Here’s your feel-good story of the year from the world of TV comedy, ladies and gentlemen. NBC‘s gold standard for birthing new stars unto the world, Saturday Night Live, is gearing up to enter its 40th season, which is something of a marvel in and of itself. The tenured sketch show has always existed in a state of flux, with cast members regularly coming and going. And this season will be no different.
Though we’ve already seen the departure of three part-time featured cast members in Brooks Wheelan, Nöel Wells and John Milhiser, along with cast member Nasim Pedrad (who has left to take a lead role in the upcoming Fox sitcom Mulaney, starring comedian and former SNL writer John Mulaney, which I am so excited about I could poop) the cast for the 40th season looks like only being topped up with one new addition, but it’s a real doozy.
The show’s Twitter account announced that New York-born, 20 year-old comedian Pete Davidson will be joining the cast for the upcoming season.
Davidson, at only 20 years old (!!!) becomes the fourth youngest cast member in SNL history behind Anthony Michael Hall (who was 17 when he was hired) Eddie Murphy (19) and Robert Downey Jnr (20 – and I bet you didn’t realise RDJ was on SNL at one time too!) as well as being the first ever SNL cast member to be born in the 1990s.
Where this story gets particularly good is when you look at Davidson’s career thus far in comedy. He started out performing stand-up at 16 years old, as a therapeutic outlet to help him deal with a childhood spent without a father – his Dad was a New York City Fire Fighter who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre.
After performing in and around New York, he was spotted by Nick Cannon, who took Davidson under his wing, leading to gigs on the MTV2 shows Nick Cannon Presents: Wild N Out, and Guy Code. These smaller roles, along with rising prominence in the stand-up circuit – he was one of this year’s Variety 10 Comics To Watch – brought him to the attention of iconic NBC producer Lorne Michaels, who hired him for SNL’s 40th season.
Oh yeah, and he just so happens to be really, really funny too. EXHIBIT A!
After a somewhat lacklustre last couple of seasons following the departure of the last big crop of stars that included Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig, Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler, this is arguably exactly the youthful shot in the arm that the show could very well need.
Knock ’em dead, kid!
Photo: Pierre Roussel via Getty Images.
