THE popular comedy sketch show is close to airing its 50th season.
Saturday Night Live first aired on NBC in 1975 with a cast that included the talents of John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Chevy Chase.
Who is the Saturday Night Live season 49 cast?
There are currently 15 cast members in the SNL lineup.
They include 11 repertory players, or main cast members, and four featured players.
Chloe Troast: Troast made her SNL debut on October 14, 2023 in the show’s 49th season.
Originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, she spent the last five years performing improv and stand-up comedy in New York before joining the cast.
Michael Che: Che is one of the show’s head writers and is co-anchor of Weekend Update with Colin Jost.
Mikey Day: Day, who originally joined the show as a writer, is known for playing many characters, including Donald Trump Jr.
Andrew Dismukes: Dismukes joined the cast in 2020 after serving as a writer for several seasons.
Chloe Fineman: Fineman is known for her impressions, and her popular Instagram feed @chloeiscrazy was featured in the Wall Street Journal.
Heidi Gardner: In her seventh season of SNL, Gardner comes from the Groundlings main company in Los Angeles and has wowed SNL audiences with such characters as Instagram influencer Landis Trotter.
Marcello Hernandez: Hernandez is known for his lifestyle website, Only in Dade, and made his SNL debut in 2022, becoming the show’s first cast member from Generation Z.
James Austin Johnson: Nashville native, comedian, and actor Johnson appeared in the Coen Brothers’ feature Hail, Caesar!, Hulu’s Future Man, and Amazon’s The Last Tycoon.
Now in his third season, he joined SNL after going viral for his master Trump impersonation.
Colin Jost: Jost serves as head writer and has been co-anchor of Weekend Update since 2014.
He married actress and six-time SNL host Scarlett Johansson, in October 2020 at their New York home.
Michael Longfellow: Longfellow is a standup comedian who competed on NBC’s Bring the Funny and was one of eight comedians selected to appear at the Netflix Is A Joke Fest in early 2022.
He joined the show as a featured player in its 48th season, alongside Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearny, and Devon Walker.
Ego Nwodim: A mainstay at Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles, she is in her sixth season on SNL.
Sarah Sherman: Long Island native Sherman returns to SNL for her third season.
The comedian and visual artist is known for her traveling show Helltrap Nightmare, and she is also the writer of Netflix’s comedic magic show, Magic for Humans.
Kenan Thompson: The versatile Thompson is known for impressions that include The Reverend Al Sharpton, Charles Barkley, Steve Harvey, and David Ortiz.
Now in his 21st season, Thompson is the show’s longest-running cast member.
Devon Walker: Walker made his television debut in season 48 of SNL and returns to the cast of SNL for his second season.
In 2017, he was selected for Comedy Central’s Up Next showcase which featured up-and-coming comedians.
Bowen Yang: Yang is a comedian, writer, and actor based in New York who joined the show as a staff writer in its 44th season.
He is the co-host of the podcast Las Culturistas and its live show, I Don’t Think So Honey.
In 2022, Yang also appeared in the LGBTQ romantic comedies, Fire Island and Bros.
Which SNL cast members left recently?
After 11 cast members left the show in the past two seasons, the entire cast from Season 48 returned for the show’s 49th season.
However, two cast members left the show ahead of the 50th season.
Season 47 of SNL, however, bid farewell to several of its beloved cast members, including:
Pete Davidson: The 28-year-old talented stand-up comedian was the youngest member of the cast and the first to be born in the 1990s.
Aidy Bryant: Bryant had a slew of enchanting characters, including on the recurring Girlfriends Talk Show sketch and Carrie Krum on Weekend Update.
Kate McKinnon: McKinnon, whose iconic performances included her portrayal of Rudy Guliani, won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016 and 2017.
Kyle Mooney: He gained recognition for his digital shorts Miley Sex Tape with Miley Cyrus and 420 with Seth Rogen.
Aristotle Athari: Athari only appeared on SNL for one year, joining in season 47.
The Los Angeles comedian, actor, and director appeared in five episodes of Silicon Valley and directed How to be Broke.
Alex Moffat: The New York-based actor, stand-up, and writer was known for his impressions of Eric Trump and Mark Zuckerberg.
Melissa Villasenor: Leaving the show after her sixth season, Villasenor’s impressions included Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, and lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Cecily Strong: She announced her departure after the 48th season, and her last show was on Saturday, December 17.
Strong was known for an impressive lineup of strong impressions, including Judge Jeanine Pirro and Melania Trump.
Chris Redd: Redd is an actor, writer, stand-up comic, and rapper who received the Emmy Award in 2018 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the SNL song Come Back, Barack.
Redd was the most recent cast member to announce he was leaving the show and in a statement, he said: “Being a part of SNL has been the experience of a lifetime.
“Five years ago, I walked into 30 Rock knowing that this was an amazing opportunity for growth.
“Now, with friends who have become family and memories I will cherish forever, I’m grateful to Lorne Michaels and to the entire SNL organization.
“From the bottom of my heart, I can’t thank you all enough.”
Season 49 of SNL bid farewell to several of its beloved cast members, including:
Molly Kearney: Kearney, who was the first nonbinary cast member in the live sketch show’s history, announced on Friday, August 2, 2024 that they were leaving the show.
“Yall that’s a wrap on my time on SNL!” Kearney wrote in an Instagram post.
They called the experience a “dream come true” and thanks the “talented group of writers” and cast. Kearney spent two seasons on the show.
Punkie Johnson: Johnson annonced in an Instagram video on Thursday, August 1, 2024, that she would not be returning for the show’s historic 50th season. She joined the live show in season 46 or in 2020.
She said there are “no bridges burnt” and “no hard feelings” and called the experience “a dream.”
Where can I watch SNL?
Saturday Night Live airs weekly every Saturday night at 11:30 pm ET on NBC. The series’ 50th season is set to premiere on September 28, 2024.
The show is also available to stream on Hulu and Peacock.
Each season typically runs from early October to mid-May, with a brief hiatus from mid-December to mid-January.
The season’s celebrity hosts and musical guests are listed below:
- October 14, 2023: Hosted by Pete Davidson, with musical guest Ice Spice
- October 21, 2023: Hosted by Bad Bunny, with musical guest Bad Bunny
- October 28, 2023: Hosted by Nate Bargatze, with musical guest Foo Fighters
- November 11, 2023: Hosted by Timothée Chalamet, with musical guest Boygenius
- November 18, 2023: Hosted by Jason Momoa, with musical guest Tate McRae
- December 2, 2023: Hosted by Emma Stone, with musical guest Noah Kahan
- December 9, 2023: Hosted by Adam Driver, with musical guest Olivia Rodrigo
- December 16, 2023: Hosted by Kate McKinnon, with musical guest Billie Eilish
- January 20, 2024: Hosted by Jacob Elordi, with musical guest Reneé Rapp
- January 27, 2024: Hosted by Dakota Johnson, with musical guest Justin Timberlake
- February 3, 2024: Hosted by Ayo Edebiri, with musical guest Jennifer Lopez
- February 24, 2024: Hosted by Shane Gillis, with musical guest 21 Savage
- March 2, 2024: Hosted by Sydney Sweeney, with musical guest Kacey Musgraves
- March 9, 2024: Hosted by Josh Brolin, with musical guest Ariana Grande
SNL is the longest-running and most Emmy-nominated weekly late-night television program in TV history.
Saturday Night Live first hit the airwaves on October 11, 1975.
George Carlin was the host and featured the musical guests, Billy Preston and Janis Ian.
The original cast featured Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, and Laraine Newman.
Lorne Michaels is the Emmy Award-winning creator and executive producer of Saturday Night Live.
Michaels’ 98 Emmy nominations are the most ever for an individual, and he has personally won 21 Emmys as a writer and producer of television.
