parnell.
BECK BENNETT
BASICS: Born in Wilmette, Ill., studied acting at USC where he met Mooney and Nick Rutherford. They later joined with Dave McCary to create Good Neighbor, which counts Louis C.K. and Steven Spielberg among its fans. Bennett currently stars in AT&T's "It's Not Complicated" campaign.
SHTICK: Buttoned-down interviewer of precocious children, as seen in web series “Fresh Perspectives” and the TV ads it inspired. Could make a good fit as Seth Meyers' replacement on Weekend Update.
SNL-GEBRA: The all-American good looks of a young Chevy Chase multiplied by the infectious temperament of Jimmy Fallon.
NOEL WELLS
BASICS: Studied animation and film at U.T. Austin. She’s performed at UCB Los Angeles since 2010, and her videos have racked up mucho views.
SHTICK: Manic Pixie Nightmare Girl, a psycho spin on the Zooey Deschanel archetype; a send-up of Homeland's Dana Brody, the character the Internet loves to hate.
SNL-GEBRA: The vulnerability of Gilda Radner plus the celebrity mimicry skills of Abby Elliott.
MIKE O’BRIEN
BASICS: Founded a comedy newspaper at the University of Michigan, then moved to Chicago to take classes at Second City, where he was a performer for many years. Flown out to NYC to do a five-minute audition at SNL in both 2005 and 2009; the latter resulted in a writing job. Among his best-loved SNL sketches is his Gathering of the Juggalos parody ad, "Kickspit Underground Rock Festival."
SHTICK: O’Brien has lured big names into his closet for his online celebrity talk show, 7 Minutes in Heaven, including Jeff Goldblum, Amy Poehler and even Juggalos' patron saints, Insane Clown Posse.
SNL-GEBRA: The writerly mind of A. Whitney Brown nested inside the timeless elegance of Nora Dunn.
SNL Adds Cecily Strong as Weekend Update Anchor; Seth Meyers to Stick Around All Season?
The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party will now be driving the pop culture conversation, as a co-anchor of Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update segment.
SNL boss Lorne Michaels tells the New York Times that starting with the late-night sketch show’s Season 39 premiere (airing Sept. 28), sophomore cast member Cecily Strong will sit alongside veteran news reader Seth Meyers at the WU desk, mocking headlines.
“Cecily, from the first show, was right there,” Michaels said of Strong’s first year with SNL. “She exploded.”
Whether Strong goes solo on Weekend Update once Meyers’ run as host of NBC’s Late Night begins in late February remains to be seen. Michaels seems to be holding out some hope that since Meyers won’t shoot Late Night on Fridays, he could pull double duty.
The Times story also confirms that SNL scribe Mike O’Brien is joining the on-camera ensemble (along with the previously rumored Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, Noël Wells and John Milhiser), while Tim Robinson is moving off the stage and into the writers room.
Meyers welcomed his new co-anchor via Twitter, as well as offered his sad speculation about Strong’s occasional WU visitor.
Seth Meyers @sethmeyers
Very excited about the new Weekend Update co-anchor, @cecilybecily! http://nyti.ms/15vXl50
Seth Meyers @sethmeyers
As for The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation with, it's prob safe to assume that she died somewhere, mid-conversation. Source
YAY She was great in her first season And Tim kinda sucked so I'm not sad to see him go. I guess her and the other featured cast members last season will be promoted
The It's Not Complicated commercials are legit my favorite commercials of all time. They always send me into fits of laughter I'm so excited that they cast that guy!