Kam Patterson’s road to Saturday Night Live
West Orlando comedian Kameron Patterson has been tapped by NBC to join the cast of Saturday Night Live, the long-running sketch comedy show. SNL is entering its 51st season this fall and announced the addition of new cast members on Sept. 3.
Twenty-six-year-old Patterson will debut on the show’s Oct. 4 premiere, along with Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall and Veronika Slowikowska.
Patterson got his start in 2021 in Orlando’s open mic scene, performing frequently at Wil “Dirtbag” Miller’s mic at Night Shade Lounge in Parramore, Vince Taylor’s Comedy & Karaoke at The Dreams Lounge in Casselberry, and other local comedy venues. Patterson rarely missed a night to work on his craft.
“I have a one-track mind about comedy,” he tells OW. “At one point I had a job at Foot Locker, and I was always telling my co-workers stories. They were like, ‘Man, you funny as hell. You should be a comedian.’ They’re the ones who really got me thinking I could do it.”
Patterson recalls telling his parents years ago he planned on forging a career in comedy.
“My dad told me, ‘Well, if you gonna do it, you gotta do all you can and keep going and don’t stop.’ And then he texted me a picture of all the great comedians together in a barbershop,” says Patterson. “‘You gotta strive to be in this picture,’ he told me.”
The digital artwork by artist Ma’alik Wright is titled The Comedy Shop and features Bernie Mac, Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and, in a bit of foreshadowing, Kevin Hart.
Patterson’s comedic gifts were apparent long before that day.
When he was about 10, he did a little set at his grandmother’s 70th birthday party in Gainesville, riffing about her habit of going to arcades and leaving him with her dog, Jazzy. Even at that tender age, Patterson had already developed a skill for bringing the laughs. He delivered informal performances in second grade at Orlo Vista Elementary, where his teacher would allow him to tell jokes to the class if Patterson finished his schoolwork.
When in his early 20s, Patterson was at loose ends about his future, at one point considering becoming a firefighter. His path forward crystallized as he spent more time on the mic.
“I felt sick if I missed a single day at an open mic,” he says. “Even though sometimes open mics can be horrible, that’s where you learn to carry a crowd and test new material.”
Patterson worked rooms with a tight group of up-and-coming comedians, including Jonte “Taetattedup” Vaughn, Derriel “Shopwitchaboy” Lewis and “King Quelz” Sumter, among others. Their sets surged with raw energy and an instinct to push boundaries.
“It was the dawning of all our careers,” says Sumter. “We were fresh out of COVID, literally just a bunch of hungry, highly motivated comedians standing on dreams and ambition.”
Vaughn notes that at the time, the group didn’t have a specific destination in mind.
“We just knew we wanted to be famous. We were learning how to structure our jokes, trying to figure out what was funny and what wasn’t funny, and being ourselves,” she says.
“As a vet watching these kids in the game with so much talent and life ahead of them, it was an amazing time,” says Roberto “Mini” Font, one of Central Florida’s respected comedy fixtures and 2022 winner of the venerable March Madness Comedy Competition. “It was refreshing that they didn’t even know how good they were, yet they were one of the best rookie comedy classes Orlando ever had.”
By 2022, Patterson knew he had to broaden his horizons. He met an opener for comedian Jason Banks, which led to an invitation to open for Banks. Eventually, Patterson moved to Austin, where he quickly escalated his visibility, and bigger opportunities started coming. In 2023, he earned a regular slot on the popular comedy podcast “Kill Tony,” performed on a live episode of “Kill Tony” at Madison Square Garden in August 2024 and has toured the U.S. over the past couple of years, hitting every major city and many of the smaller towns in between.
This year, Patterson won a role in the forthcoming Netflix film 72 Hours, a Kevin Hart vehicle directed by Tim Story, known for his work on Barbershop, Think Like a Man and Ride Along.
The bachelor party-themed comedy follows a 40-year-old executive, played by Hart, who hopes to revive his struggling career by joining a group of 20-somethings on a wild three-day bender after he’s inadvertently added to their group text.
Now, Patterson is in New York for onboarding and pre-production. Bad Bunny will host the premiere, with Doja Cat as the musical guest.
