In 2005, when SNL hired the three members of existing sketch group The Lonely Island — Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone — it was something that the show had never done before. But it sure worked, with the trio creating the SNL Digital Short format that became incredibly popular and injected new life into the show. Now, it looks like they’re doing it again with the sketch group Good Neighbor, which consists of Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, Nick Rutherford and Dave McCary. In addition to hiring Bennett and Mooney as featured players for the upcoming season, we’ve learned that SNL has also hired member McCary as a director. Presumably the three of them will work together on the show, having created a whole slew of videos together over the past few years.
Good Neighbor had recently produced a pilot for Comedy Central with Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez production company, but it seems clear that it won’t go to series as these three move to NYC to start work on SNL instead.