Saturday Night shake-up: SNL unveils new cast members who will replace Jay Pharoah and Taran Killam (and one does an Obama impersonation)

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Saturday Night Live have unveiled their brand new line-up after a surprise cast shakeup at the end of last season. 

Veteran players Jay Pharoah and Taran Killam, both known for their impressions, made a shock departure last month after being given the boot by producer Lorne Michaels. 

Now Chris Redd, who appeared in Lonely Island's movie Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and SNL writer Mikey Day, 36, have been announced as the new cast members.

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Chris Redd (left) who appeared in Lonely Island's movie Popstar: Never Stop Stopping, and SNL writer Mikey Day (right)  have been announced as the new cast members

Redd, who came to fame through the Chicago improv scene is known for his President Obama impression - taking over from the departing Pharoah who has played Obama in the past six seasons, Decider reports.

The comedian, who trained at The Second City and iO Theater, has also worked with the likes of Tina Fey and improv guru Mick Napier. But his biggest role to date was as Hungry the Hunter opposite former SNL star Andy Sandberg. 

Day, an alumni of LA's celebrated Groundlings Theater, joined SNL as a writer in 2013 and frequently collaborated with Killam. He even co-wrote Killam’s new film Brother Nature. 

Redd's biggest role was as Hungry the Hunter in the Lonely Island’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Day, an alumni of LA's celebrated Groundlings Theater, who joined SNL as a writer in 2013 appears in NBC's Maya and Marty

Day then took his turn on the other side of the camera this summer when he appeared on Maya & Marty (here playing James Van Der Beek with Maya Rudolph as Suzanna and John Cena)

Day, who previously dated actress Selma Blair, then took his turn on the other side of the camera this summer when he appeared on Maya & Marty. 

The pair will be kept on their toes as producer Michaels is known to be ruthless in firing new cast members if they don't produce enough work for the show,.

But it's quite unusual for veterans like Killam and Pharoah to be ousted. 

Both actors had been on the show for six seasons and were known for their impressions. 

Pharoah has played President Obama on the show and  Killam has played Republican nominee Donald Trump. However, in the last season former SNL star Darrel Hammond was brought in to portray The Donald.

Their departure seemed to come as something of a shock to the comedians.

The new players replace veteran cast members Jay Pharoah (left) and Taran Killam (right)

Rookie Jon Rudnitsky (with Killam in SNL) was also dumped last summer after just one season on the show

Killam told Uproxx that he wasn't even given a reason why his contract wasn't renewed this year. 

'I don’t know the other side of it,' Killam said. 'I was never given a reason why, really. I can assume until the cows come home. But I do know I’m directing this movie [Why We’re Killing Gunther with Arnold Schwarzenegger] and I’ll have two months of post-production that would have bled into the SNL production schedule, so we kind of communicated that. … I wasn’t going to have to take any time off to do it, but it was a thing that they would have had to okay.' 

Rookie Jon Rudnitsky was also dumped last summer after just one season on the show.

'SNL' is known for its revolving-door cast, with Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon and Eddie Murphy among its successful alumni. 

Season 42 of SNL returns to NBC on October 1.