Three new faces join ‘SNL’ for its 43rd season

With the departures of Vanessa Bayer, Sasheer Zamata and Bobby Moynihan, NBC’s Saturday Night Live is replenishing its cast with three new featured players.

Heidi Gardner, Luke Null and Chris Redd will join the latenight institution for Saturday’s 43rd season premiere ( 11:30 ET/8:30 PT). Ryan Gosling hosts, with Jay-Z as musical guest.

Gardner, a member of the Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles, is the voice of Cooch in the Crackle animated series Super Mansion. She will appear in the 2018 film Life of the Party, which stars Melissa McCarthy, and also has starred in a handful of online sketch videos, playing characters such as a droll motel clerk, a lewd police detective and a dissatisfied housewife with a Guy Fieri fetish.

Null, who is from Cincinnati, is a Chicago-based musical comedian and improviser at iO Chicago. He is a member of Newport Hounds, a three-man improv/ sketch group that describes its comedy style as “irreverent,” “fast” and “loose.”

Redd is a comedian and rapper who performed at Chicago’s Second City. He was featured in Andy Samberg’s 2016 mockumentary, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and has appeared in TV dramas such as Chicago P.D. and Empire, as well as Netflix comedies Disjointed, Love and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later. Earlier this month, his half-hour comedy special aired as part of Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents, a weekly series spotlighting up-and-coming comics.

SNL, created and produced by Lorne Michaels, won nine Emmys this month, including the top prize for variety sketch series, along with supporting actress and actor awards for Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin. Melissa McCarthy won the guest-actress Emmy and Dave Chappelle took the guest-actor statuette.

McKinnon, receiving her second consecutive Emmy for supporting actress in a comedy, played Hillary Clinton and Kellyanne Conway; Baldwin played Donald Trump; and McCarthy played presidential press secretary Sean Spicer in a high-rated season that focused heavily on the 2016 election and Trump’s presidency.

Joining McKinnon, who will be appearing in her seventh season on the hit comedy show, are returning repertory players Beck Bennett (fifth season); Aidy Bryant (sixth season); Pete Davidson (fourth season); Leslie Jones (third season); Kyle Mooney (fifth season); Cecily Strong (sixth season); and Kenan Thompson (15th season).

Featured players, all back for their second seasons include: Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, and Melissa Villaseñor.

Michael Che (fourth season) and Colin Jost (fifth season) are back as co-anchors of Weekend Update, and former cast member Darrell Hammond will continue as the announcer.

Moynihan may be gone from SNL, but he has an even higher profile role on TV, starring in Me, Myself & I, a new CBS comedy that premiered Monday. According to IMDb, Bayer’s next role will be on the big screen in Ibiza, a comedy that also stars Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) and Gillian Jacobs (Community).

‘SNL,’ created and produced by Lorne Michaels, won nine Emmys this month, including the top prize for variety sketch series.

NBC Comedian Chris Redd is an alum of Chicago’s Second City and was featured in Andy Samberg’s Popstar.

NBC Heidi Gardner was recruited from the Groundlings comedy troupe, former home to many SNL players.

PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN, GETTY IMAGES Ryan Gosling will host the season premiere Sept 30.