Ahead of the season 45 premiere of Saturday Night Live this weekend, two featured players on the cast have received promotions. A source close to the show has confirmed that both Chris Redd and Heidi Gardner have been promoted to repertory players this season, which will be their third years on the series (they were hired alongside Luke Null back in 2017). This will make room in the show’s opening credits for the (now) two new featured players Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman as well as last year’s newcomer Ego Nwodim.
Both Redd and Gardner had a pretty impressive season 44. Redd has made a name for himself on the show with a consistent output of musical parody sketches, like “Permission,†“Trees,†and “Fresh Prince.†Gardner, meanwhile, has created a growing list of unforgettable characters who have become regulars at the “Weekend Update†desk like Angel (“every boxer’s girlfriend from every movie about boxing everâ€), movie reviewer Bailey Gismert, and Instagram star Brie Bacardi (along with Mikey Day as boyfriend Nico). Congrats to both!