Meet SNL's new cast members: Punkie Johnson, Lauren Holt and Andrew Dismukes - CNET

Punkie Johnson is one of the newest SNL cast members and also the first out Black lesbian on the comedy series. 

Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET

NBC's Saturday Night Live returns to TV on Oct. 3, with actor-comedian Jim Carrey playing former vice president Joe Biden and three new cast members.

Meet Punkie Johnson, Lauren Holt and Andrew Dismukes.

Punkie Johnson

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Punkie Johnson is a comedian and writer who's appeared on the shows Space Force, Corporate, A Black Lady Sketch Show, Adam Ruins Everything and Bill Burr Presents: The Ringers. 

Johnson was a New Face at the Just for Laughs Festival in 2019 and is a paid regular at the Comedy Store in Hollywood. Johnson is also the first out Black lesbian to join the Saturday Night Live cast in the show's long 46-year-old history.

Lauren Holt

Lauren Holt in the short film short film Parent Teacher Conference.

Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET

Lauren Holt is a house performer from the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in Los Angeles. She was a founding member of the UCB's musical improv troupe called The Pickup.

Holt's also an actor who starred in the independent LGBTQ web series The Filth and the short film Parent Teacher Conference. In 2015, she appeared in the music video for the song Til It Happens to You by Lady Gaga.

Andrew Dismukes 

Andrew Dismukes steps in front of the camera this season on SNL after working three years as a writer on the show.

New York Comedy Club

Andrew Dismukes is a stand-up comic who's been working behind the scenes as a staff writer at SNL since its 43rd season. This will be his debut as a cast member. 

Dismukes was part of the 2017 New Faces Showcase at the Just for Laughs Festival and performed at other festivals such as Comedy Central's Colossal ClusterFest and the New York Comedy Festival.

Watch Dismukes perform in the finals of the 2016 Funniest Person in Austin Contest.

On a side note, SNL will also be working with comedy training programs at the PIT, Second City, the Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade to provide funding for "a scholarship program for students of diverse backgrounds to advance their comedy careers," NBC said in a statement on Wednesday.

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