Pretty much every new season at Saturday Night Live brings returning favorites as well as new cast members, and now we have our look at the first newbie to hit the Not Ready for Primetime Players in this upcoming season. In the grand tradition of Tina Fey, Seth Meyers and Leslie Jones, SNL has moved another writer from the back room to the live stage, as writer Mikey Day will be joining the cast for Season 42 of the late night staple.
Writer Mikey Day will begin his featured player duties during this upcoming season on SNL, according to Deadline. He's been working behind the scenes as a writer since 2013 on the sketch series, and this will mark his first time in front of the cameras, and a live TV audience, for them. Day's abilities as a live performer were tested by SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels this summer, as Day was a recurring cast member on the NBC summer show Maya & Marty. If you remember the sketch where John Cena does bicep curls with a firefighting co-worker, he was lifting Mikey Day in that scene. Day also served as head writer on that series.
Like many of the players throughout the history of SNL, Mikey Day comes from an improv background, and got his start with the sketch comedy troupe the Groundlings. He went on to write for and appear in many sketch shows, such as The Underground, Nick Cannon Presents: Short Circuitz, Robot Chicken and Mad, but is probably best known for his appearances on the MTV sketch show Wild 'N Out. Day received Writer's Guild and Emmy nominations in 2015 and 2016, respectively, for his work on SNL along with the rest of the writing staff.
Current "Weekend Update" anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che began on the show as members of the writing staff, along with the aforementioned Tina Fey and Seth Meyers. While not every writer for the series has gone on to appear on the show as a cast member, there are several former writers who have gone on to perform on other shows. Larry David eventually went on to lead Curb Your Enthusiasm; Bob Odenkirk has made a name for himself on a variety of shows, including Mr. Show, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul; and Conan O'Brien wrote for SNL from 1988-1991, and is currently well into his second decade as a late night talk show host.
Well, Mikey Day certainly has the performing pedigree to do well on SNL this season. And, since he's a writer in good standing on the show, it's incredibly likely that he'll continue to create great laughs for the sketch series. Now, though, he'll get a chance to help those sketches come to life on stage. We can see how he does when Season 42 of SNL premieres on October 1 on NBC.
