For those wondering how SNL‘s new cast members factored into tonight’s season premiere, the answer was: not much.
The two new featured players, Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter, were introduced together, as part of an early sketch on the search for reality competition The Debut: Dream Academy‘s next breakout girl group.
Belo-Osagie played Neelsa Boyce, a 17-year-old entrant who sought to become a pop star after playing Young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway when she was a kid.
Reiter got more screen time as Margle, who “only wear[s] flip flops because I keep passing out when I try to tie my shoes.”
After she’s first introduced, Margle shows up fully nude to a dance choreography session. We later learn that she and another eccentric contestant named Duff (Jane Wickline) were only invited to participate after witnessing an executive behind the show, played by Ashley Padilla, committing a hit and run.
Margle is surprised to learn what Dream Academy is actually about: She says she thought it was a “show where you learned to control dreams.”
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Subsequently, she pitches “Moose Knuckle” as a band name and the line “Newton’s Cradle, come and get it” during a songwriting exercise.
The sketch culminates with a performance by the final girl group, featuring Margle, who performs the hot new single “Newton’s Cradle” alongside The Debut Season 1 winner Katseye (who happened to be the SNL season premiere’s musical guest).
Reiter made one other appearance in the night’s final sketch, which opens on host Jalen Brunson (of the recent NBA Finals-winning New York Knicks) in the locker room. He won’t be meeting with reporters after tonight’s game, he says — though he’s visited regardless by a grey-haired Kenan Thompson, who reveals himself to be the NBA star’s third-grade coach — you know, the one who had a “really bad drinking problem”?
Coach Dennis has come around seeking a “small loan,” and hopes to get Brunson to read his Spider-Man-themed porno screenplay. Thompson introduces Reiter as Tonya, an immigrant who came to the U.S. eight years ago with a dream — who he hopes to rope into his porn shoot. Kam Patterson also features in the sketch, which culminates in his, Reiter and Thompson’s characters stealing jerseys from the empty locker room and running away.
That was all the night had in the cards for Belo-Osagie and Reiter. Often, SNL will use its Weekend Update segment to help break in new talent, though special segments of tonight’s presentation were instead devoted to special panelists Dario Amodei (played by Wickline) and Tucker Carlson (played by Jeremy Culhane).
Before returning for the new season, SNL said goodbye to Chloe Fineman and writer-performer Martin Herlihy, who was first introduced on the show as part of the trio Please Don’t Destroy. Other returning cast includes Michael Che, Colin Jost, Mikey Day, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernández, James Austin Johnson, Andrew Dismukes, Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, and Veronika Slowikowska.
Next up this season, we’ll see episodes pairing Dakota Johnson & Turnstile (October 3), Shane Gillis & Rosalía (October 10) and Inde Navarette & Gracie Abrams (October 31).
