More Beck Bennett is better than less, right? Because more is better than less because if there's more less stuff then you might want to have some more… If you followed any of that, you might be familiar with the series of AT&T commercials featuring actor Beck Bennett, the suited grown-up who sits with a group of kids in order to demonstrate just how Not-Complicated AT&T is. Bennett is one of the six new featured players joining Saturday Night Live for its upcoming 39th season, confirming rumors that he was in the running last month.
In case you're so reliant on your DVR to avoid commercials that you aren't familiar with Bennett's AT&T ads, here's one of them:
While the AT&T commercials are probably more likely to make Bennett a familiar face among the SNL newbies, his credits also include a role in the "Good Neighbor" comedy group". Saturday Night Live seems like it could be a great fit for him, assuming his straight-faced style of comedy is utilized the right way. Whether or not Bennett proves to be a good fit for the late night sketch comedy series remains to be seen, but as a fan of those ridiculous AT&T commercials, and particularly Bennett's deadpan way of reacting to the kids' enthusiastic responses, I'm hopeful that we're going to see big things from Bennett on SNL and beyond.
Sharing a "Good Neighbor" credit with Bennett is Kyle Mooney, another one of SNL's new featured actors. His credits include appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Sports Show with Norm MacDonald. He's also appeared in Parks and Recreation, and we'll see him in Stephen Merchant's upcoming series Hello Ladies.
Among the other featured players joining SNL this season is actor John Milhiser, whose credits include the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Attack of the Show.
Mike O'Brien, meanwhile, appears to be stepping out from behind the camera. He's credited as a writer for SNL for 80 episodes, going back to 2009. He also has 20 episodes worth of bit part credits for SNL, including roles like "Doorman" and "Audience Member" so it sounds like this featured part is a big step up from that, not to mention a potential step forward for him, following in the path of Seth Meyers and Tina Fey, both of whom established themselves more firmly as writers on SNL before making bigger names for themselves on camera.
On the female side of things, there's Noel Wells, who was part of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and has earned some credits for online comedy sites like Cracked.com and CollegeHumor.com. And she does a decent impersonation of Zooey Deschanel:
And finally, there's Brooks Wheelan, a stand-up comedian and actor who also counts Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and CollegeHumor among his credits. Here's some of his stand-up:
Saturday Night Live Season 39 premieres September 28 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Tina Fey is confirmed to host, with Arcade Fire serving as the musical guest.
