It’s Official: The New ‘SNL’ Cast Members Are A YouTube-Focused Bunch

When rumors flew that Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, John Milhiser, and Noel Wells would join the Saturday Night Live cast for the sketch comedy program’s 39th season, I wasted no time in connecting all four of these players to their various roles on YouTube. As it turns out, the official list of new arrivals has even deeper ties to online video. All five new cast members have featured prominently on the Internet, and one of the new writers is partially responsible for a classic YouTube web series.

For the uninitiated, Bennett and Mooney have a 179,000-subscriber audience for their Good Neighbor sketch channel. Wells also sports an 11 million strong viewcount on her channel, best known for the six episodes of Hey! The Zooey Deschanel Show. Milhiser doesn’t have a channel of his own, but since he was first linked to SNL, he has starred in several videos on Above Average. The fifth new performer, current SNL writer Michael Patrick O’Brien

, is the host of 7 Minutes In Heaven, an interview series set in a closet and spread across Yahoo, Above Average, and its own personal channel.

In addition to the five new cast members, one of the new SNL writers is responsible for a major YouTube hit. Mikey Day, who some may know as the white dude on Wild N’ Out, is also one of the leads in David Blaine Street Magic, a classic web series from the early days of YouTube that has scored more than 70 million views. Go ahead, take a trip down memory lane. All four installments are still around in all their glory.

As you watch, keep in mind that the guy who keeps getting the ace of clubs stuck on his person is now partially in charge of writing your late-night television. I like the way that sounds.