News > 'SNL' Shaking Up Its Cast
August 23, 2006
Content taken from Zap 2 It:
NBC's "Saturday Night Live" will return for its 32nd season next month minus several familiar faces.
Longtime cast members Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Kenan Thompson will likely exit the late-night comedy staple, according to a source close to the show. Still inconclusive are talks to bring back Darrell Hammond, famed for his impersonations of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and other celebrities. Hammond joined the cast in 1995 and has had the longest tenure of any performer in the show's history.
Meanwhile, "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels is expected to hand the reins of the signature fake-news segment "Weekend Update" -- recently co-hosted by writer-performer Tina Fey and Amy Poehler -- to a newer cast member, Jason Sudeikis.
An NBC spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.
The cast shuffle comes in the wake of some previously announced departures. Fey is leaving along with cast member Rachel Dratch; the pair will work on Fey's NBC comedy "30 Rock," a parody of an "SNL"-style show.
"SNL" could be headed for one of its biggest makeovers in years -- and not by choice. During a press conference last month in Pasadena, Michaels told reporters that the late-night fixture is facing massive budget cuts from NBC. Cast members are typically signed to multiyear deals that pay about $8,000 per episode, agents say.
