I tend to blame the director for how blatant the cue card readings have become over the last 10-15 years. Now that they are getting a new one (I think the retiring director is still doing the first few episodes of the season), ideally this can change.

I hope they would let Kyle do one of those - often with SNL if you aren’t doing a cameo it’s out of sight out of mind.

I think it may be as much about Lorne wanting to work with people he knows and feels comfortable with in his final years with the show.

It also does very well on Peacock, apparently.

Kyle hasn’t really done as much with Beck oncamera in the last few seasons anyway, and I think he’s still been fine (the David Dobrik takedown he did was one of the best parts of last season). I am surprised he is staying and Beck is going, but I wonder if this is down to the show needing time to transition into…

One of the funniest things ever on SNL.  It makes me laugh hard just about every time I watch it. And seeing Beck and Bill Hader at full blast (complete with Bill even ending up getting spit on Beck’s face) is a delight. It’s a shame we won’t get to see him interact with Jason Sudeikis when he hosts in a month.

I saw a number of tweets that were incredulous Bennett had been fired (complete with the usual, “and Kyle Mooney is still there!!!”). I was surprised so many people thought that was the case - there have been firings at the 8-season mark, but usually those were clearly stated as being down to things like budget cuts…

I think female impressionists have a bit more of a problem getting through than male impressionists, for whatever reason, at least if they are heavily sold based on impressions. Abby Elliott and Noel Wells in the past decade also struggled for airtime. I think the other problem is as you say, her impressions are too…

I always thought Kyle and Beck would leave the show together. They have had separate paths on SNL the last few years, but it still made sense to me. There was a comedy trio called Please Don’t Destroy that was on some of the leaked lists for new hires this season, then removed from those lists a day later. If they…

When you audition you have to have 2-3 impressions, and he must have quite a few, so hopefully he is there for those roles (and if Kate is gone a while then he might take over some of her 5000000 political impressions). I too have no interest in seeing Trump on SNL again, and I think that it might just end up making…

The show is in a weird place castwise because there’s a good chance Kenan, Aidy, Kate, Cecily and Chris will be gone for part of the year. That is likely why they keep this many on. But it leads to a difficult environment for new hires as they are still compared to people who are not there for months at a time. The…

I remember seeing the parody video of Sarah last year, through one of those Twitter accounts that gets a lot of mileage out of how much they hate SNL/how toxic the show is/etc. I assumed she was part of that group of comedians who (understandably) would never go near SNL. I don’t really know much about her outside of…

Supposedly Kate is going to be gone for part of the season, so this is her chance - Heidi, Ego, Chloe, etc. are still there of course but she and Heidi and Ego are all good friends from some of their interviews, so hopefully they can all work something out. 

Alex Moffat is their Biden, as little as they use him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the new guy (Johnson) takes over the role.

Yes, Lauren was originally meant to start in the last 4-5 episodes of season 45. At that point, pre-COVID, many of the elder cast members were pointing more toward leaving. I guess since Lorne knew Aidy would be gone for part of season 46, he decided to still introduce Lauren that season, and at least she got…

Beck got more of the old school goodbye rather than a big massive ceremony - he had big roles in a number of sketches on finale night, including the very last sketch of the season, which was basically about 90% him (it was “the mooooovies” Vin Diesel sketch).

That’s more the writing choices he makes - he can play a straight man without the “Mikey reacts” if he wants to. I hope he does. I think Alex Moffat can also take over some of that role if they let him.

I’d say Kyle’s gotten quite a bit of good stuff on, especially if you count the pre-tapes which were cut for time and put on Youtube. Where I’m not sure about Sarah is her work seems much more extreme than anything Good Neighbor did.

The main problem with Melissa is she was mostly hired as an impressionist and that is tricky on SNL, and she also has never found someone long-term she can write with. 

Janeane also had an ugly time backstage. There are still tensions and the toxic systems that are never fully erased (as a few short-lived cast members have mentioned over the recent years), but hopefully she will find a more supportive atmosphere.