Parnell Definitely Off SNL, Too, And The Daily Show Hires A Marine

More intel on SNL, and this time it's actually sourced: Chris Parnell confirmed to aLive From New York blog that yes, he is off SNL. Parnell told improptu-citizen journalist blog proprieter Patrick that he and Finesse Mitchell were definitely out, possibly Maya Rudolph and Darrell Hammond too. (He also confirmed the intel from our previous post, that Horatio Sanz had been waiting on the "Weekend Update" seat.) Parnell also put a number on the "massive budget cuts" that Lorne MIchaels had mentioned last month: $10 million. Now, you may or may not choose to believe a kid who just moved to New York in his third blog post, but consider that this is the first time anyone has ever actually attached a source to their SNL rumors. So, young Patrick, our hat is off to you. Welcome to New York!

Other comedy news, and it's awesome: Rob Riggle is joining the Daily Show as a correspondent! This gets an exclamation point because Rob Riggle is awesome, as any UCB fan would know; his improv troupe Respecto Montalban was the Saturday Night headliner, and also featured Rob Huebel (aka "Inconsiderate Cellphone Man") and Paul Scheer (VHI's "gap-toothed" guy). Riggle did one season on SNL (2004-2005) and was most notable in a December 2004 sketch as the young soldier who called out Donald Rumsfeld for the lack of humvee armor plating in Iraq. Remember that? This would have been a particularly appropriate role for Riggle, who is a former U.S. Marine who served in Kosovo and Afghanistan. No doubt he'll be able to bring a similar dash of verisimilitude to Comedy Central. He replaces Rob Corddry.

We'll use the word "verisimilitude" as long as it applies, dammit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eat-the-press/2006/09/20/comedy-update-parnell-d_e_29872.html