As SNL approaches the start of Season 40, changes were inevitable.
Just a few days ago, the show added Daily Show correspondent Michael Che to the Weekend Update desk (replacing Cecily Strong, who was an anchor for one season) and Monday it was announced that 20-year-old Pete Davidson will join the cast as a featured player.
Welcome to the cast, @petedavidson! http://t.co/Q8XfDnLiSw #SNL
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) September 15, 2014
Che and Davidson's additions come on the heels a summer of exits, with NBC choosing not to extend the contracts of first-year performers Noël Wells, John Milhiser, and Brooks Wheelan. Additionally, Nasim Pedrad left the show in July to star in Fox's upcoming comedy Mulaney and Michael Patrick O’Brien will not be returning to the cast. O'Brien, however, will return to his post as a writer on the show.
Staten Island native Davidson, the first SNL cast member to be born in the '90s, got his start on the comedy circuit at the age of 16 and it wasn't long before he attracted the attention of Nick Cannon, who began mentoring the young comedian.
At 17, Davidson, the son of a firefighter who died on 9/11, took part in Cannon's Fresh Faces of Comedy Tour and soon began opening for Cannon as well.
By the time he was a legal adult, he became a series regular on Cannon's MTV2 improv series Wild 'N Out, where he didn't hesitate to take bold jabs.
Davidson arguably best known -- until now, at least -- for his appearances on the MTV2 Girl Code spin-off, Guy Code.
The year that followed saw Davidson, who also appeared on Comedy Central's House Party with Adam DeVine in 2013, book a few acting roles. First, he co-starred in a Fox pilot with Justin Long and Nick Frost called Sober Companion, which was ultimately not ordered to series for this season, and then he took a bit part on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
In April, Davidson scored a coveted stand-up gig on Jimmy Kimmel, which at the time had gone almost a year without featuring a comedian, Davidson later said.
Most recently, Davidson called attention to his collaboration with rapper and YouTuber Awkwafina, via his Facebook page.
But we're willing to bet he'll have much more interesting videos to link to quite soon.