SNL drafts internet personality with Philly ties Jane Wickline

Internet personality and comedian Jane Wickline, best known for her TikTok sketches, will make her jump from phone screens to TV screens soon.

Wickline, who lived and worked in Philadelphia as a copy editor dating back to 2021, has been cast for the upcoming 50th season of Saturday Night Live. She currently lives in Brooklyn.

She’s one of three new cast members, joining fellow rookies Ashley Padilla and Emil Wakim.

Wickline built her reputation on TikTok, where she’s garnered nearly a million followers and 45 million likes on her short-form dry-humored videos dating back to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was part of the cast of the TikTok live sketch show Stapleview, which has been called the TikTok version of Saturday Night Live.

She’s also one-half of the variety comedy duo Dukes, with Liva Pierce. Dukes recently went on a mini-tour with stops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, where they performed at Johnny Brenda’s.

An NBC blog post about Wickline’s addition to the cast also notes that she “plays a mean trumpet.”

Vanity Fair called Wickline a “staple of the alt-comedy scene in Brooklyn” and noted that the comedian’s addition to SNL’s roster will help with the show’s recent infusion of Gen Z talent.

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With additions come subtractions. Departing Saturday Night Live cast members are Chloe Troast, Punkie Johnson, and Molly Kearney.

The upcoming season of SNL, which premieres Sept. 28, is already highly anticipated, thanks to the confirmation that Maya Rudolph will return to reprise her role impersonating Kamala Harris.

Wickline’s reps couldn’t be reached for comment.

The last comedian with Philly ties to join the legacy comedy show was Shane Gillis, who was hired alongside Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman in 2019. His tenure was short-lived — video clips of Gillis using a racial slur for Chinese people and mocking Asian accents, and a separate video in which he dropped homophobic slurs, resulted in a rescinded invitation to join the cast.

Gillis has maintained that his quotes were taken out of context and that he’d apologize to anyone who’s offended by his remarks. He has gone on to have a successful comedy career, with several comedy specials, a recurring role in Pete Davidson’s Bupkis, and a Netflix show of his own. In February, Gillis hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live, about four years after he was fired from the show. He was recently in the Eagles season hype video.

Saturday Night Live’s Season 50 premieres Sept. 28 on NBC and simulcast live on Peacock. It’ll be available to stream the following day on Peacock.