Last season, “Saturday Night Live” added a whopping seven new cast members. This season, the grand total is one.
20-year-old standup comedian Pete Davidson has joined “SNL” Season 40 as a featured player, partially filling the void left by departed freshmen Noel Wells, Brooks Wheelan and John Milhiser earlier this summer. In addition, Sasheer Zamata, Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney have been confirmed to return as featured players, while fellow freshman Michael Patrick O”Brien has been sent back to his post as a writer after being given a trial run as a cast member last season.
Davidson's few TV credits include a guest appearance on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” several episodes of Nick Cannon's “Wild 'N Out” and a standup appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in April (embedded below).
It's been a big few news days for the stalwart late-night sketch series. Last week it was announced that former “SNL” writer and short-lived “Daily Show” correspondent Michael Che would be joining Colin Jost at the “Weekend Update” desk as a replacement for Season 39 “Update” co-anchor Cecily Strong, who will be focusing more on sketches this season.
The biggest loss at Studio 8H over the summer was longtime announcer Don Pardo, who held the job for nearly 40 years before dying August 18 at the age of 96.