saturday night live
SNL introduces new featured player Kate McKinnon this weekend
Huge congratulations to Kate McKinnon, who joins the cast of Saturday Night Live this weekend. The latest performer plucked from the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre, McKinnon has appeared on Logo’s Big Gay Sketch Show and web series like Vag Magazine and The 40 Year Old 20 Year Old, in addition to voicing characters on cult hits like The Venture Brothers and Ugly Americans.
Though the sketch show didn’t make any major cast changes coming into the 2012/2013 season, they’ll be going through a fairly big revamp soon, seeing as several key cast member’s contracts are up at the end of the year — like Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis.
Rumors of a new hire escalated after featured player Paul Brittain’s abrupt departure in January. Last week, Deadline reported that several women had been auditioning, including Very Mary Kate’s Elaine Carroll, Are You There, Chelsea’s Lauren Lapkus and McKinnon; almost immediately, word got out that McKinnon had made the cut and would debut on the April 7 Sofia Vergara-hosted episode.
It’s unclear whether McKinnon is officially on the team or not; Entertainment Weekly reports that the ECNY-nominated “comedian will get a tryout of sorts during the next live show,” hinting that perhaps the addition isn’t quite final.
Notably, McKinnon will be the show’s first openly gay cast member since the 1986/1986 season, which featured both Terry Sweeney and Danitra Vance. (Both only lasted a single season, and Vance wasn’t ‘out’ until after her tenure.)
Splitsider has an extensive round-up of McKinnon clips, but here’s a brief primer:
Vag Magazine, Episode One
The 40 Year Old 20 Year Old, Episode One
Watch more comedy videos from the twisted minds of the UCB Theatre at UCBcomedy.com
UCB Comedy’s Jersey Shore Explains: World War II
Watch more comedy videos from the twisted minds of the UCB Theatre at UCBcomedy.com
Kate McKinnon performs at McNally Jackson Book’s Real Characters show