‘Saturday Night Live’: Get to Know the New Season 47 Cast Members

Paige Strout September 28, 2021, 3:45 pm

'Saturday Night Live' Season 47 Cast MembersAristotle Athari, Sarah Sherman & James Austin Johnson — Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC

Saturday Night Live is back on Saturday, October 2, for another sure-to-be hilarious season. Cast members Beck Bennett and Lauren Holt are taking their leave from the sketch series ahead of the Season 47 premiere, but three new comedians are set to make their SNL debuts as the latest cast additions.

Below, get to know the latest SNL additions before they join host Owen Wilson and musical guest Kacey Musgraves in Saturday’s season premiere!

Welcome to the cast!

Aristotle Athari
James Austin Johnson
Sarah Sherman pic.twitter.com/n36tKsxhRE

— SNL is back October 2! (@nbcsnl) September 27, 2021

Aristotle Athari

Known for annoying Kumail Nanjiani’s Dinesh on Silicon Valley as Gabe, Aristotle Athari got his start in the comedy group Goatface alongside fellow comedians Hasan Minhaj, Asif Ali, and Fahim Anwar. In addition to the group’s self-titled 2018 Comedy Central special, Athari has written, directed, and starred in several comedy shorts. He’s also made appearances on Funny or Die’s The Coop and in the film Hanging in Hedo. On Instagram, he revealed the casting news alongside the announcement of his marriage to wife Maura Grace on September 18.

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A post shared by Aristotle Athari (@air_stotle)

James Austin Johnson

With several small roles in shows and movies such as Future Man, All Rise, Better Call Saul, The Last Tycoon, and Hail, Caesar!, among others, James Austin Johnson is perhaps best known for his viral Donald Trump impressions, which has earned him the title of “best Trump impersonator of all” by Vanity Fair. The stand-up comedian got his start in Nashville comedy clubs as a teenager before moving to Los Angeles. The day before his casting announcement, Johnson posted a video of one of his early stand-up sets on Twitter, proving he was destined for SNL greatness.

JAN 31 2004 7:54:03 PM

Nashville’s number one The Matrix fan debuts the chuck e cheese bit, time travelers mark your calendars.. pic.twitter.com/APWb6YDv63

— James Austin Johnson (@shrimpJAJ) September 26, 2021

Sarah Sherman

The third new cast member of Season 47 is better known as her stage name, Sarah Squirm. Along with her traveling stand-up comedy show Helltrap Nightmare, Sarah Sherman was a writer on Netflix’s Magic For Humans and worked on The Eric Andre Show before opening for the comedian on his most recent tour. The Long Island Native even made an appearance on fellow SNL cast member Bowen Yang’s Las Culturistas podcast. She took to Twitter to celebrate the casting news, tweeting, “SNL just made a HUGE mistake!!”