SNL Fans Think They've Found The Show's Next Breakout Star

Saturday Night Live is now five weeks into its 51st season, which has certainly given the post-shakeup cast members enough time to make an impact on audiences, and upcoming SNL guest hosts like Glen Powell will no doubt keep bringing millions of eyeballs to new episodes. Just maybe don't expect any of the freshman reperatory players to get more buzz and attention than one fan-favorite featured player who's being viewed as the sketch comedy's next big breakout star: Ashley Padilla.

A member of the Groundlings, Padilla earned her way onto SNL for Season 50 without a slew of TV credits to her name — memorable one-off appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Night Court and a couple of Son of Zorn eps — but has already sparked enough fan attention and goodwill to make me optimistic her career is on the cusp of exploding in big ways, possibly without the need to get promoted to the main cast. Sure, that's not the expectation, but Padilla is very clearly pleasing the powers that be on a weekly basis. How so, you ask?

Ashley Padilla Is Basically Getting More Sketches Than Anybody Else

As noted by the series-centric group Saturday Night Network on X prior to the fifth episode with Nikki Glaser's attention-grabbing monologue, Ashley Padilla was noted as having more sketch appearances in Season 51 than anyone in the repertory cast, making her the first featured player to reach that milestone after four episodes.

Not that most regular Saturday Night Live viewers would even need to have that fact stated plainly, since Padilla has been showcased so prominently, even when she isn't the key source of laughs. But here's the thing...she often IS utilized for her comedic talents, whether those would be talking about government shutdown in post-coital bliss, reacting along to fake farts, or brandishing weapons for Hunting Wives parodies.

Sure, she's not in everything, but that's technically how the hierarchy should work on that show. But across the last season and change, Padilla has proven herself worthy of fronting any kind of sketch, from pop culture parodies to direct-to-camera appeals to Weekend Update non sequiturs and everything in between. She can vibe as a midwestern mom, a single socialite, a sorority sister with moxie and beyond. Let's fast-forward to the point where she's got raunchy comedies coming out both in theaters and on Netflix.

Fans Have Been Singing Ashley Padilla's Praises Louder Than Ever

To say nothing of the supportive posts that SNL fans shared for her debut season, Ashley Padilla's A+ work so far is sparking lots of posts like the ones seen below.

• Ashley Padilla gives us excellent comedic performances and proves that she’s worthy of a promotion in tonight’s episode of SNL! - @ashleypaddila
• Ashley Padilla is single-handedly reviving SNL from the dead. Giving Jesus himself a run for his money - @cecilyskeen
• ASHLEY PADILLA YOU ARE GOD - @femcelstarshall
• More of Andrew Dismukes and Ashley Padilla together, please #SNL - @xelocin
• Tonight's episode of #SNL corroborated an inkling I had since last season: ASHLEY PADILLA is the one to look out for Her physicality and maximisalist approach to the sketches has proven to be a highlight of the series. I couldn't stop laughing with tonight's "surprise farting" - @Bismark_BM
• not to be dramatic but a world without ashley padilla would be like a universe without the sun and stars - @solunarisse
• Ashley Padilla and Andrew Dismukes are the most ELITE players at SNL right now... Always funny and unexpectedly chaotic. Now I'm gonna go for more door - @thebsboy

You know you've made it as a celebrity when there are social media fan pages whose sole purpose seems to be tracking your social media follower totals. I bet Padilla could even make a fun sketch about that boring shit.

Over on the aforementioned Saturday Night Network, the cast member was granted its highest fan-voted honor for the second week in a row.

Whether or not she develops a mainstay character that's worthy of a movie one day, I can't say. But I think it'd be safe to put money on Lorne Michaels & Co. promoting Padilla to the core squad before Season 52 shows up on the 2026 TV schedule.

Saturday Night Live airs each weekend on NBC (and via Peacock subscription) on Saturday nights at 11:35 p.m. ET. For those who can't wait for the next big sketch show (theoretically speaking), check out everything we know about Saturday Night Live: UK.