Two more reasons to turn on SNL: Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins join the cast!

The Comic’s Comic has learned that Lorne Michaels didn’t wait too long to figure out how to replace Amy Poehler’s presence in the cast of Saturday Night Live, hiring not one but two new female cast members: Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins. They should make their debuts this Saturday night, a show already begging to be an awesome blossom of funny and fierce thanks to host Paul Rudd and musical guest Beyonce.

About our newbies!

Abby_elliott
Abby Elliott (pictured at left) is 21, and if the Internets are to be believed, the daughter of the illustriously eccentric comedic actor Chris Elliott (and granddaughter of the Bob in Bob & Ray), so that already makes her a welcome addition to SNL. She has voiced "hipster girl" on a couple of episodes of King of the Hill. She also was among the sketch comedy players of The Midnight Show at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles, and has a couple of 2006 videos on the YouTube displaying her abilities to channel Kirsten Dunst and Angelina Jolie. I’m sensing some youthful exuberance…

Michaela Watkins already has been appearing on your TV set this fall in primetime as "Lucy" on The New Adventures of Old Christine (more credits at IMDB). Watkins also comes from the main company of The Groundlings in Los Angeles, which has sent many past alums on to stardom at SNL. Here are a couple of videos of Watkins in action…this is from a recent episode of Old Christine:

This is Watkins from 2007 as Arianna Huffington (notably titled SNL audition!), with some risque sexy talk:

By the way, Paul Rudd hosts this weekend, and if this is what they could produce by Tuesday, I’m very optimistic about what they’ll have for us by Saturday night. Can you believe they didn’t ask him to host sooner???

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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28 thoughts on “Two more reasons to turn on SNL: Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins join the cast!

  1. He hires not one but two white girls, typical and white women scream about sexism, they’re just as hypocritical as white gay men who scream that minorities have voted on prop 8. There many Asian, Middle Eastern Latino, African American women to choose from, and yet he hires two white women. Racism is alive and well and lazy.

  2. ..And it’s not just random racial reasoning either. Here you have a black president and first lady… for three decades a rather dominant cultural presence of blacks in hip hop like it or not.. tremendous cultural visibility of hispanics and asians… you’d think just to be DUMB about it.. you have a versatile black man and black woman and at LEAST one hispanic and asian or some combination JUST to work the bits!!! Not that I have anything against Darrel Hammond in blackface doing an hysterical Jesse Jackson but WOW.. how long is it going to be THAT funny to have Kenan Thompson playing ALL black women who are more than 10 lbs overweight???

  3. ..And it’s not just random racial reasoning either. Here you have a black president and first lady… for three decades a rather dominant cultural presence of blacks in hip hop like it or not.. tremendous cultural visibility of hispanics and asians… you’d think just to be DUMB about it.. you have a versatile black man and black woman and at LEAST one hispanic and asian or some combination JUST to work the bits!!! Not that I have anything against Darrel Hammond in blackface doing an hysterical Jesse Jackson but WOW.. how long is it going to be THAT funny to have Kenan Thompson playing ALL black women who are more than 10 lbs overweight???

  4. Funny comes in all colors, shapes and sizes. Women have been noticably absent on SNL for years! Bravo for hiring two, (probably for the price of one.) What Lorne should focus on is building a COMEDY TROUPE. People who work well together and improvise. Oh, and another Tina Fey as Writer wouldn’t hurt…

  5. Yep, thats right Guy Who Posted Above Me. We elect a minority president but the two new cast members of SNL are white women, there is NO social justice in America. Racism is alive and well sir.
    Just to clarify, I do believe that racism exists in the U.S. but this certainly isn’t an example of it. If it wasn’t for SNL mainstream audiences wouldn’t know who Eddie Murphy (maybe bad example) or Chris Rock were/are.
    Plus we all know that Asians aren’t funny.

  6. Oh yes I agree, since we now have a black president-elect and a black first lady-elect, every single person hired on SNL now should be black or at least some minority. Geez. Racists!
    By the way, the video above with one of them playing Arianna Huffington is LOL funny. Looking forward to seeing their work on SNL.

  7. Whatever happened to hiring the best person (male or female) for the job regardless of their race? Racism is alive and well because people like yourself make those types of comments. SNL strives to be funny, therefore they should hire whoever they feel can help them achieve that goal. There should not be some sort of racial quota.

  8. Glad they have added to the female side of SNL, but do agree they should have added more people of color.
    And no funny Asian people? Hmm, Margaret Cho, Bobby Lee, etc.

  9. Assim wake up, he already has a white racial quota. It’s lazy casting. The other truism is that over the last fifteen years SNL have been hiring sub standard black talent, because the others have been to good.

  10. since the election is over, i will not be watching SNL anymore. If they plan including the obama’s in skits, they need to add more black people to cast. yeah yeah yeah “hire the best person”. SNL is having some fun with everyday occurences, celebrities, and life in general. It would help if they had a more diverse cast. They are supposed to be the main stream funny show. Plus it’s in NEW YORK! get with it SNL!

  11. “And no funny Asian people? Hmm, Margaret Cho, Bobby Lee, etc.”
    I think you just made my point Karen

  12. Who cares if they are white?! My gawd! maybe they were/are the most talented & qualified for the job!
    Now that we have our forst black ( well 1/2 ) President, maybe we get over the race card thing.
    BTW! I didn’t vote for Obama because he’s black! I voted for him because I believe he is *qualified*

  13. Yeah man, we’ve got a Black President. We never have to hire another person of color for anything ever again. Duh!

  14. Doesnt matter if they are black, brown, purple, or lindsey lohan orange, SNL simply needs to hire more funny people period. That new fat girl they got isnt funny and adds to the other 15 or so members not named tina fey who aren’t funny at all either.

  15. Meh, Chris Rock got famous on In Living Color after SNL fired him when they kept putting him in stupid bits as “ignorant black man.”

  16. MICHAELA WATKINS has just what it takes for SNL! Cute, Sexy, Sassy, Funny and versatile!
    Hear Hear!! to the new season and cast! Break-a-leg girlz!
    Michaela is excellent as a Groundling Company- she’s Pea-in-your-pants FUNNY; Perfect as Lucy on New Adventures of Old Christine…
    Can’t wait to tune in Saturday nights!
    Kudos to Lorne Michaels for recognizing the talent of those that work for it! Excellent choice!

  17. Wow, you people really think SNL is funny? And that clip inspires hope for quality?
    With a nod to a filmmaker and an SNL alum similarly (but not singularly) unable to achieve comedy: “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”

  18. Racism and its lovely counterpart affirmative action are both alive and well. If you’re a minority and a woman in a decent job, you are way more likely to get a promotion. *cough* Best Buy.
    A good comedian is how they set themselves apart from the crowd. A Dave Atell, Demetri Martin, Daniel Tosh, shit anyone with a first name that starts with D. Sorry I didn’t mention any women, but they are also in minority of practicing comedians. If SNL were based on gender percentages, it would most like have one female and 990 males.
    If you’re so concerned women, then get funny. These girls did it and bam…One skit a week and a bag of Twizzlers for their hard work.

  19. I’m a Black actor and director and I know there are talented people of color out their way. Why doesn’t SNL do the Right Thing and find some? White men? Check. White women? Check. Brown/Black/Yellow/Red women? Speak up, I can’t hear you. I’ve never seen an Asian performer on SNL, and only a precious few Hispanics.
    Please note: Kenan Thompson plays some version of The Same Two Characters whenever he’s on. Sadly, he’s often in a dress and wig of some kind. The writing is woefully lame when it comes to Kenan, too.
    I was curious to see who the two new hires were, and saddened to see that despite last week’s momentous revolution, SNL apparently has no intentions of doing more than comfortably entertaining a predominantly white audience. Shame on ya.

  20. Margeret Cho has never been funny. Why do people keep labeling her as a comedian? Name one of her successes or famous comedy routines. She just one of those weird people that won’t go away no matter how many times they fail. Does she have a deal with the devil or something?
    Long live SNL. I hope the new girls make me laugh…I don’t care what color or gender they are.

  21. I had no idea Saturday Night Live was still being aired “live” (?). As for all the racial chatter …. You morons, it’s strictly a JEWISH thing!!!

  22. For those who are complaining about “casting laziness” and SNL “failing to do the right thing” and such… SNL is no longer the outsider looking in, or a stepping stone to film careers, and hasn’t been in twenty years. SNL finds its new talent through the best channels at its disposal, namely the improv and sketch comedy scenes– mainly New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, no surprise there– so if you can show statistics that show that the white-to-other ratio of casting on SNL is substantially skewed from the white-to-other ratio of the city-based improv and sketch comedy scenes, _then_ you might have a good argument.

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