KATSEYE Returns to Dream Academy in SNL Sketch Debut

KATSEYE's SNL parody brought the group back to Dream Academy as newcomers Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie landed their first sketch roles.

On the September 26 Season 52 premiere, SNL aired a pretaped "Dream Academy" sketch parodying the 2023 reality competition that formed KATSEYE, according to NBC. Four members of the group — Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, and Yoonchae Jeung — appeared as themselves, serving as judges who crown a new, far more chaotic crop of contestants. Host Jalen Brunson joined the sketch in a leopard-print fedora as demanding choreographer Dorian Flynt (Billboard spells the name Dorian Fylnt). The sketch also doubled as a milestone: NBC reports it marked the first sketch appearances for new featured players Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter, who played aspiring pop star Neelsa and oddball competitor Margl, respectively.

The twist that comedy fans are savoring is that KATSEYE signed off on a sketch mocking the very show that made them. Billboard frames it as the group returning to Dream Academy for an "unhinged second season," with the four members judging contestants whose path to pop stardom is far messier than season one. The humor is specific and weird: NBC describes Jane Wickline's Duff calling herself a "triple threat: swimming, drawing, and magic," while Reiter's Margl wears only flip-flops because she "kept passing out" tying shoes, wandered into rehearsal nude, and thought the academy would teach her to control her dreams. Billboard notes the judges ultimately praised the contestants' "athleticism," "talent," and "whatever this is."

NBC Insider's writeup documents the sketch's standout beats, including Ashley Padilla's character revealing that Duff and Margl witnessed a hit-and-run "committed by a music executive" before mouthing "me," and Margl pitching a strangely compelling song about a Newton's cradle — which the sketch predicts will become the next TikTok dance. According to Billboard, the sketch culminates with the real KATSEYE members unveiling the winners' music video debut, "Guardians of the Mist," and later performing "Animal" and "Hootie Frutti" as the episode's musical guest. Billboard also reports Manon Bannerman and Sophia Laforteza were absent because they are on hiatus to focus on their mental health, and that the group is on its 31-date Wildworld Tour.

USA Today reports Reiter has more than 5.4 million followers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, while Belo-Osagie accumulated over 100,000 — part of a pattern where SNL increasingly recruits comedians who built followings online. According to USA Today, Reiter, 25, started posting in 2018 while in high school, went viral in 2020 as an American Girl Doll come to life, and was named one of Rolling Stone's 25 most influential creators of 2026.

All three outlets point viewers to the immediate future. NBC says SNL airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and streams next day on Peacock, with every episode available on Peacock. Billboard notes KATSEYE's Wildworld Tour, which launched in Europe earlier this month, heads to North America in October, while the group's Disney+ movie "KATSEYE: WILD HEARTS" is on the way per Billboard's related coverage. For the comedians, Reiter's next projects give fans a thread to follow: USA Today reports she will star in the short-form Netflix series "Minimum Wage" and directs and writes on it, after a 42-minute "Hunger Games (but better)" parody that has amassed 14 million YouTube views. Grace Reiter also thanked Wickline, Slowikowska, and the sketch's writers in an Instagram story, per NBC.