By Thomas Mangieri
Saturday Night Live prepares to launch its 51st season on Oct. 4, and with that, they have made several new cast additions to replace departing members Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, Devon Walker, and eight-season veteran of the show, Heidi Gardner.
SNL, coming out of a low point in the show’s history, bounced back in Season 50, hitting its highest ratings in the past three years. This rebound came partly from a shift in humor, attempting to pander to a younger demographic, with this being seen in some of the hirings.
The one cast addition that some regular viewers may recognize is Ben Marshall, a third of the trio Please Don’t Destroy, made up of him, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy. The group had been writing SNL since 2021, creating and acting in the always-popular digital shorts for the show that somewhat helped cater to a younger Gen Z audience that the show has taken on. But with the departure of John Higgins from the writer’s room to pursue a career away from the show, the group has disbanded.
While this disbandment may have come as a shock to some, it is good to know that there is no bad blood between the members, as Marshall stated in an Instagram post,
“I love these boys so much… This is a new chapter, but we’re not going to stop working together anytime soon.”
Veronika Slowikowska is one of the more notable cast additions this season as she was featured on Season two of the Shane Gillis Netflix comedy Tires as Kelly, along with guest-starring on What We Do In the Shadows as well as Poker Face.
However, Slowikowska is best known for her popular Instagram and TikTok pages @veronika_iscool that have amassed over one million followers. She has also appeared on many podcasts and collaborated with the popular media group Almost Friday TV. The humor on her page is best described as short and sometimes relatable sketch humor.
While she is most known for acting, she has also released music with her 2020 single “So Many Lies” and her 2021 single “Homesick.” SNL does love some musical comedy, so it should be interesting to see if the writers do something with Slowikowska’s talents.
Slowikowska seems to be a jack of all trades and someone who checks all the boxes to be a notable SNL cast member for the future of this show.
Jeremy Culhane, much like Slowikowska, was well known before landing his SNL gig. Him being the host of Game Changer on the streaming service Dropout, formerly known as CollegeHumor.
Culhane also has many clips promoting improv shows posted on his Instagram, along with stand-up sets. His improv skills are notable, with him having performed with the well-known Upright Citizens Brigade. A group that has produced a lot of SNL talent. With cast greats like Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz as well as writers for the show like Adam McKay, who not only would go on to be a head writer for the show, but he would also go on to write Talladega Nights.
Culhane’s resume smells of success, and viewers should be excited to see what he brings to the table for the show in the future.
Tommy Brennan is a more traditional hire for the show — not that that’s a bad thing. Brennan is currently a touring standup comedian and just a few months ago did a set on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, promoting future tour dates.
This wasn’t Brennan’s first taste of success, however, being named Comic to Watch at the New York Comedy Festival in 2023, as well as being selected as a new face at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.
Like Jeremy Culhane, he also got his start with a prominent improv group that a lot of other SNL talent has graduated from, with him having performed with Second City out of Chicago. Second City has produced arguably more big names than The Upright Citizens Brigade, with names like Dan Aykroyd, Tim Robinson, Tina Fey, and Jason Sudeikis, just to name a few. However, unlike Culhane, Brennan would switch his focus to standup with it, allowing him to do multiple shows per night.
Brennan should be another great addition to the cast. While he doesn’t have many acting credits to his name, he does have some sketch comedy posted on his Instagram, and his history in Second City shows promise that he will be a talented member of the cast.
Kam Patterson, an Orlando native, is another “typical hire” from the show him being another standup comedian. However, his rise in the comedy world is much different than the other hires.
Patterson began performing comedy in 2021 after a coworker at Foot Locker and his father urged him to do so. Patterson began doing open mics in the Orlando area. Eventually, Patterson would be asked to open for Jason Banks, a famous internet personality and stand-up comedian.
Patterson’s big break would come after he appeared on the popular stand-up show Kill Tony, where he would become a fan favorite. Patterson would later tour with Kill Tony, performing in venues like Madison Square Garden and the Los Angeles Forum.
Patterson looks to be another great hire from the SNL Crew, being a younger face in comedy as well as the youngest new hire at 26 years old. While he has no real acting experience, that is soon to change with him being in the cast of the new Kevin Hart Netflix film, 72 Hours. Patterson looks to bring more life to this already stacked new SNL Class.