In the wake of Will Forte’s recent departure, Saturday Night Live has reportedly signed up three freshman cast members. The New York Post says that the recruits are: Taran Killam, of Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother, whose star Cobie Smulders is Killam’s longtime girlfriend and mother to their one-year-old child; Vanessa Bayer, a Chicago improv vet who’s worked with Second City and iO; and Paul Brittain, another familiar face in the Chicago comedy scene, particularly for his one-man show Sex Ed.
The NYP report also hints that the hiring of three new actors suggests that some of the other regulars may not be returning either, pointing out that it has not yet been confirmed whether Seth Myers, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, or Kenan Thompson have been officially re-hired. Of course, given that Myers is the head writer, Samberg is almost solely responsible for keeping the Internet interested in SNL via his Digital Shorts, Sudeikis anchors seemingly every sketch, and none of the people that have been hired so far are black dudes, we’re guessing speculation that any of them are leaving is a bit premature.
Here’s Killam in a Scrubs: Interns webisode.
Here’s Bayer's disembodied head in a commercial.
Here’s Brittain playing the ghost of Steve Prefontaine in a clip from NBC’s Sports Action Team.