Saturday Night Live shake-up: Comedian Michael Che headed to 'Weekend Update'


When Saturday Night Live premieres Sept. 27, there will be a new face at the "Weekend Update" desk: comedian Michael Che, best known for his role as a correspondent on The Daily Show.
Che is replacing Cecily Strong, who will stay on as a cast member, The New York Times reports. Che, a writer on the show last season, will partner with Colin Jost, one of SNL's head writers. Creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels said that they tried "a number of different combinations" of anchors over the last few weeks before settling on this pair. "Michael is a strong writer, and he's really funny," Michaels said. "It's always difficult to make changes and make 'Update' different from what's gone before."
This will be the first time that "Weekend Update" is headed by two men. It's likely that Michaels isn't done changing things up; he told The Times that he would probably add one or two more cast members to the roster this upcoming season. Watch the clip below to see Che's stand-up on The Late Show with David Letterman. --Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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