SNL Adds Two Black Featured Players for Upcoming 46th Season
EGO NWODIM 
PUNKIE JOHNSON
SNL increases diversity by adding three featured players to its cast for the upcoming 46th season including newcomer Punkie Johnson (“Space Force,” “Corporate,” “Adam Ruins Everything”). In addition, Ego Nwodim was promoted to main cast member for the new season.
In addition to, New York Times bestselling author and two-time Golden Globe Award winner Jim Carrey to take on the role of Vice President Joe Biden for the upcoming 46th season of “Saturday Night Live.”
“SNL” will start the new season with five consecutive shows – Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31.“SNL” is planning to have a limited in-studio audience at Rockefeller Center for the upcoming season. The show will work closely with Gov. Cuomo’s team.
As part of the newly created “The SNL Scholarship Program,” “SNL” has partnered with four comedy schools – The PIT, The Second City, The Groundlings and UCB – to fund a scholarship program for students of diverse backgrounds to advance their comedy careers.
Here’s more about the new “Saturday Night Live” three featured players added to its cast for the upcoming season:
- Punkie Johnson is a comedian and writer whose recent credits include “Space Force,” “Corporate,” “Adam Ruins Everything” and “Bill Burr Presents: The Ringers.” She was a New Face at the Just for Laughs Festival in 2019 and is a proud paid regular at the world famous Comedy Store in Hollywood.
- Lauren Holt is an actor, comedian, singer and improviser. She was a house performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in Los Angeles and starred in the independent web series “The Filth” as well as the short film “Parent Teacher Conference,” for which she received a Best Actress nomination at the Atlanta Comedy Film Festival.
- Andrew Dismukes has served as an “SNL” staff writer since season 43. He is a stand-up comedian who was selected for the 2017 New Faces Showcase at the Just for Laughs Festival and has performed at other festivals, including Comedy Central’s Colossal ClusterFest and the New York Comedy Festival.
- Ego Nwodim graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in biology. She was a mainstay at Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles and performed as a New Face at the 2016 Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. She was featured in the 2016 CBS Diversity Showcase and in 2017 wrote and performed her first ever one-woman show, “Great Black Women … and Then There’s Me,” for a sold-out run in Los Angeles. A 2019 Variety Comedy Impact honoree, Nwodim’s recent credits include IFC’s “Brockmire,” “Shrill” for Hulu, and the Independent film “Broken Heart Gallery.” She is from Baltimore, MD.
