Among the various pop culture gods who hover benevolently over our modern society, few are more sacred than Jim Henson. We’d go so far as to argue that much of our enduring affection for Henson’s most beloved creations, the Muppets, is basically just a function for the love so many feel for Henson himself. The man embodied a rare mix of subversive humor and deep empathy in pretty much everything he did, a blend of kindness and cutting wit that you almost never see. He’s a tough act to follow, is what we’re trying to assert.
Which is why we’re fascinated to learn that Nicholas Braun, best known to audiences as Succession’s flop-sweating Cousin Greg, will be attempting to embody Henson in the upcoming Saturday Night Live historical drama SNL 1975. Braun joins the cast alongside Tommy Dewey, from The Mindy Project and Casual, who’ll be playing legendary SNL writer Michael O’Donoghue, and Harry Potter Broadway alum Nicholas Podany, who’ll be playing a young version of Billy Crystal. (Before you ask: Although Crystal didn’t join the cast of the show until 1984—after he’d hosted it multiple times, it’s worth remembering—he was originally scheduled to appear in its very first episode, the subject of the film.)
Henson’s tenure on SNL was generally seen as a rare failure for him, with his “Land Of Gorch” sequences in the show’s first season a subject of much derision—most famously from O’Donoghue, who once quipped “I won’t write for felt.” That being said, it’s not clear how much of Braun’s Henson will appear in 1975, which is being directed by Jason Reitman, working from his own co-written script based on accounts of the show’s very first broadcast. The incoming trio joins a cast that includes Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, plus Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Ella Hunt, and Lamorne Morris, among others.
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