“SNL” Names Cecily Strong New Co-Anchor of Weekend Update

Plus, the show officially confirms its 6 new cast members.

After much speculation as to who would be taking over for Seth Meyers at the Weekend Update desk when he bids farewell (to begin hosting duties at Late Night in 2014), Saturday Night Live has confirmed that in the meantime, Meyers will be joined (rather than replaced) by Cecily Strong. Strong, the undeniable breakout star of the 2012-13 season, dazzled audiences from day one thanks in large part to Weekend Update characters like “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party.” As far as we can surmise, this is excellent news, and sets the stage for Strong to remain on the show for years to come.

SNL has also confirmed the addition of six fresh new faces:

They may not sound familiar, but chances are you’ll recognize at least one of them: Beck Bennett is the guy from AT&T’s “It’s not complicated” commercials, which feature Bennett extracting hilarious answers from kids in response to questions like, “When it comes to be being better, what’s better: Being better, or worse?” His apparent ability to feign seriousness could go a long way on a show like SNL.


As for the others: John Milhiser is an alum of UCB (of course), whose video parodies have drawn comparisons to Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island cohorts. Kyle Mooney hails from sketch comedy group Good Neighbor (as does Beck Bennett), while Mike O’Brien, who was plucked from the SNL writers room, should feel right at home at Studio 8H. (Though from what we understand, he’s most comfortable in a closet. Like, literally.) Meanwhile, Noel Wells is a YouTube sensation known for her Zooey Deschanel impressions, and the only new female cast-member. Lastly, we have Brooks Wheelan, who has a background in standup rather than sketch comedy, so it will be interesting to see how he fares.


That’s a lot of new names to keep straight – luckily for our limited brain capacity, only some of them will turn out to be worth remembering. To find out which ones, tune into the 39th season premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Tina Fey, on September 28th on NBC.

Photos by NBC Universal

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