Hello, and welcome back to Comedy Means Business.
Coming to you after an unexpected trip to Hawaii, which really cleansed the palate, even if I left with some stitches after an unfortunate swimming collision with some volcanic rock.
With the Emmys behind us once again, I'd like to shout out The Daily Show's Desi Lydic, a recent guest on our podcast who's added another trophy to her shelf. On the comedy side of things, Matt Wolf is another welcome winner given his top-notch work on HBO doc Pee-wee As Himself. As are The Studio and Hacks, which embody the beauty of the real-deal TV comedy driven by actual jokes. What an extraordinary haul for the former...
It’s been another busy week in the comedy space. As a refresher, I’ve recently reported exclusively on projects ranging from a narrative Smothers Brothers feature at Imagine, to a high-concept fishing comedy, to an indie starring Michelle Buteau & Zooey Deschanel, to a new self-released special from 2 Dope Queens’ Phoebe Robinson. This past Friday, I also told you about Netflix’s acquisition of family holiday comedy pitch South Pole Santa, as well as Sugar23’s hiring of Amy Zvi, a veteran talent manager and producer who works with talent like Jeff Ross and Sarah Silverman.
For today's episode of the Comedy Means Business podcast, I spoke with Tamra Goins about her journey from teenage battle rapper to head of comedy at Innovative. Watch our chat here.
The thrust of my latest newsletter is an analysis of recent hirings and firings at Saturday Night Live, and what we can glean about where the iconic late-night show is headed. But before we get to that, I have a new Discovery of the Week plus a couple of fresh exclusive items for you... |
Matt McCusker (Rotten Science) |
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Comedian Matt McCusker is preparing to unveil A Humble Offering, his debut Netflix special, which is set to premiere on Tuesday, October 7th. Directed by Tyler Falbo (of Almost Friday fame), McCusker's new hour sees him offer perspective on the homelessness crisis, race relations, and best practices for seducing his wife. The special is produced by Rotten Science, as well as Becky Astphan and Natalya Yonathan, who rep the comic at Range Media Partners. The project deepens McCusker's ties to Netflix amid his work alongside longtime friend and collaborator Shane Gillis on Tires, the hit Netflix comedy series, heading into its third season. >>> More |
Hari Kondabolu (Antoine Didienne) |
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Brooklyn-based comedian, writer, and podcaster Hari Kondabolu has signed with ColorCreative for management and IAG for agency representation.
Cited by the New York Times as "one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today," Kondabolu is known for specials including Vacation Baby (2023), which can be found streaming on Hulu, and Warn Your Relatives (2018) for Netflix, which was named to "Best Of" lists by the likes of Time, Paste Magazine, Cosmopolitan, E! Online, and Mashable. Previously, he's also put out two comedy albums, Waiting for 2042 and Mainstream American Comic, with indie rock label Kill Rock Stars. >>> More |
Rachel Scanlon (Jimmy Cambridge) | September 15's Discovery of the Week is Rachel Scanlon, a Minnesota-born, L.A.-based stand-up, host, writer, and podcaster who co-hosts the podcast and nationally touring live show Two Dykes and a Mic. Most recently, you've seen Scanlon on After Midnight, Don’t Tell Comedy, Straight Up, Stand Up on Just For Laughs’ digital platform, and Comedy Central. Her newest hour, Gay Fantasy , is out now on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play and more. Currently on tour throughout the U.S. — consistently selling out 200-300 seaters on her own, in between road work supporting Fortune Feimster — she is represented by Avalon and UTA. Check out a clip here.
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| What Lorne's Latest Decisions Say About State Of The Show |
SNL Cast Adds Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska (Juliet Farmer/Ellyn Jameson/Andrew Thomas/Jim Cambridge/Cobey Arner) |
The starting lineup for Season 51 of Saturday Night Live is as good as locked, after Deadline revealed that Ego Nwodim is leaving after seven seasons.
Nwodim is one of five people exiting and Lorne Michaels has hired five new people to join the cast of the show, which returns on October 4.
Deadline spoke to a half-dozen insiders about the latest hirings and firings and what it means for the show, highlighting how it paints a picture of a show at an inflection point.
One source called the new class of cast members "one of the best in a long time."
"I think what you're seeing right now is SNL operating in a new era, where the talent has more of a voice than ever before," he said. "In previous years when you would hire a cast member, it would be a total discovery. This year is, I think, the first where all four of the comedians that they picked have fairly sizable, kind of niche, but dedicated audiences that they already have built on their own."
This marks a major evolution. As stand-ups and sketch players have learned to bypass gatekeepers by cultivating their own platforms on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, Hollywood has increasingly looked to recruit talent arriving with built-in fandoms, rather than mint stars from scratch — and SNL is no different. While coming to the show from different professional vantage points, this year's newcomers Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Veronika Slowikowska and Kam Patterson each illustrate the point.
It was a point that Lorne Michaels made himself at the Emmys. "The show has always brought people in from different ages and different generations and it's how it revives itself," SNL's creator-producer told Entertainment Tonight. "It's always hard when people leave but there's a time for that and our audiences always stayed relatively young and more so now with TikTok, and change is good. The people we're bringing in, I'm really excited about."
Jeremy Culhane
Culhane is described as an improv sketch comedian "in the traditional mold," with the potential to become a cast mainstay. What was particularly interesting to one manager is his association with Dropout. He called the comedy streamer "a new, fresh" pool from which to draw talent, spotlighted by Culhane's hiring as Stapleview was when Jane Wickline joined SNL last year.
Veronika Slowikowska
Compared to the likes of Sarah Sherman and Chloe Troast, Slowikowska is another digital-native character comic — though unlike Culhane, who's performed at UCB, she isn't affiliated with any one particular comedy troupe. Already, however, she's achieved a level of mainstream breakthrough with digital sketches, given a substantial following on TikTok and Instagram. And in the words of one source, "it's about f*cking time” that SNL give her a shot, having now courted her for a role for three or four years.
Tommy Brennan
A 2023 Just For Laughs New Face, Brennan is painted as a straight stand-up who at times brings a musical element into his performance — something you may well see him do on SNL, as he did in his audition. One source jokes that he "looks like every white dude," making him a natural fit for "everyman" sketches à la Alex Moffat or Andrew Dismukes.
Kam Patterson
The buzziest addition of the four, Patterson has rocketed through Austin's comedy scene, with Tony Hinchliffe’s Kill Tony serving as his launchpad. Seen in the mold of Pete Davidson, he's expected to test the sketch waters and likely pop up on Weekend Update. His hire underscores the remarkable reach and cultural capital of Kill Tony — the stand-up podcast where aspiring comics drawn from a bucket perform for a shot at stardom. In just over a decade, the show has gone from playing to a couple hundred in the Comedy Store's Belly Room to selling out arenas like Madison Square Garden, with Patterson among its most notable breakouts. Whether his casting says more about the show's influence or his own singular talent is up for debate. Multiple insiders painted Patterson as "an outlier" of instant star power, convinced he would have found his way to SNL regardless of where he started.
Alongside these four, Ben Marshall of Please Don't Destroy — the trio behind a series of digital sketches at SNL — is poised to step further into the spotlight. With John Higgins departing and Martin Herlihy shifting to writing this season, several sources suggested that Marshall was the clear standout of the group from the start.
Casting Curveballs
This year's hiring process at SNL was thought to have been a bit protracted. It began with August showcases in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, followed by screen tests, and an unusually large round of final meetings with Michaels, who met with around 10 comics.
One source attributed the casting of "a wide net" to less clarity than usual on Michaels' part on what exactly he needed. The situation felt like an athletic draft, he said, with Michaels ultimately picking the best talent "available on the board."
Early word was that Michaels was leaning away from casting stand-ups for the show, which makes the hiring of Brennan and Patterson particularly interesting. "SNL was [at one point] openly saying, 'Lorne says he's done hiring stand-ups. He wants to take a break from hiring stand-ups,'” the rep said.
The departures of stand-ups Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker seemed to validate this, though sources close to the show refute the claim.
Varying Takeaways
Talk to insiders around the industry and you'll hear a distinct split in mood about what this all means for Saturday Night Live — particularly when it comes to the shift in power dynamic between the show and its recruits. Sources agree that SNL is an irreplaceable institution — one that's left an indelible mark on comedy, from one generation of talent to another.
"They have done a very good job over the years, more so with the musical guests than the hosts — [though] I also think they do a decent job with the hosts — at being right at the tip of the spear of what's still interesting and happening," said one source.
Another added that Michaels and team have "smartly covered all the bases" in their casting for the new season, arguing that it makes sense "to reach out to different circles because if you are building a show for everyone, then you pick comedians from every sort of comedy circle." The embrace of performers with proven online audiences is not a sign of trouble for the show, but rather a savvy evolution, he opined, arguing that the show "a million percent" has the ability to continue to mint stars. Marcello Hernandez, who has broken out, particularly with his Domingo character, is a case in point, even if there have recently been some "whiffs with newer talent."
Shifting Power Dynamics
SNL may not be the same place that took a Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler and launched them into the stratosphere, seemingly out of thin air, but neither is it fading. Even to incoming comics who have already built an audience, there's an opportunity at SNL to level up even higher, when it comes to visibility.
However, several sources we spoke with are more skeptical and believe that the show no longer holds the cultural sway it once did. Multiple argued that the show no longer affords alums the same opportunity on their way out of 30 Rock. In the past, "if you were on SNL, the second you left, you had a million offers and people were knocking down your door to be in business with you because you were untouchable for all the years that you were on the show," said one.
Pete Davidson may have been the last example of someone who "everybody wanted a piece of" after his eight seasons. "People coming off of the show are not getting propelled into the comedy sky in the same way. Things are just different. They put in their time and energy and hard work, and the platform just doesn’t have the same weight that it used to," that source added.
Industry veterans say SNL's current moment owes at least as much to the broader entertainment landscape as to the show itself. Some say social media devalues talent, making them constantly available to fans, meaning "there's no real equation on how to make a star anymore."
Technology has transformed how audiences consume media, and the pipeline for feature comedy has narrowed dramatically. Whereas in decades past, the right feature vehicle could elevate an SNL breakout into a bona fide movie star, an executive source points to the fact that there's been "maybe three or four hit comedy movies" in the last ten years. And thus, "the last decade of SNL performers just haven't had that marketplace to succeed in a movie space."
But whatever the cause, there's no denying that something fundamental has shifted for SNL.
What A Slot Is Worth
"I think five years ago, if you asked any young comic if they wanted to go all out and make a tape to audition for SNL, the automatic answer would be yes. Yes, yes, yes," one source said. "Now, it's such a difficult process — it's obviously hard to get on the show — that I feel like a lot of people are split."
She said that half of young comics remain excited about "throwing their hat in the ring," but the other half ask, "is it worth it?" In sharing how SNL is discussed with clients now, she opines, "It's almost like a comedy boot camp more than anything. It's like the comedy mailroom."
Another marker of change is the growing number of SNL alumni willing to speak out on their way out the door. Walker, for instance, admitted that that the experience behind closed doors at the late-night sketch series can be "toxic as hell" in exiting ahead of Season 51.
"I've met and known a lot of people who've been through that culture, and I think there's also people who love it and respect it and think it's wonderful," said a source. "But I think the telling thing is that people are no longer afraid to say something [negative]."
Another called SNL "a hell gig" for its famously punishing schedule.
Departures & Fallout
Recent departures raised their own set of questions about SNL's future. Few were surprised by the exits of Longfellow and Walker, with one calling them "talented comedians that never really had that big moment."
Heidi Gardner's absence after eight seasons will certainly be felt, though the most shocking departure was that of Nwodim, who was just the eighth Black female cast member in SNL history. Her exit leaves the show without a single Black woman on cast, which will undoubtedly be a creative limitation for Season 51. Kenan Thompson, as far back as 2013, said he would refuse to play any more Black women on the show, so SNL may need to take a look at potential representation issues in the cast in the near future. The departure of Emil Wakim, the cast's sole performer of Middle Eastern descent, raises similar concerns.
In any case, furor and intrigue over happenings at SNL are nothing new. The show has weathered countless cycles of reinvention and doubt, and this moment is no different. What the new hires will make of their shot, and how the departures reshape the ensemble will reveal themselves in time. "You never know what's going to happen with that show," one source concluded. "We all find out together and take the bad with the good."
When reached for comment, a source close to the show said, "SNL hires the people they think are funny and would work well on the show, and that's all they've ever done." Reps for Saturday Night Live couldn't be reached for comment. |
The Comedy Means Business newsletter runs bimonthly on Mondays, with a companion podcast airing the same day. Sign up to receive that here. The podcast can be found on Apple, YouTube, and Spotify.
Got a tip, pitch, comment, feature idea, or Discovery of the Week? Reach out at mattgrobar@deadline.com. |
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