“Saturday Night Live” lost five beloved cast members ahead of its 51st season premiere on Saturday. Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow all announced that they were leaving the long-running late night sketch comedy series.
At the Emmy Awards in September, SNL boss Lorne Michaels explained the departures.
“The show has always brought people in from new, different ages and different generations, and it has to, it’s how it revives itself,” he told “Entertainment Tonight” host Nischelle Turner on the red carpet. “It’s always hard when people leave, but there’s a time for that. And our audiences always stay relatively young, more so now with TikTok.”
“Change is good,” he continued. “And the people we’re bringing in, I’m really excited about.”
And so, five new cast members — who range in age from 26 to 33 — will be joining the storied players Saturday on the 51st season premiere. Bad Bunny is set to host, with Doja Cat as the musical guest.
Below, meet Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane and Veronika Slowikowska, who are determined to bring their brands of funny to Studio 8H.
Ben Marshall
Ben Marshall during the “PDD: First Class” sketch on the Season 50 finale.
Marshall, 30, isn’t new to the “Saturday Night Live” family; he was promoted from writer to a featured player in September. He is one part of the comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy, which formed at New York University in 2017. Martin Herlihy, also a part of the troupe, is staying on as a writer and John Higgins has left the show. Marshall paid tribute to Please Don’t Destroy on Instagram when it was announced that he was joining the SNL cast.
“I love these boys so much. I couldn’t be more grateful to have gotten into this business with my two best friends,” he wrote. “Getting to write for SNL together and make our own videos for the show was beyond our wildest dreams- and I’m so proud of everything we’ve made so far. This is a new chapter, but we’re not going to stop working together anytime soon.”
Outside of SNL, you might have seen Marshall in an episode of Peacock’s “Poker Face.”
Here’s a look at Please Don’t Destroy’s sketch from the Season 50 finale, featuring Scarlett Johansson and Season 51 premiere host Bad Bunny. Below, he mocks the New York Times’ story pitch process.
Kam Patterson
Kam Patterson at the Permission to Tonight at the Improv as part of SXSW 2024 Conference and Festivals held at the Esther’s Follies Center on March 10, 2024 in Austin, Texas.
Samantha Burkardt via Getty Images
The 26-year-old comedian is pretty new to the stand-up comedy scene, getting his start in 2021 in Orlando, his hometown. Since then, he’s become known for his work on the live podcast variety show, Kill Tony, which is hosted by Tony Hinchcliffe and Brian Redban. His set for Stand-Up On The Spot, where audiences yell out random topics for him to make jokes about, has over 1 million views.
“I have a one-track mind about comedy,” he told Orlando Weekly. “At one point I had a job at Foot Locker, and I was always telling my co-workers stories. They were like, ‘Man, you funny as hell. You should be a comedian.’ They’re the ones who really got me thinking I could do it.”
Patterson is set to appear opposite Marshall, comedian Kevin Hart and SNL cast member Marcello Hernández on Netflix’s “72 Hours.”
Tommy Brennan
Comedian Tommy Brennan performs on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in June.
Brennan is no stranger to late night or NBC. He performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in June and talked about growing up in a family of eight kids.
“You don’t see eight a lot anymore — I think mainly ’cause it’s the wrong choice, probably,” he said. “You can’t love eight kids individually. You manage them like a sports franchise. Like, you love the overall team, sure, but you’d trade a couple players.”
The 32-year-old Minnesota native recently opened for Nikki Glaser on her comedy tour.
“This doesn’t feel real, but we’ll see you guys on Saturdays!” he posted on Instagram when the SNL casting was announced.
Jeremy Culhane
Jeremy Culhane attends the “The Sperm Bank” screening during the Shorts: Resilience at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.
Roy Rochlin via Getty Images
Culhane, 33, has made a name for himself with the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles and has appeared in comedy sketches on Dropout TV, formerly known as CollegeHumor.
Netflix fans may remember Culhane from his role in the 2018 satire “American Vandal.” More recently, he appeared in a few episodes of HBO’s “The Sex Lives Of College Girls.”
Veronika Slowikowska
Veronika Slowikowska attends the Closing Night Film “I Like Movies” during the 38th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival at The Arlington Theatre in 2023.
Tibrina Hobson via Getty Images
Slowikowska, 29, is a familiar face on social media platforms including Instagram and TikTok. Elsewhere, she’s appeared on FX’s comedy horror series “What We Do In The Shadows.” She also appeared in the Netflix series “Tires,” which was created by Shane Gillis, who was fired from SNL before he got the chance to appear as a cast member.
The daughter of Polish immigrants, her comedy career started in 2018 when she and her two besties founded a musical comedy troupe, My Chemical Bromance.
The Canadian actor is one-half of the “internet’s favorite situationship” opposite her podcast host Kyle Chase. The sketch comedy series features the duo as roommates, showcasing their quirky relationship.
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Season 51 of “Saturday Night Live” premieres on NBC on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET.
