SNL’s Chloe Fineman Thought Her First Year on The Show Was Going Fine. It Was Will Ferrell Who Set Her Straight

The variety sketch show Saturday Night Live has produced many beloved comedians throughout the course of its 49 seasons. It’s always hard to say goodbye to former cast members, but it’s also wonderful to welcome new ones and see how they’ll interpret sketches and characters in their own unique ways. Nevertheless, it can be nerve-wracking to start a new show. Chloe Fineman’s first season didn’t go as well as she had hoped, but Will Ferrell was able to support her.

After joining SNL for Season 45 in 2019, Fineman immediately won over the hearts of the audience. For Season 47 in 2021, she received a promotion to repertory rank and established herself as a regular in several of the skits. Being a member of the cast now comes with a lot of expectations. Fineman acknowledged to Variety that she felt she performed well her first year, but when she discovered the exact opposite, host and former cast member Ferrell gave her some wise counsel that she can still apply today:

“Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. However, since Molly Shannon was my childhood host, I frightened out a lot. I hosted with Will Ferrell my first year. I felt that I performed well. As it happens, I bombed harder than I have ever bombed. “Hang in there,” he said at the end. Things improve.

Ferrell’s counsel may have been brief, but it was undoubtedly the finest one she could have received. Not only was it her freshman year, but the season was truncated and shifted to “At Home” episodes due to COVID-19, so it’s not shocking to hear that her first year didn’t go as she had hoped.

One of the best things about SNL is growth like this. It’s amazing to watch how much the cast members have changed, grown, and gained confidence over time. The fact that several of the previous cast members, including Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph, hosted in Season 49, is also helpful since it suggests that the cast has probably gained guidance from others who have been in similar situations.

It’s also a great thing about Saturday Night Live that not all of the cast members have flawless sketches. Naturally, anything can happen on Saturday Night Live since it’s live, like when the entire cast broke down during the Beavis & Butthead comedy. It’s not the same as working on a regular movie or television show to work on live television, and I can only image how difficult it is for the performers, hosts, and musical guests to get everything just right. Fortunately, Chloe Fineman had a lot of amazing role models. It can take time.

Because it’s such a significant milestone, Saturday Night Live’s 50th season may be a touch more nerve-wracking than previous seasons, but the cast is capable of handling it. Although a premiere date has not yet been disclosed, it will most likely debut this autumn on the 2024 TV schedule. NBC will host a 50th anniversary special in February. Who knows, perhaps Chloe Fineman and Will Ferrell will appear on screen together!

32 SNL Stars and Other Comic Legends Who Got Their Start in The Groundlings

From the Groundlings up…

What steps does someone need to take to become a comedic legend? Studying the craft with The Groundlings, an improv and sketch comedy troupe based in Los Angeles, is a great place to start your adventure. The group has produced many of the funniest people you have ever heard of, including a good number of Saturday Night Live cast members. Check out some of the most renowned former Groundlings that went on to become big names at Studio 8H or other places.

Maya Rudolph 

Maya Rudolph referred to The Groundlings as her “graduate school” in an opinion piece for Oprah.com, saying that she “ate, slept, and drank improv and sketch comedy” there for four years and even learned how to make humorous use of her singing voice. That ability would be useful for her impersonations of Beyoncé and, possibly, the actor’s single funniest Saturday Night Live comedy, in which she sings the National Anthem at the World Series for far too long and in a variety of vocal ranges.

Paul Reubens 

Without the Groundlings, where the late Paul Reubens first created the fun-loving man-child in the 1970s, the world would never have been gifted with the renowned Pee-wee Herman. The character was originally a joint creation with Phil Hartman, a fellow member and future SNL star who also collaborated with Reubens and others on the screenplay for Pee-wee’s Big Adventure in 1985.

Willie Forte 

Will Forte revealed to Diablo magazine that he left his financial broker position in the early 1990s to join The Groundlings because he was unhappy there. He was invited to appear on Saturday Night Live about ten years later, where he became an expert at some very strange routines including “Potato Chip” and “Spelling Bee.”

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Melissa McCarthy

 
Melissa McCarthy went on to establish herself as one of the greatest SNL hosts in the program’s history despite never having been a cast member. As a member of the Groundlings, the Academy Award nominee honed her sketch comedy skills and also crafted the character she portrayed in 2016’s The Boss.

Phil Hartman

The late, great Phil Hartman was getting ready for his own run on the show at The Groundlings the same year Saturday Night Live debuted. He would eventually join the group in 1986, more than ten years later, and use the magic he had studied in the troupe’s seminars.

Lisa Kudrow

Years prior to being famous for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the Friends ensemble, Lisa Kudrow was a member of The Groundlings and trained in improv under Cynthia Szigeti. She also shared a brief run with Conan O’Brien in a group named Unexpected Company, and for a spell, she was the sole female member of the Transformer Comedy group.

SNL Losing 3 More Stars After Kate McKinnon and Pete Davidson Exits

Another three gone.

Longtime cast members Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney stated after the conclusion of Saturday Night Live’s 47th season that they would not be returning for the program’s 48th season. With the upcoming NBC season set to premiere in not too far, rumours have now surfaced suggesting that Saturday Night Live would be losing three more talents.

According to a source from Deadline, Aristotle Athari, Alex Moffat, and Melissa Villaseñor will be leaving the show before Season 48, creating another significant hole in their wake. A brief overview of each actor’s tenure on the venerable late-night sketch show is provided here.

Melissa Villaseñor 

Villaseñor, who debuted as a featured player in 2016 and advanced to the status of repertory player in 2018, was the first Latina cast member to be promoted to the main cast and the second Latina overall. I think my favorite of her impersonation and performances on Weekend Update as herself was when she sang songs about the Academy Award nominations for best picture. She also appeared in the popular comedy “A Peek at Pico” with Selena Gomez near the end of Season 47.

She has provided voice acting roles outside of Saturday Night Live for the Disney films Ralph Breaks the Internet and Toy Story 4, as well as the animated series American Dad and Family Guy. Finally, here are a few interesting facts: She was included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and previously placed as a semi-finalist on America’s Got Talent.

Moffat, Alex 

Although Alex Moffat was no stranger to sketch comedy, his most well-known roles are arguably from Weekend Update. Guy Who Just Bought A Boat, for instance, was a constant fixture and was seen conversing with Michael Che and Colin Jost about dating advice for Halloween and Thanksgiving, among other things, and offering guidance to Jost and Pete Davidson when they actually bought a ferry. In addition, he played half of the Trump siblings on the program, with Moffat playing the innocent Eric Trump next to Mikey Day’s Donald Trump Jr. during the whole of Donald Trump’s presidency and beyond.


In addition to providing a voice for Ralph Breaks the Internet, Moffat recently starred in the Netflix film Holi date and is now filming the television comedy Bad Monkey.

Aristotle Athari 

Aristotle Athari will be leaving Saturday Night Live after just one season. Alongside James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman, who will both be back for Season 48, he joined the cast in 2021. His most well-known role is that of Angelo, the funky, soft-spoken nightclub singer who would occasionally show up wearing a red scarf, a black turtleneck, and platinum hair, and stealthily sing his obscure songs that nobody ever seemed to be able to understand. During sketches, hosts Billie Eilish and Rami Malek joined him in song. He occasionally appeared on Weekend Update as the Stand-Up Robot as well. Prior to hosting Saturday Night Live, Athari starred in fifteen episodes of Silicon Valley and directed a number of short films.