Live from Studio 8H… it’s five new Saturday Night Live cast members. On Tuesday, NBC announced that it’s adding Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska to the cast of the long-running sketch series.
After SNL‘s 50th season—which included two major televised specials in the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert and SNL 50: The Anniversary Celebration—rumors swirled that Michaels was looking to reshape the cast in a major way. Last week, a raft of departures were announced: Emil Wakim leaves the series after a single season. Devon Walker and Michael Longfellow have both departed after three years with the program. Most surprisingly of all—unless you’ve been paying attention—longtime cast member Heidi Gardner announced she’d be leaving Saturday Night Live after eight seasons as one of the show’s most visible faces.
With room on the roster, Michaels has made good on his promise to shake things up, hiring five rising comedians to join the cast as featured players. But who made the cut, and why does one of them look so familiar? Here’s a breakdown of SNL’s newest cast members.
Ben Marshall
Marshall may be technically new to the show’s cast, but he isn’t new to Saturday Night Live. In 2021, he boarded the show as part of the comedy troupe “Please Don’t Destroy,” along with his partners Martin Herlihy and John Higgins. Together, the trio made digital shorts for SNL, a la “The Lonely Island” from the early aughts; several of those videos, including “Roast” with Dakota Johnson, went viral.
Now Marshall is getting bumped up to featured player, while Herlihy—whose father, Tim Herlihy, wrote for SNL and is a frequent Adam Sandler collaborator—is reportedly sticking around as a writer for season 51. Higgins, whose father Steve Higgins is a longtime writer and producer on SNL as well as the announcer for The Tonight Show, is leaving the show to pursue other acting projects. So this year, Marshall will be on his own on Saturday Night Live for the first time—but he’s got 4 years of SNL experience under his belt. Standing well over six feet and with bright red hair, he’ll certainly stand out.
Veronika Skolikowska
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