‘SNL’ adds three new featured players; Jim Carrey to portrayJoe Biden

The show also announced The SNL Scholarship Program in partnership with four national comedy schools to fund a scholarship program for students of diverse backgrounds to advance their comedy careers.

By Miriam Di Nunzio

Comedian Jim Carrey will be a featured guest star on “SNL” this season, portraying presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Golden Globe Award winner Jim Carrey will be joining “Saturday Night Live” as a special guest for its upcoming 46th season, it was announced Wednesday. The actor will take on the role of Vice President Joe Biden as the series tackles the upcoming presidential election.

The NBC comedy institution will return to its Rockefeller Center home in New York with limited in-studio audiences for live shows beginning Oct. 3.

The hire of Carrey, a three-time “SNL” host, is in keeping with the show’s habit in recent years of deploying big-name comic actors from outside, instead of its own cast members, for high-profile political roles — notably Alec Baldwin as nominee and then President Donald Trump.

This will be Carrey’s debut as Biden, an “SNL” target numerous times over his decades as a legislator and frequent presidential candidate. Just last season he was portrayed on the show by three different actors: hosts Woody Harrelson and John Mulaney and cast alum Jason Sudeikis.

The 46th season cast will feature three new featured players: actor/comedian/singer Lauren Holt from Upright Citizens Brigade, comedian/writer Punkie Johnson (“Space Force”);and former “SNL” staff writer/stand-up comedian Andrew Dismukes.

All of last season’s ensemble members will remain, and featured player Ego Nwodim will move up to the more prestigious title of cast member.

The show also announced the creation of The SNL Scholarship Program in partnership with with four comedy schools — Chicago’s The Second City, New York’s People’s Improv Theater, the Los Angeles-based The Groundlings, and New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade — “to fund a scholarship program for students of diverse backgrounds to advance their comedy careers.”

Contributing: Darel Jevens