Who: Ego Nwodim

Cast Member Since: 2018

This is the season 31-year-old Egobunma “Ego” Nwodim needs to make Saturday Night Live her playground.

After watching Nwodim over the 20 episodes of her debut season, it’s difficult to get a full picture of her skillset. Where someone like Heidi Gardner had the type of first season any SNL featured player would kill for (launching breakout characters, plenty of screen time), Nwodim’s debut year was more down to earth, and she still feels like somewhat of an unknown.

On a positive note, she had small supporting roles in some of Season 44’s best moments like Oil Baron Career Day and Ladies Room; that said, Nwodim certainly wasn’t the creative force driving those sketches. In fact, most of Nwodim’s screen time over the year was largely made up of these types of background situations (see: Space Station Broadcast or West Minster Daddy Show for further examples). While this is nowhere near uncommon for a freshman season, recent one-and-done Featured Players like Luke Null or Jon Rudnitsky had arguably more productive first seasons, and were ultimately not brought back for more.

That said, Nwodim did have some stand out moments. Her first came during the season’s third episode when she was paired with Leslie Jones for Thirsty Cops. Nwodim does struggle a bit with what was her first large amount of dialogue on the show, but her chemistry with Jones works well, and it’s hard not to smile during the sketch. Nwodim was also the co-lead with John Mulaney in March’s Cha-Cha Slide, and despite needing to play it somewhat straight, she’s a big reason why the whole thing worked. She also nabbed a recurring role as L’evanka Trump in the wonderfully absurd Them Trumps.

Watching Nwodim in her upcoming second season will be interesting. With the surprising departure of Leslie Jones, Nwodim will be moving forward without her friend and mentor, and barring any more new hires prior to the 9/28 premiere, she’s now positioned as the sole African-American female in the cast. Leaning into race for comedic inspiration was a centerpiece of Nwodim’s time at Upright Citizens Brigade, so one can assume the 2019-2020 season will afford her the opportunity to bring something similar to a larger audience.

Nwodim should also have an expanded role in the pre-filmed segments like March’s Discover Card/Us parody commercial. Prior to SNL, Nwodim had a fairly active acting career blooming with guests spots in Law & Order True Crime, 2 Broke Girls, and even the short-lived Real Rob on Netflix with SNL alum Rob Schneider. With this in mind, it makes sense that 10+ of her first season appearances were in pre-filmed segments. These segments also helped keep her engaged throughout the season – especially November’s Jonah Hill/Maggie Rogers and December’s Jason Momoa/Mumford & Sons episodes where Nwodim didn’t appear in the actual live content.

It will also be fun to see if she can up her impressions and characters game. Earlier this year, Nwodim told The Hollywood Reporter, “My hope is to get an impression — or some version of an impression — of my mother on the show, who is representative of lots of first-generation Nigerian mothers. That’s my big goal, to represent for the Nigerians and their parents because they are truly characters. My mom is, for sure.” I, for one, hope we get a chance to see it this season.

While we wait for a second installment of Thirsty Cops when Leslie Jones inevitably returns as a show host in roughly two years, check out some of Nwodim’s best from Season 44.

Sketch: Bad Girl Talk Show

Episode: Emma Thompson/Jonas Brothers (5/11/19)

Note: Nwodim is easily the best part of this talk show parody, and Rae Rae deserves to be a standalone character. Burnt Bacon Booty!

Sketch: Thirsty Cops

Episode: Seth Meyers/Paul Simon (10/13/18)

Note: “My-ass-ment”

SNL REPORT CARD / EGO NWODIM: 2 Coneys

SCALE:

4 Coneys = Excellent / 3 Coneys = Good / 2 Coneys = Needs Improvement / 1 Coney = Worst

Jason Nummer still wonders what a second SNL season with Brooks Wheelan would have been like. You can follow him on Twitter at @jrnummer.

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