'Saturday Night Live' Promotes Ego Nwodim To Series Regular For Season 46

Saturday Night Live is gearing up for its 46th season this fall. Though the show ended their last season with a series of episodes remotely produced and recorded from the homes of the show's cast, the late night sketch comedy staple is planning a return to the studio with proper safety protocols and precautions in place. And when the show returns, featured player Ego Nwodim will have been promoted to a full fledged cast member. 

Deadline has word on Ego Nwodim being promoted at SNL, following the tradition of featured players being bumped up to the regular cast when they've reached their third year. Nwodim joined the cast at the beginning of the show's 44th season, and last year she was joined by featured players Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang, who will be returning in the same capacity this season too.

Nwodim hasn't really had any breakout characters of her own on Saturday Night Live yet, but that hasn't stopped her from being integral to the cast. She's easily able to fit into any sketch as the straight woman, such as this sketch from last year with Kristen Stewart, which takes a surprising turn at the end:

But Nwodim can also ham it up, as evidenced in this sketch from last year with Phoebe Waller-Bridge:

Nwodim's comedic background is rich, having performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, a comedy institution and training ground for many SNL cast members from the past. There she had her own one-woman show called Great Black Women...and Then There's Me, and she was also named one of the New Faces of the 2016 Just For Laughs festival, a coveted spot for many comedians and a key stepping stone in launching a comedy career. She was also part of the CBS Diversity Showcase and appeared on high profile comedy podcasts like Comedy Bang Bang, Hollywood Handbook, and Spontaneanation.

As of now, we don't know the exact date of when Saturday Night Live will return, but the show traditionally resumes in late September. There's a chance that the enhanced safety protocols put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 might delay that, but an announcement on that front is expected imminently, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, get to know Ego Nwodim a bit more as she answers 44 questions after joining the cast in 2018: