“SNL” New Season Will Have 3 New Players, As Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant Will Come and Go, Kate McKinnon in for Election Shows

The new season of “Saturday Night Live” will bring changes galore, besides having a smaller live audience.

For one thing, according to reports, Jim Carrey will be playing Joe Biden. This will come as a bit of a sting to Jason Sudeikis, who originated Biden years ago when he was a regular. But Woody Harrelson played Biden last season, and now Carrey will step into the role. I wish they’d asked Sudeikis back, but this is like replacing Darrell Hammond with Alec Baldwin for Trump.

Three new players are joining the show: Lauren Holt, an actor and comedian; Punkie Johnson, a comedian and writer; and Andrew Dismukes, a stand-up comic who has been a staff writer at “SNL.”

Holt looks like she might be groomed as a replacement for Aidy Bryant, who Lorne Michaels has said will come and go this season while she shoots her series, “Shrill.” Cecily Strong is shooting a series in Vancouver, so Michaels tells New York Mag’s Vulture she’ll be green-screened in when she can’t be in New York. And Kate McKinnon? Michael says she’s “here for the election shows” somewhat enigmatically. After that, McKinnon could very well be moving on.

And Alec Baldwin? Now that he has five small children to support, you don’t hear him making noises about playing Donald Trump. It’s easy money and not much of a commute. When Biden wins the election, though, that may be the end of the line for his famous impersonation.

PS Congrats to Lorne. “SNL” won a bunch of creative arts Emmys earlier this week. Eddie Murphy is sure to win as Guest Star in a Variety series from last season. Forty six seasons and still at the top of the heap!