Michael Che has made history as the first person of color to become a head writer at Saturday Night Live.
SNL announced Tuesday that Che and his Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost have been promoted to head writers.
They will be leading the writing staff along with veteran head writers Bryan Tucker and Kent Sublette.
Che and Jost are filling the spaces left behind when Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider left at the end of last season to start their new Comedy Central show, which has SNL boss Lorne Michaels as an executive producer.
Michael Che has been promoted to head writer of SNL, making him the first person of color to hold the role
Che, right, was promoted to head writer along with his Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost, left. Jost previously worked as head writer from 2012 to 2015
In the 43-year history of SNL, the head writers of the show have been largely white and male.
There have been just three female head writers in the past. Tina Fey broke that glass ceiling in the 1999-2000 season, when she was appointed as the sole head writer for the show. She continued to hold that role for another six seasons.
Che’s appointment to head writer comes just four years after the show faced criticism for its lack of diversity.
The native New Yorker joined Saturday Night Live as a writer in 2013, the same year that the show came under fire for not having a single black woman on the cast.
Facing outrage not only from viewers – but also black cast members Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharaoh – Lorne Michaels held mid-season auditions to add at least one black woman to the cast.
Sasheer Zamata beat out comediennes across the country to be appointed as a featured player in January 2014. It was also during this nationwide search that Leslie Jones was hired, first as a writer and eventually as a cast member.
Jost and Che will be head writers alongside Bryan Tucker (left) and Kent Sublette (rigtht)
Jost and Che are filling the head writing positions vacated by Chris Kelly (left) and Sarah Schneider (right)
Despite SNL addressing the issue back in 2013, the scandal doesn’t seem to have had a large affect on the diversity of the cast since then.
Jost is currently dating actress Scarlett Johansson
Today, Jones is the only black female cast member, while the number of black male cast members has remained the same since Che was promoted to Weekend Update co-anchor in 2014. SNL made some inroads though when they fired their first Latina cast member last year, Melissa Villasenor.
Meanwhile, the promotion for Jost will seem like a bit of deja-vu.
Jost, who is currently dating Scarlett Johansson, was head writer from 2012 to 2015, but stepped down to focus on Weekend Update. He first joined the show in 2005.
NBC also announced on Tuesday that Sudi Green and Fran Gillespie have been promoted to writing supervisors – the position below head writer.
They have been behind recent popular sketches like ‘Cartier Fidget Spinner Ad’ and ‘E! New Line-Up Promo’.
SNL is currently having its second best season in nine years, behind last year’s election year extravaganza.
The show is averaging 9.6million viewers an episode with a 2.9 rating in adults 18-49, a key demographic for advertisers.
Season | Years | Head writer(s) |
---|---|---|
1 | 1975-1976 | Lorne Michaels and Michael O’Donoghue |
2 | 1976-1977 | Michael O’Donoghue |
3 | 1977-1978 | Michael O’Donoghue |
4 | 1978-1979 | Herb Sargent |
5 | 1979-1980 | Herb Sargent |
6 | 1980-1981 | Mason Williams, Jeremy Stevens, Tom Moore and Michael O’Donoghue |
7 | 1981-1982 | Michael O’Donogue, Bob Tischler |
8 | 1982-1983 | Bob Tischler and Andrew Smith |
9 | 1983-1984 | Bob Tischler and Andrew Smith |
10 | 1984-1985 | Bob Tischler |
11 | 1985-1986 | Jim Downey |
12 | 1986-1987 | Jim Downey |
13 | 1987-1988 | Jim Downey |
14 | 1988-1989 | Jim Downey |
15 | 1989-1990 | Jim Downey |
16 | 1990-1991 | Jim Downey |
17 | 1991-1992 | Jim Downey |
18 | 1992-1993 | Jim Downey |
19 | 1993-1994 | Jim Downey |
20 | 1994-1995 | Jim Downey |
21 | 1995-1996 | Steve Higgins and Fred Wolf |
22 | 1996-1997 | Steve Higgins and Tim Herlihy |
23 | 1997-1998 | Tim Herlihy and Adam McKay |
24 | 1998-1999 | Adam McKay |
25 | 1999-2000 | Tina Fey |
26 | 2000-2001 | Tina Fey and Dennis McNicholas |
27 | 2001-2002 | Tina Fey and Dennis McNicholas |
28 | 2002-2003 | Tina Fey and Dennis McNicholas |
29 | 2003-2004 | Tina Fey and Dennis McNicholas |
30 | 2004-2005 | Tina Fey and Andrew Steele |
31 | 2005-2006 | Tina Fey, Seth Meyers and Andrew Steele |
32 | 2006-2007 | Seth Meyers, Paula Pell and Andrew Steele |
33 | 2007-2008 | Seth Meyers, Paula Pell and Andrew Steele |
34 | 2008-2009 | Seth Meyers |
35 | 2009-2010 | Seth Meyers |
36 | 2010-2011 | Seth Meyers |
37 | 2011-2012 | Seth Meyers |
38 | 2012-2013 | Seth Meyers and Colin Jost |
39 | 2013-2014 | Seth Meyers, Colin Jost, Rob Klein, Bryan Tucker |
40 | 2014-2015 | Colin Jost, Rob Klein and Bryan Tucker |
41 | 2015-2016 | Rob Klein and Bryan Tucker |
42 | 2016-2017 | Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider, Bryan Tucker and Kent Sublette |
43 | 2017-2018 | Colin Jost, Michael Che, Bryan Tucker and Kent Sublette |