Saturday Night Live Adds Two New Women

NEW YORK — "Saturday Night Live" was left with some big shoes to fill when Amy Poehler departed for her new role of motherhood.

As a step in that direction, two fresh recruits, Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins, will be joining the show this week as featured players, NBC announced Thursday.

Elliott comes to "SNL" via the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre _ the improv/sketch company co-founded by Poehler _ where she trained and performed in both New York and Los Angeles. She is a second-generation "SNL" cast member whose father, Chris Elliott, was a regular on the show during the 1994-95 season. (Her grandfather, Bob Elliott, was teamed for four decades with Ray Goulding in the comedy duo Bob & Ray.)

A native of Wilton, Conn., Elliott also trained with the Los Angeles-based Groundlings theater.

Watkins is a fellow Groundlings alum, where past "SNL" players including Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, Laraine Newman and current cast member Kristen Wiig got their start. Watkins was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and raised in Boston.

Poehler, a longtime "SNL" regular who is married to comedian Will Arnett, last performed on the Oct. 23 prime-time special. She gave birth to a son, Archie Arnett, just hours before she was to appear on the Oct. 25 broadcast.

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On the Net:

http://www.nbc.com

Comments

[jpmdevildog]

SNL rejected a cryptid to hire two human females. Discrimination!

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/snl-rejects-lake-erie-monster/

[Moka11]

They don't need talented performers no matter their color or gender. They need writers who know how to begin and end a sketch with something funny sandwiched in between.

They showed last night that once Tina and Amy and the election are gone, they are right back to lame, lazy sketch writing and sophomoric humor.

[AlligatorShuz]

What is wrong with Loren Miachels? Can't he bring some people of color to that show? He has always had one TOKEN BLACK AT A TIME ON THAT SHOW WHY?

[Talullah]

More color! Less broads! More Colored broads! Chicken not beef! How 'bout more funny?

[Talullah]

Best TV show theme EVER

[PazPraSempre]

*They don't tan Fred Armisen to play Obama...What are people talking about?
But yes, SNL sorely needs some diversity...You'd think that Lorne Michaels would think, Gee, there's a Black First Family in the house...Maybe I should hire a black actor or two. Keenan Thompson and Fred Armisen, the only minorities on the show, can't play every minority character.
*Maya Rudolph is no longer on the show anymore, but was hilarious as Michelle Obama. Yet I disapprove of casting her as Michelle Obama because she does not remotely look like her. You wouldn't cast Amy Poehler to play Angelina Jolie, so why would you cast Maya Rudolph as Michelle Obama? A black actor does not necessarily mean they can do any black character.
*The one exception I have is Darrell Hammond as Jesse Jackson. Even though they spray tan him, he actually does look kind of like him in terms of his face. And it's freakin hilarious.

[alicetilden]

The two playing Michelle and Barack Obama are a disgrace. It is not their fault of course. It is the fault of whoever hires (I'm looking at you, Lorne). Since there are obviously some black people living in this country, you wouldn't think they would have to resort to blackface. Are they blind to talented black actors or do they think only whites are talented enough? They have a million people listed at the beginning of the show, but you only see a few each week. It doesn't make sense that they would hire two woman when they have so many they hardly ever use. Actually, now that the election is over, SNL with just go back to their usual lame unfunny skits that cause me to turn the show off anyway.

[PazPraSempre]

Maya Rudolph (who played Michelle Obama) is half black half white. (Although, yes she looks nothing like her.)
Fred Armisen (Barack Obama) is half German half Venezuelan­...Certain­ly doesn't make up for the fact that they're not using black actors, but just thought I'd let you know some facts.

[Womanvoter4Obama]

That really doesn't matter to me PazPraSempre. I don't care how many mixes of people you have on the show. Is there something wrong with hiring black women? Because it seems to be a real issue for someone there. You can't tell me there aren't any funny black women. There was a recent Queens of Comedy Tour featuring black comedians who were female. I am irritated beyond belief when people bring up to me that Maya Rudolph is half black..well she is not living her life as a black woman. She couldn't. She's "passing". She's black when it's convenient for her and now that we have a new black first lady it seems convenient for her to be black again. I have nothing against the way Ms.Rudolph lives her life because I don't know how she was raised or what she was exposed to. But she is not the right person for the Michelle Obama role and I'm at a loss as to why anyone would think someone who can pull off a believable Donatella Versace would also be able to go into a dark skinned black woman's skin...it is not possible. And she did not pull it off. She only pissed me off.

[redtrojan]

How about some South Pacific and Southeast Asians???

[nycity]

hmm, funny

i guess minorities don't live in NY

[JohnnyKay]

They don't look very Black or any other minority position, to me.

[maninla]

Quit complaining about the lack of color in front of the SNL cameras, people...cause it's much worse much worse behind them! The production and writing offices offer even less in the way of diversity.

Woody Allen couldn't make NYC look any whiter.

[johnlee]

Both blatant acts of discrimination in front and behind the camera are equally reprehensible. I agree the lack of color behind the scenes is where the problem starts, but you can't escape the ugly fact that this show has a white man in black face because of the lack of non white performers in front of the camera. They had a opportunity to hire non white performers and decided to hire 2 more white women instead.

[DosaHut]

Woody Allen stinks

[lokmon]

Well, Fox just canceled Madtv, so maybe SNL can pilfer some of their cast members.

The one thing MAD had going for it was they at least had a few people of color on the show (Bobby Lee, Keegan Michael Key and Erica Ash.)

[maninla]

Seriously, how does a show based out of New York City look like it's produced out of Kansas every week?

[starkweather444]

Chris Elliott is hilarious, Get A Life was one of the best TV shows of all time. Too bad it never caught on. I think it was too weird for TV.

[mbeezwax]

Loved that show. I knew I'd find the other person who watched it some day.

[TheUrgencyOfNow]

YYYYYYYYYY­YYYYYYYYYY­YEEEEEEEEE­EEEEESSSSS­SSSSSSSSSS­S! Just what Snl needed,more white people,I was just telling my husband,'You know honey ,Snl could really use MORE white women''.That should really reflect this years political atmosphere.

[Aabby]

LOL!!! so true. And i thought they would finally get some realistic depicters for Michelle and Barack Obama...but Black Face it will continue to be.. :(

[Coattails]

Amy Poehler's shoes will be hard to fill.

I think this needs to be one of those moments like back in the early days where they fire like half of their staff.

Honestly, about half of the skits they run are barely even funny, or not at all amusing. I am not impressed.

And with the political season that they were milking over with, they need to get something going that works.

[melaniecan]

Poehler's shoes will be hard to fill if they can't find any loud, energetic women. I doubt that will be the case. They have more than enough talent in Kristen Wiig, but even she shouldn't be expected to play Michelle Obama. Very bizarre not hiring anyone to play the First Family. I am not one to pay great attention to race, but even I am finding Saturday Night Live pretty white these days. There are not any hilarious black/Hisp­anic/Asian­/Muslim people to hire? Really? Kenan Thompson was the only one they could find? Really!