Comedian Jon Rudnitsky was announced as the newest cast member of "Saturday Night Live" for the 41st season of the show. Rudnitsky, a 25-year-old stand-up comic, built a strong following on YouTube when he parodied "House of Cards" and "True Detective."
Rudnitsky began preforming stand-up comedy when he was in high-school and graduated from the University of Southern California's acting program, reported Deadline. The New Jersey native also performed improv comedy with the legendary The Groundlings group in Chicago. In 2012 Rudnitsky won the Laugh Factory's Laugh Bowl, a college comedy competition, and was a participant at the 2015 New Faces at Montreal's Just for Laughs festival, according to Entertainment Weekly.
"SNL" had a rough past couple of seasons due to some substantial cast changes. During season 39 the show added a whopping eight new comedians while it added three more featured players in season 40, reported The Hollywood Reporter. Heading into season 41 there was no cast departures announced and no one changed behind the Weekend Update desk. In addition, Rudnitsky was the only new cast member announced for season 41.
"Saturday Night Live" premieres Oct. 3 with host Miley Cyrus
Welcome to the cast, @JonRudnitsky! https://t.co/GN959Rv6kq #SNL pic.twitter.com/CjrvkmL6fH
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) August 31, 2015
