The addition of Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad creates a gender balance in the line-up which is now comprised of 6 women and 9 men.
- September 3, 2009
AceShowbiz -
Two fresh bloods, Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad, are injected into "Saturday Night Live" which will begin the 35th season on September 26. Both graduated from Upright Citizen Brigade, the same platform that Amy Poehler, Abby Elliott, Casey Wilson used early in their careers.
NBC has not yet given a nod to the story brought up by The Comic's Comic but "SNL" vet Bill Hader talked to MTV News and confirmed it. "Yeah, we have two new castmembers," Hader said. "It's gonna be cool." Subsequently, this year's show will have the biggest entourage ever in its recent history.
Slate is one-half of comedy duo Gabe & Jenny but she has hosted a one-women show called "Dead Millionaire" at UCB New York theater. Petrad, meanwhile, has performed one-woman shows in Las Vegas and teamed up with Groundlings. The Iranian-born comedienne also occasionally appeared as nurse on "ER".
Speaking of the whole season in general, Hader said, "It's gonna be a cool season. We have the Thursday night shows [specials devoted to "Weekend Update"] which were a big hit last season. So it's gonna be good." The season will be opened with Megan Fox as the host and U2 as the musical guest.
