Saturday Night Live’s 45th season premiered last night, and in addition to the departure of Leslie Jones, the addition of Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman to the cast, and promotions for featured players Heidi Gardner and Chris Redd, the writing staff saw some changes too. Alan Linic and Eli Coyote Mandel — who joined the writing staff last season and were behind sketches like “Career Day†with host Adam Driver and “Weezer†with host Matt Damon — are among the writers no longer at the show, while several newcomers have been hired: Dan Bulla (Adam Sandler’s 100% Fresh), Emma Clark, Dan Licata (Joe Pera Talks With You), Jasmine Pierce (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), and “Weekend Update†writer Mark Steinbach. Last night’s season premiere also featured guest-writing credits for stand-up Neal Brennan and SNL alum Dave McCary.
Here’s the full list of this season’s writing staff:
Head Writers
• Michael Che
• Colin Jost
• Kent Sublette
Supervising Writers
• Anna Drezen
• Fran Gillespie
• Sudi Green
• Streeter Seidell
Senior Writer
• Bryan Tucker
Writers
• James Anderson
• Dan Bulla
• Steven Castillo
• Emma Clark
• Andrew Dismukes
• Alison Gates
• Steve Higgins
• Sam Jay
• Erik Kenward
• Dan Licata
• Lorne Michaels
• Jasmine Pierce
• Gary Richardson
• Will Stephen
Weekend Update Head Writer
• Pete Schultz
Weekend Update Writers
• Megan Callahan-Shah
• Dennis McNicholas
• Josh Patten
• Mark Steinbach