Cecily Strong to Co-Host 'Saturday Night Live' 'Weekend Update' With Seth Meyers

Within her first few episodes on Saturday Night Live last season, Cecily Strong was quickly pegged as one of the show's future stars. She stood out as the Girl You Wished You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party during Weekend Update sketches, teamed up with Bobby Moynihan as a pair of coworkers who brutally insulted other employees and played a burned-out porn star hawking pricey goods alongside Vanessa Beyer. On Sunday, SNL maestro Lorne Michaels announced that Strong's rise would accelerate during her second season, revealing that the SNL sophomore would join Seth Meyers as a Weekend Update host.

"Cecily, from the first show, was right there," Michaels told the New York Times. "She exploded." I was going to back this statement up with some previous posts about Strong, but NBC recently gave Yahoo! exclusive rights to the show's clips, thus rendering Popculturology's extensive video posts about SNL moot. Crap.

Anyways, Strong becoming a Weekend Update host is both good and bad news. Head past the jump to find out why in addition to reading up on Michaels' future plans for Meyers and Late Night and SNL's latest casting moves.

Strong was one of SNL's strongest castmembers last season, and with Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader and Fred Armisen gone, the show needs a new star. Strong has that potential. Look at the past few hosts of Weekend Update. Jimmy Fallon is about to inherit The Tonight Show. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler had/have acclaimed NBC sitcoms (despite NBC's inability to properly promote or manage them). Meyers is going to take over Late Night after Fallon moves on. That's a pretty good track record there. Sunday's announcement puts Strong on that track now.

Of course, with Strong serving as a Weekend Update host, she'll now be playing the straight man during the segment's sketches. I don't see how we'll ever see the Girl You Wished You Hadn't Started a Conversation With at a Party again. That's a shame. Hopefully SNL and its writers can step up their game to keep Strong involved in the rest of the show. I would hate to see her become "Cecily Strong, Weekend Update host" and nothing more.

An interesting part of Bill Carter's article is that Michaels plans on keeping Meyers at the Weekend Update desk, possibly even while he's hosting Late Night.

Mr. Michaels said his general plan was to have Ms. Strong share the “Update” desk with Mr. Meyers for the season’s initial shows and then segue into a solo role later, maybe in the first season — but maybe not. If possible, Mr. Michaels would like to see Mr. Meyers stay on “Weekend Update” even after he moves to “Late Night,” starting on Feb. 24. 

“Seth is a unique case,” Mr. Michaels said, noting that the new late-night show would not have a Friday edition, letting Mr. Meyers potentially drop in and work that day and Saturday on “Update.”

I enjoy Meyers as a Weekend Update host, but I'm wary of this move. First off, why is Late Night going to just four nights? I'm pretty sure it's been a five-night-a-week show the entire time Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon have hosted it. Jimmy Kimmel only does four episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! per week as does O'Brien with Conan. Are ratings on Friday really that poor where it's better to just concede that night?

Also, if Meyers sticks around at SNL after moving onto Late Night, it feels a lot like the kid who graduated high school but just couldn't stop hanging around the school. Seth, you've graduated — go make some adult friends. I know you're best friends with the principal, but you gotta move on.

Finally the Times revealed that in addition to Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, Noel Wells, Mike O'Brien and John Milhiser, Brooks Whelan will join the show. The writing staff will see a few changes too, with former featured player Tim Robinson moving over to the writing side and Colin Jost and Rob Klein replacing Meyers as head writer. That move means that John Mulaney, creator of Stefon and presumed future SNL head writer, has been passed over. NBC previously didn't pick up Mulaney's pilot. What's going on with Mulaney?

SNL returns for its 39th season on Sept. 28. Tina Fey is hosting.