Saturday Night Live may have lost four cast members heading into Season 51—but now the show has gained five new ones.
Ben Marshall, one of the three members of the writing and digital short team Please Don’t Destroy, has been promoted to featured player status, along with comedians Veronika Slowikowska, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, and Kam Patterson.
John Higgins, another Please Don’t Destory member (and son of longtime SNL and Tonight Show producer Steve Higgins) will be leaving the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The third member, Martin Herlihy, will stay on as a writer, but the group is effectively breaking up and will not produce their signature behind-the-scenes sketches for SNL anymore.
Veronika Slowikowska is a popular sketch comedy content creator and TikToker with a few TV appearances under her belt, including axed SNL cast member Shane Gillis’ Netflix series Tires. Slowikowska hails from Ontario, and wrote “dream come true” to Instagram in response to the news Tuesday.
Kam Patterson’s addition to the cast is notable and potentially controversial, as the comedian is known for his regular status on Trump-fan Tony Hinchcliffe’s Kill Tony podcast. He also appears in Kevin Hart’s upcoming film 72 Hours, as does his new co-worker, SNL‘s Marcello Hernandez.
Culhane, a California native, is also known for his viral TikTok sketches. He’s a performer with Upright Citizens Brigade, a common SNL staff-feeder, and makes appearances on Dropout TV. He wrote to Instagram Tuesday, “Holy s--t” as he announced he was joining the SNL cast.
Minnesotan stand-up comedian Tommy Brennan made his TV debut on Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in June. He was named as one of Just for Laughs’ New Faces of Comedy in 2023.
The new faces announcement comes amid the major shake-up show boss Lorne Michaels promised last month after the show’s 50th season. The “pressure to reinvent” the show after the celebration led to the departures of Emil Wakim, Devon Walker, and Michael Longfellow, each of whom confirmed they were not invited back for the new season.
Only Walker has said the feeling was mutual. Wakim was “gut punched” and Longfellow was “bummed,” while Walker insisted his exit is “good news” and “It was just time for me to do something different.”
The most surprising departure so far has been eight-season vet Heidi Gardner, who, despite fan outcry over her exit, likely quit on her own accord after finishing out her contract extension.
SNL‘s new season premieres Oct. 4.
