SNL Recruits Two Michaela Watkins Doppelgängers

Two comediennes have joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in time for its 35th season, says The Comic's Comic, who first reported last season's SNL recruits. Is it just us, or do new cast members Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad both resemble Michaela Watkins? Sure, Michaela tracked well with bored high school kids, stoned college students and aspiring improvisers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, but wouldn't Lorne Michaels want to find doppelgängers for Kristin Wiig, the only SNL-er maintaining the show's faint pulse?

Although NBC has not officially confirmed the addition, sources say that both UCB alumnae began rehearsals with the rest of the cast this week for Weekend Update Thursdays, premiering September 17, and the Megan Fox-hosted season premiere on September 26. It is still uncertain whether Casey Wilson and the original Michaela Watkins will return for their second seasons.

Jenny Slate graduated from Columbia University, performed a one-woman show called Dead Millionaire at UCB New York last spring and frequently works with her comedy partner, Gabe Liedman (first video below). Nasim Pedrad is a Los Angeles native who has performed with The Groundlings (second video below), the UCB Theatre and Improv Olympic and had a nine-episode arc on ER.

"the Girlfriend" from Gabe & Jenny on Vimeo.

"Trash Talk" Sketch From Groundlings Show "El Rancho Advanco" from Marisol Medina on Vimeo.



Comments

  • Dimo says:

    Casey Wilson is nothing more than a glorified extra on SNL. But, don't dump Watkins, her sippy-cup drinking blogger on Weekend Update kills me....bitch.

  • MCU says:

    Am I the only person who — although, yeah, I only watch SNL by accident these days — thinks Kristin Wiig is the least funny in an unfunny cast? As in, with all her twitching, eye-popping, mouth-agape look-at-me!-laugh-at-me! desperation, she has about as much range as the Weekend Update desk.

  • Hernando Bansuelo says:

    Nasim is truly talented. I wish her the best of luck!

  • Mike says:

    I find it amusing that every single article on SNL I see always has to sneak an insult in there somewhere. How many people who write on the show actually watch it with any regularity? It's been quite funny for the past three years or so.

  • JudgeFudge says:

    These new cast members sound fine, but could we please axe Cassie Wilson and Bobby Monihan? Cassie is way to self-conscious to be funny, and Bobby gives me the awkwards.

  • sweetbiscuit says:

    Team Wiig.

  • JM says:

    Most articles have left out that Jenny Slate has also been part of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's sketchisodes "7th Floor West" and not half-bad in them.
    Watching the reruns from this season hasn't been too arduous. I would second the Wilson/Monihan ban. I would also like Kenan Thompson to get a good movie deal one of these days.