Rob V

I liked Moffat
I liked his Boat Guy and Eric Trump characters

Paff

I hadn't seen that "Dirty Talk" sketch before. That was pretty good.

jpcamb

Moffat and Melissa Villaseñor will be missed but I don't think Aristotle Athari stood out at all. I saw his picture and can't recall him in any sketches.

Decker

He made a splash in his debut doing what I assume is repackaged stand-up material.

JeffTheAlpaca

That robot sketch was hilarious ans sucks Athari never really got a chance.

I liked Moffat and Melissa too and sucks they are gone.

I wished Dismukes and Punkie were the ones that were leaving.

Daytripper

I really liked Moffat. So now for the male cast members that leaves just Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Chris Redd and stinkin' Bowen Yang for sketches. Che and Jost rarely appear in anything other than "Weekend Update". The cast was way too bloated any way, but this just means more Yang. I think I'm going to tune out for a while until he's no longer on the show. I can't bear him.

Josh-da-man

^ And James Austin Johnson, who does a mean Biden, Trump, and Louis CK. I expect we'll be seeing a lot of him in the upcoming season. With all of the heavy lifting he does with Biden and Trump, he should be promoted to the main cast.

Daytripper

Correct, and sorry. The four I mentioned are the main repertory players. And yes, I hope Johnson gets promoted. He's great. And actually has talent. Looking at you Yang.

Edit: Just saw this on Yahoo. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...223954988.html

cultshock

That would be cool if true, it would be the first time I gave a crap about an SNL musical guest in years.

fujishig

Do up and coming comics always come on first as featured players before being promoted to the main cast (except for like complete cast overhauls)? Even with the cast being gigantic prior to this, that's a lot of people leaving, so I assume they're going to reload at least a bit, right?

Nesbit

Bummed about Melissa Villasenor. She was my favorite cast member. Was hoping she'd blow up Kristen Wiig style where it'd almost be the Melissa Villasenor show for a season or two

Count Dooku

TomOpus

I've been following her Instagram for a while. This cracked me up and I wondered if she ever tried to get it into a SNL skit.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ch6IZ...d=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

cultshock

Me too, I always thought she was great.

Count Dooku

Do you have to speak Spanish to think it is funny?

bluetoast

You were dead on about it being repackaged stand up material. Did a search and found this:

JeffTheAlpaca

I don't get why Dismukes is on the show.

Maybe he is funnier outside of the show but he is just a guy to me.

I am hoping maybe more Heidi and Chloe Fineman sketches.

Chris Redd should get more screen time too.

TomOpus

It's actually better if you don't. It's the sound of the words rather than the words. I imagine you're one of those now.

JeffTheAlpaca

I forgot about Sarah Sherman.

I bet she will probably be a breakout star and she gets a lot of pops from the audience whenever she appears on WU.

Coral

Yes, but that's when she does her bit where she misinterprets what Jost says and flashed breaking news about it. It's hilarious, but that's the only thing she's really done on the show that was notable.

Love them or not - Bryant, McKinnon, Mooney and Moffat had a lot of stage time... so losing them makes a big difference. Villasenor was getting more and more stage time the last couple years, so that'll be noticeable too. And Beck Bennet's absence was felt this past season too. It's a pretty thin cast this year - especially on the male side.

Paff

I agree with this 100%, except to me it's why there's potential for improvement; not relying on the same actors doing the same things over and over again. AV Club likes to point out how often Mikey Day is the confused participant in the goings-on in the sketch, and his sole job seems to be to ask "what is happening here?". Of course, Day is still on the show so they'll still go to that well, but it's worth pointing out that the departing cast members tended to play variations of the same characters over and over again, or at least their in-sketch functions were always the same.

Count Dooku

So if you don't understand Spanish, then what she is saying is effectively gibberish, and you are saying it's just the sounds that are funny, not what she is saying, so it's just a video of someone making funny sounds. And that's the basis for a sketch how, exactly?

JeffTheAlpaca

I was watching a repeat of a 1997 SNL show with Henry Rollins was standing next to Pam Anderson and eating a banana and seemed like he did not want to shake her hand or hug her

Who knew that Will Ferrell when he played that annoying and not funny cheerleader character with Cheri O' Teri he would be a huge movie star a couple of years later.

Count Dooku

You mean the cheerleader characters that were so popular they did them 17 times in 4 years? The cheerleader characters that Jim Carrey specifically asked to do a sketch with when he hosted because he thought they were so funny.

JeffTheAlpaca

Yes I always zoned out when he did that bit.

Goat Boy from that era and the Joe Pesci show were good though.