Kate McKinnon is New SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Featured Player

The Huffington Post reports that Kate McKinnon will join the cast of the long-running NBC sketch comedy SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE as a featured player. The comedian may make her first appearance as early as next weekend when 'Modern Family's Sofia Vergara hosts the show. She is the first-ever out lesbian to join the cast.

McKinnon is a regular performer with the Upright Citizens Brigade, and starred on the first three seasons of Rosie O'Donnell's "Big Gay Sketch Show." She has also appeared in Vag Magazine, the 2010 web series where comedians manage a fictional feminist magazine. 

Most recently, McKinnon has starred in a host of one-woman shows, including "Disenchanted," described as "a satirical look at popular fairy tale characters years past their prime." She was nominated for the Emerging Comic Award by the ECNYs, which honor the comedic performing arts in New York.

According to the report, long-time SNL cast member Kristen Wiig is expected to decide whether she will be returning for another season of the show.