New/Television

“Saturday Night Live” Adds Four New Writers and Actor Ego Nwodim

Signs of autumn are everywhere. The temperature is dropping, white women are screaming about pumpkin spice lattes, and “Saturday Night Live” has announced its newest personnel for the fall season – its forty-fourth since 1975.  On Friday, Vulture reported that NBC’s live variety show is adding four writers and one featured player to its formidable staff.

The season premiere will unveil its newest cast member, Ego Nwodim, to the world. The actor-writer-comedic force trained at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater after graduating from USC with a Biology degree. She was a 2016 Characters New Face at Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival and performed at the CBS Diversity Showcase that same year. She’s appeared in several CollegeHumor sketches and on television shows like “2 Broke Girls” and “Adams Ruins Everything.” She is the seventh black woman to join SNL’s cast, following in the venerable footsteps of Yvonne Hudson, Danitra Vance, Ellen Cleghorne, Maya Rudolph, Sasheer Zamata, and current repertory player Leslie Jones.

Alan Linic, Alison Gates, Eli Mandel, and Bowen Yang have been hired as writers.

Linic, Gates, and Mandel are exports of the Chicago improv scene, while Yang is a New York City-based writer and performer. He’s appeared on “High Maintenance” and “Broad City” and co-hosts the popular podcast Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers.

SNL returns on September 29 with host Adam Driver and musical guest Kanye West.

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