Say howdy to Andrew Dismukes, the Texan who is ‘Saturday Night Live’ new cast member
“Saturday Night Live” has added a distinctly Texas flavor to its upcoming 46th season with the hiring of a University of Texas at Austin grad.
SNL creator Lorne Michaels announced that Andrew Dismukes, a 22-year-old from Port Neches, Texas, was chosen as one of the three featured players joining the cast along with Lauren Holt and Punkie Johnson.
According to the UT website, Dismukes got his start on the popular live comedy sketch program after he was noticed at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, Canada by a manager. It wasn’t long before the manager contacted for a change to write for the NBC show.
“I was asked to audition in New York City and it’s a different process depending on the person’s approach whether they do sketches or characters and my strength is standup,” Dismukes told Utexas.edu. “On the first audition, you go into the studio on the main stage and it’s empty except for three older guys in the seats including Lorne Michaels. It’s intimidating. You can hear the lack of laughter in your head.”
After a second audition, the native Texan was offered a contract.
“I didn’t know that writers at SNL produce their own sketches. You go to costuming, set design, the camera department, and even make decisions on who to cast,” said Dismukes. “Every week is a new show and you don’t have time to do it by committee. You’re responsible for it so that gives you a certain degree of freedom but the inverse is that you’re also responsible if it bombs.”
Along with the new cast members, SNL also announced that Jim Carrey is joining as Joe Biden and confirmed that Maya Rudolph will be returning as Kamala Harris, Biden’s presidential running mate.
The 46th season of NBC’s late-night comedy show begins Oct. 3.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 7:04 PM.