UPDATED AGAIN!! Entertainment Weekly confirms Jenny Slate (like Will Forte) will not be in the cast of SNL when it returns later this month. Proof Slate is funny: NBC confirmed Tuesday that Taran Killam, Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain and Jay Pharoah have all joined the cast. Amy Poehler will host the season premiere. Musical guest will be Katy Perry. One also hears Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") and Jane Lynch ("Glee") will be hosting SNL episodes this autumn. ORIGINAL POST: I am – Hercules!! We’ve long heard that a fellow from “Scrubs” and two performers from the Chicago improv scene seem to be headed to the cast of “Saturday Night Live” this month. Now Deadline Hollywood is reporting impressionist Jay Pharaoh also may be signing onto America’s top-rated late-night series. Around the 6:30 mark on this video you can hear that Pharaoh already sports a stronger Obama than Fred Armisen: The same report suggests Jenny Slate’s presence in the cast may be in jeopardy. By the way. For those who have been nattering in talkback about how SNL has no use for Asians, I’d like to point out that Nasim Pedrad is not only of full Asian ancestry, she was actually born in Asia. Also? Fred Armisen is part Japanese. If you want to go further back, Rob Schneider is half-Filipino. And Jews (whose ancestry originates in Israel -- which is in, you guessed it, Asia) have been part of the cast since day one, in the persons of Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Frank Oz and Albert Brooks. This is to say nothing of Al Franken, Gilbert Gottfried, Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal, Harry Shearer, Jon Lovitz, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Sarah Silverman, Chris Kattan, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Jenny Slate and Rob Schneider (which I guess makes Schneider 100% Asian). Find all of Deadline’s story about Pharaoh and Slate here. SNL launches its 36th season Sept. 25. Follow Herc on Twitter!! Follow Evil Herc on Twitter!! 143 Blu-rays Under $10!!

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