Better late than never, two women: Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter, have been added to the Saturday Night Live cast as featured players for Season 52.
Season 52 of the long-running and Emmy Award winning program will debut on September 26 with host Jalen Brunson. Now there will be two more cast members in Studio 8H to spark the new season.
Belo-Osagie will be the only woman of color on SNL in Season 52. She brings extensive experience as a writer and performer, as well as popularity from a social media presence where she has shared many comic short videos.
Wisconsin-born Reiter becomes the first cast member born in the 21st century. She is an actress, standup comedian, writer, director, and content creator. Reieter has earned followers through her unusual and funny TikTok and YouTube video shorts. She may be familiar with audiences from her co-starring role in Tim Robinson’s HBO comedy series “The Chair Company.”
This brings the cast to 17 members for the upcoming season, with potentially as many as seven of them as Featured Players in either their first or second season:
The news comes after an extensive summer search across the U.S. for new talent. SNL brass reportedly whittled down the possibilities to about two dozen performers before making the final choices.
Repertory Players
- Michael Che
- Mikey Day
- Andrew Dismukes
- Marcello Hernandez
- James Austin Johnson
- Colin Jost
- Ashley Padilla
- Sarah Sherman
- Kenan Thompson
- Jane Wickline
Featured Cast Members
- Saidah Belo-Osagie
- Tommy Brennan
- Jeremy Culhane
- Ben Marshall
- Kam Patterson
- Grace Reiter
- Veronika Slowikowska
Meet Saidah Belo-Osagie
It’s a shame Don Pardo isn’t alive to say the name SAIDAH BELO-OSAGIEEEEE. What a missed opportunity. But, at least we’ll get to imagine it now that Saidah has joined the cast of SNL.
Belo-Osagie is a Nigerian-American comedian and filmmaker based in Brooklyn and from Queens. She is probably best-known as the creator of the series Afrobeats Futura and “Saidah Gets Closure,” a one-woman comedy show. She is the writer and director of the 2020 short film called “Tinge,” in which she also made an appearance.
Meet Grace Reiter
Reiter is more than just a stand-up comedian. She has already landed prominent roles as an actor, and also amassed a large following on TikTok and YouTube. In addition, Reiter was a member of the American High’s sketch team and has a co-starring role in the upcoming series “Minimum Wage.”
Reiter reportedly has auditioned for SNL in previous years. She has worked in the past outside the show with current cast member Jane Wickline.
Following the season opener on Sept. 26 with Knicks star Brunson and Katseye as musical guest, SNL will follow with three shows already lined up: actress Dakota Johnson and musical guest Turnstile on Oct. 3; comic Shane Gillis and singer Rosalía on Oct. 10; and actress Inde Navarette and singer Gracie Abrams on Halloween night.
