Saturday Night Live has added some new faces to its ranks.
Mikey Day, a writer on the show since 2013, will transition to on-camera talent this upcoming season, the late-night institution’s 42rd.
Also joining the cast are Alex Moffat and Melissa Villasenor. All three will be featured players making their debuts on the Oct. 1 premiere.
Day, 36, is a member of the Groundlings, the famed Los Angeles comedy troupe and talent incubator that has produced such SNL all-stars as Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig.
Villasenor (pronounced via-SIN-your) is an L.A.-based comedian. She was a top 16 finalist on Season 6 of America’s Got Talent.
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Moffat hails from Chicago, where he taught teen improv at The Second City. He also is head writer and a castmember on Maya & Marty, which, like SNL, is another Lorne Michaels-produced NBC sketch show. That series — a showcase for the talents of Maya Rudolph and Martin Short — aired six episodes over the summer. It has yet to receive a renewal for a second season.
The new hires and promotions follow a round of behind-the-scenes bloodshed at the famed Studio 8H. This time around, the cast cuts were more shocking than usual, as Michaels chose not to renew the contracts of two of the show’s heavy-lifters — Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah.
Also not picked up for a second season was Jon Rudnitsky, who joined the cast as a featured player before the start of Season 41.
Killam, who was with the show for six seasons, Mating. The 34-year-old currently stars in Brother Nature, a Michaels-produced comedy feature that was co-written by Day and which opened Friday, and he is directing and starring in Why We’re Killing Gunther, a comedy featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The 28-year-old Pharoah, meanwhile, also had been with SNL for six seasons. He next stars in Showtime’s Jamie Foxx pilot White Famous.
