Saturday Night Live: 2 Cast Members Exit on Eve of Season 47 Premiere
A longtime cast member is leaving Saturday Night Live — and this one comes as something of a shock.
Beck Bennett is departing NBC‘s late-night sketch series after eight seasons. In addition, featured player Lauren Holt, who made her debut last fall, will not be returning for a second season.
Bennett confirmed his departure on Instagram Monday morning, writing, “Gonna miss you so much. Thank you for eight years of remarkable people and incredible experiences that completely changed my life. I had so much fun.”
Meanwhile, SNL staples Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong and Pete Davidson — whose returns had been in question — will all be back. Similar to last season, however, sources confirm that the trio — as well as other vets — will likely dip in and out throughout the season as they juggle outside projects.
To help fill the Bennett/Holt void, SNL is adding three new featured players: comedians Aristotle Athari (Silicon Valley), James Austin Johnson (Tuca & Bertie) and Sarah Sherman (The Eric Andre Show). Meanwhile, both Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang have been promoted to repertory status for Season 47.
All told, SNL‘s Season 47 ensemble will consist of 21 cast members, including repertory players McKinnon, Strong, Davidson, Fineman and Yang, as well as Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson and Melissa Villaseñor; and featured players Andrew Dismukes, Punkie Johnson, Athari, Johnson and Sherman.
Bennett was perhaps best known for his impersonations of former Vice President Mike Pence and Russian president Vladimir Putin. He made his debut as a featured player at the start of Season 39, and was upped to repertory player ahead of Season 41. He had been with the series since 2013.
As previously reported, SNL Season 47 premieres Oct. 2 (NBC, 11:30/10:30c), with host Owen Wilson and musical guest Kacey Musgraves. For October’s full slate of hosts/musical guests, click here.
Bowen is the worst.
Bowen is the best.
pretty sure you have that title
I have to agree. Bowen suffers from Kristen Wiig syndrome where every single one of his characters sounds exactly the same. I don’t find him funny either.
I agree. He’s one dimensional.
Except that’s just not true about either of them. I’ve been rewatching old SNL from the Wiig era and she has an enormous number of characters with different voices and a different shtick each time. As for Yang, I fail to see how characters like a diva iceberg, a French Canadian morning show host, a super intense Peloton instructor, or a Chinese trade ambassador are so similar. Unless you are hating on his “yass” factor?
Technically different characters, but they all sound exactly the same IMO both form Wiig and Yang. Wiig was better when she first started SNL. She got worse as the years went on. I can’t stand watching her now. Again, just my opinion. Honestly, that’s all any of us are expressing, right?
Agreed, but I’m very happy for Chloe.
So happy about Chloe, but I could tell from the start that her talent would promote her to a lead cast member.
They really need to shave down the cast. There are too many members. There are at least 4 or 5 that need to go and Bowen is one and Mooney is another. Beck is a big loss, but the other chick was like a second Aidy and one Aidy is fine.
Sad for you none of that will ever happen. 🤷♀️
Don’t understand why they keep Davidson on. Don’t find him at all funny and his delivery is exactly the same no matter the sketch.
Shame Beck Bennett is gone.
Yes! I don’t see how Pete lands movies. He’s not a good actor LOL. He makes the same weird gob smacked reactions constantly. Either that or he’s smiling like he’s nervous or trying not to laugh.
Lorne ADORES Pete, he will only leave if he wants to.
Bowen is the best.
Beck will be missed.
How could Beck Bennett leave and not take Kyle Mooney with him? That guy is one of the worst SNL players ever!
This!
Kyle & Pete have to go!! It amazes me that they’ve lasted this long & that anyone finds them remotely funny.
Gotta agree with you. They both need to stretch their ability. Learn to actually act.
Yep!! How Kyle Mooney continues to be a cast member is so confusing. He’s not a great actor & his sketches are always cringey & not funny.
So glad to hear someone else say this. I’ve never understood why he’s on the show. His sketches are awful and not at all funny.
Yes!! I cannot stand Kyle.
Agree!
Kyle mooney and that tall guy who dated ariana grande, why do ppl think they are funny?
Also, why didn’t brian jordan alvarez got in? He said he got an audition. He’s so funny on insta.
“He’s so funny on Insta”. I’m an amazing singer in my shower. I wonder how come I never get hired for any of these singer shows. Brian Jordan Alvarez and I Must be victims of some sort of industry prejudice.
Bring back Chevy Chase.
that’s so disingenuous to say, “that tall guy who dated ariana grande”. his name is in the article you are commenting on. and, clearly pete davidson has fans, especially one in lorne michaels. he may not be our cup of tea, but that’s ok. you’ve made a attempt at cleverness that really made you sound too try hard.
kyle mooney, however, is hilarious. his awkward and strange humour isn’t for everyone, i know, but i’ve thought he was brilliant since a short iced sitcom, ‘best friends forever’.
No to all of that
Beck is a big loss, he was in soo many sketches, he was great, he reminded me of the male Kate Mckennen. this really is a big loss for SNL.
I’ll miss Beck, he was one of my favorites. Not a ton of stand out, unique characters, but he was a great utility player. Buuuuuut, how is Kyle stilll there?
Not totally surprised by Lauren. She seemed to fade into the back once Aidy Bryant came back last season. It almost seemed like she was intended to be her replacement.
They have too big a cast. Maybe the comics they have today have half the talent the original did. They’ve just turned the show into a factory to give them something to add to their resume.
I think Beck did his best work in those AT&T commercials where he interviewed the kids :-)
Not sure what kinds of movies or sitcoms Beck Bennett will be offered in “normal” Hollywood. He’s great at impressions and extreme characters, but his overall persona seems best-suited to “guy who doesn’t get what’s going on” or “guy who turns out to be a jerk.”
Sounds like perfect romcom fodder.
That said, maybe he’ll get a sitcom.
As long they got Kate McKinnon its all good!
Beck is the funniest guy …always. Wish him all the best.
Biggest winner: Aidy Bryant, who will now be the first cast member named in the roll call that follows the cold open.
SNL is still on?! I had no idea.
I stopped watching years ago, when they stopped being funny.
Said at least by one person in every SNL article EVER made by someone hopefully trying to be clever while they watch whatever attempts at comedy FOX News tries to do amongst the lies.
Yep, What Evan said.
What does your comment have to do with this article, I fail to see the connection???
And it won an Emmy!! How that happened makes no sense to me!! It has some funny moments occasionally & individual cast members are funny, but as a whole, not that great & definitely not consistently funny & entertaining.
If you stopped watching years ago, how do you know if it’s funny or not? I think the last 5 years have been great! I don’t know how we would have survived the last 2 elections (and Trump) without SNL.
People are still saying “SNL is still on”? So 2000…
Beck Bennett will be missed on SNL. Really enjoy his impressions of Vladimir Putin, Mike Pence and Vin Diesel among others.
I’ll really miss Beck Bennett, he is very talented. I hope he gets on another show ASAP!
No why Beck ?? He was my favourite male cast member. He is great at impressions and playing funny dad/husband type of characters. I hope he left the show because he wanted to leave and not because Lorne fired him because that would be a big mistake to fire on of the funniest guy you have right now. If he stars in a sitcom or something like that I would love to watch it.
Aww Aww
And that hack Kyle Mooney still has a job.
Best of luck to Beck! I’ve seen him appear in a lot of shows I enjoy, and he’s doing a lot of voice work too, so I’m sure he’ll be okay. I liked Lauren too, but she seemed to get sidelined once Aidy came back full-time. I wish her the best of luck as well, but I think she’ll be fine. There are a lot of SNL women who have only been on one year and have done great afterwards (Jenny Slate, Michaela Watkins, Casey Wilson)
Casey Wilson was on for two seasons…
As a queer woman, Bowen is a repugnant stereotype and one trick pony. He’s the 21st Century version of Just Jack!
I’ll miss Bennett but don’t recall ever seeing Holt in a sketch. Have no idea who the 3 new people are.
Oh for the good old days when SNL had a funny cast. It’s been difficult to watch the last 20 years or so. If it wasn’t for Alec Baldwin’s idiot president sketches, they wouldn’t be enjoying their present come back.
Really?? SNL helped you survive? Hmmm…it used to be humorous to make fun of our politicians; now it’s just mean-spirited, rude and one-sided. A lot of us out there don’t care what SNL’s opinions are. As for helping us survive, too bad it’s not helping us survive O-Biden. Now that would be comedy, if it weren’t all too real
Your RWNJ tears are so delicious.
I guess you like Americans bring put last, our country going down the toilet.
I think this show is funny and still makes me laugh some might not like everyone on there it’s an entertaining show and some cast members might not be as funny the material is written for them yes there is improv and I love that it still makes me laugh
Please for the love of all that is good in this world, get rid of Kate McKinnon!!! She is literally the worst character I have seen in a long time and she refuses to leave, mostly because she can’t get a job anywhere else in Hollywood, but she needs to go
You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about…it’s LAUGHABLE. 🤡
The cast is strong enough – it’s the writing that has been terrible for multiple seasons now. They need to clean house and get some fresh, funny voices in there. And grow some b*lls – the show is just completely “on the fence” these days, even as the world burns.