It’s not unusual for Chicago to be well-represented in the Saturday Night Live cast, but we still enjoy bragging about it. With just four days before the Season 43 premiere, SNL has (finally) announced the latest additions to its cast: Chris Redd (Second City), Luke Null (iO) and Heidi Gardner (Groundlings). These three new featured players will fill gaps that former main cast members Bobby Moynihan, Vanessa Bayer and Sasheer Zamata left upon their departure last May.
Chris Redd is a stand-up and sketch comic, with writing and performing credit at the Second City. Most notably, he stole the show in the Lonely Island’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping as a thinly-veiled sendup of rapper Tyler, the Creator. Last year around this time, a false rumor spread that Redd had been cast on SNL, so it’s particularly nice to see him get the call (for real this time).
Luke Null is an improv and sketch performer around Chicago, primarily at iO Theatre. He’s also a member of the video sketch team the Newport Hounds.
Chicago-based comics Steven Castillo and Gary Richardson were also picked up as writers for SNL's 43rd season.
We can’t wait to see these Chicagoans make a splash on the small screen this season (maybe a few of them will come back to town to see the Saturday Night Live exhibit at the Museum of Broadcast Communications). In the meantime, we’ll be watching this perfect Chris Redd performance in Popstar on repeat:
