SNL hires Nick Rutherford to reunite, write with his Good Neighbor mates

A season after hiring three-fourths of the sketch group Good Neighbor, two as cast members and one as a director of their digital shorts, Saturday Night Live has brought the fourth member on board as a writer for this, SNL’s 40th anniversary season!

The Comic’s Comic has learned that NickRutherford_2014_TribecaFilmFestival_IntramuralNick Rutherford already has started work at SNL, joining his Good Neighbor mates — Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney, plus director Dave McCary.

While Bennett and Mooney were having standout rookie seasons on SNL, Rutherford wasn’t just sitting tight this past year.

Rutherford performed at several comedy festivals as a stand-up comedian, rejoined Good Neighbor for sketches at SXSW in Austin in March (and again at Bonnaroo in June), performed with Bennett, SNL’s Kate McKinnon and Jay Pharoah, plus other comedians in an independent movie, and also recently appeared as a storyteller last month on Comedy Central’s Drunk History.

Comedy Central also tapped Rutherford, among others, to co-star in a new webseries for the network called “300 Sunnyside.”

Rutherford is a Southern California guy, born and bred. Originally from Thousand Oaks, he studied theater at the University of Southern California. There, he joined USC’s improv comedy group, Commedus Interruptus, where he performed with Bennett, Mooney and McCary.

They formed Good Neighbor in 2007 after graduating from USC.

If you need a refresher on what Good Neighbor’s videos looked like before Lorne Michaels and SNL picked them to replace the outgoing members from The Lonely Island, check out Good Neighbor’s collection of videos on YouTube.

Just in the past year, though, here’s some recent efforts from Rutherford.

First, as a solo act at last fall’s Cabo Comedy Festival.

In April, Intramural premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Rutherford co-stars with Bennett, McKinnon, Pharoah, Jake Lacy, Nikki Reed, Britanick’s Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, Gabriel Luna, DC Pierson and Michael Hogan. This is the trailer for that film.

And in August, you may have seen Rutherford drunkenly recount the time Baron von Steuben trained George Washington’s Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

This is a deleted scene from the episode, in which Rutherford tries to show host Derek Waters his sword collection.

Congrats on the new gig, Nick!

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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