There are more changes in the Saturday Night Live writers’ room to report—this time at the top. Longtime writer Bryan Tucker has taken a temporary leave from the NBC comedy institution. We hear he plans to return midseason.
Tucker, who joined SNL in 2005, has been one of the show’s most enduring creative voices, serving as co-head writer after Seth Meyers‘ departure in 2014. In 2018, he was upped to senior writer, a position he’s held since.
Meanwhile, 25-season veteran Erik Kenward has been elevated to head writer, joining Kent Sublette, Streeter Seidell, and Alison Gates in leading the writing staff. Hired in 2001, Kenward has long been part of SNL’s backbone, balancing writing and producing duties since 2010—a role he’ll continue alongside Steve Higgins and Erin Doyle (who herself has been upped from co-producer to producer for Season 51).
Over his two decades on the show, Kenward has been credited on dozens of classic sketches including “The Barry Gibb Talk Show,” “Celebrity Jeopardy,” “Duluth Live,” and Christopher Walken’s “Googly Eyes Gardener.” Beyond Rockefeller Center, Kenward has served as a consulting producer on HBO’s Veep and IFC’s Documentary Now!.
Between those series and SNL, he’s earned 42 Emmy nominations and twelve wins.
As we’ve reported, SNL’s writers’ room saw five high-profile departures—Celeste Yim, John Higgins, Rosebud Baker, Steven Castillo, and Auguste White—and seven new additions ahead of last night’s Season 51 premiere. The staffing changes signal an evolving creative landscape as SNL charts its next chapter under creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels.
Previously on LateNighter: Meet the New Class: Here’s What We Know About SNL’s 7 New Writers
