St. Paul native Tommy Brennan is one of five new featured players added to the cast of the 51st season of “Saturday Night Live.”

Brennan got his start in Chicago and now tours the country. He has opened for Nikki Glaser, Taylor Tomlinson, and the late Louie Anderson, who also was from St. Paul. The Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal selected him as a New Face of Comedy in 2023 and he made his debut performing standup on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in June.

“I’m not shocked at his success at all,” said St. Paul’s Bob Galligan, who has known Brennan since he was young. “He’s weaved it through his bits, but you don’t come out of an Irish Catholic family of nearly all sisters without becoming a comedian. He does the nearly impossible and makes Catholic Guilt funny.

“He’s always been artistic and comfortable in a crowd. I remember seeing him multiple times perform ‘The Little Prince’ at my alma mater Cretin-Derham when he was a boy. He played the Little Prince. And I do recall him sitting quietly in a single spotlight and thinking, ‘This kid’s special.’ I’m ecstatic for the world to get to know the Prince I’ve watched grow up.”

Brennan graduated high school from Cretin-Derham and earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Mendoza College of Business – University of Notre Dame. He worked for Linkedin and Cameo while launching his standup career.

Other new faces coming to “SNL” include comedians Veronika Slowikowska, Kam Patterson, Jeremy Culhane as well as Ben Marshall, who has previously performed in digital shorts on the show as part of the Please Don’t Destroy comedy troupe. Last week, current cast members Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim announced they were not returning for the new season.

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The 51st season of “Saturday Night Live” premieres Oct. 4 on NBC.