Ahead of its 51st season, it has been announced several cast members will be leaving Saturday Night Live.
The late-night sketch comedy show had maintained a relatively consistent cast in its last few seasons in order to prepare for the fiftieth anniversary. However, starting in August, several cast members announced their departures via social media.
Those leaving include Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and, more notably, Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner.
On Sept. 2, SNL announced on Instagram that new cast members will include Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska.
Online discourse of the new cast members has focused on Culhane and Slowikowska’s internet following and social media presences.
Culhane is known as a sketch comedian, previously part of the Upright Citizens Brigade and Groundlings improv and sketch comedy schools. He is known as a regular cast member on Dropout TV, an internet comedy subscription streaming service.
His appearances on Dropout TV, along with his personal content, have gained him over 40 million views on social media.
Slowikowska is also an internet personality, known for her viral TikTok skits, which have gained her over 700,000 followers. She has also performed as a stand-up and in sketch comedy groups.
Although the two may be more commonly known as “internet comedians,” they both have television credits predating their SNL debuts. Slowikowska’s TV credits include “What We Do in the Shadows,” and “Tires.” Culhane has made appearances in “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and “American Vandal”.
Despite this, the discourse on Culhane and Slowikowska joining the show is focused on the fact that they have an internet following, which has garnered a mixed response from fans.
The addition of influencers to the SNL cast also indicates a potentially new era for the show. The show as a whole has become less popular and faced criticism that the sketch format is no longer relevant to the comedic landscape.
By adding cast members and writers who have experience with internet sketch comedy and popularity within the space, the show’s stale content can be revived in order to match a new generation of viewers and their sense of humor.
In the past few years, many celebrities have managed to break through into the mainstream media. Making internet stardom a potential pathway to commercial success. But is a social media following all it takes?
Other examples of influencers who have broken through to the mainstream media include Benito Skinner, Addison Rae, Quinta Brunson and Conan Gray.
Benito Skinner started making comedy sketches on YouTube around 10 years ago. Aside from internet content, he is also a stand-up comedian. His semi-autobiographical stand-up show, “Overcompensating”, was turned into an Amazon Prime original series of the same name.
In most cases, as seen with Culhane, Slowikowska and Skinner, non-traditional forms of media only acted as a single step when it came to building a career in their given industry. Internet content was used alongside live stand-up and sketch comedy.
Although online fame can excel someone’s career in the entertainment industry, it is usually paired with years of dedication offline to build their audience and resume. Saturday Night Live’s newest cast members are no exception to this. In fact, they are all a great example of how the lines between influencer and celebrity are being blurred.
Many are arguing that podcasting is going to replace late-night talk shows. More and more traditional celebrities have been making podcast appearances in order to promote their work, showing how celebrities are even starting to step into more influencer dominated spaces.
The more these lines become blurred, certain celebrities, networks and shows will have to adapt in order to keep up with audience interests. SNL has taken a step in the right direction by adding cast members with internet experience.
Whether or not these new cast members will be a successful addition will be a test of the show’s sketch format and if it can evolve to current audience’s interests and humor. If they are successful, audiences should expect more comedians with internet followings to join the cast in the coming seasons.
