The end of the hottest night clubs in New York. (NBC(

Perhaps Semisonic said it best: "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

This weekend marked the 38th season finale of Saturday Night Live, arguably one of the best runs the NBC variety show has seen in recent years. This is thanks in large part to fresh featured members like Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon as well as the new repertory cast of Taran Killam, Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan, and Nasim Pedrad. These relatively young comedians were able to fill the hole made last season by the departures of heavy-hitters Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg and Abby Elliott, and gave the show, in the words of Bill Hader, "a new sensibility."

"There’s a joy in seeing a new move from somebody and going, ‘Oh, she can do that,'" Mr. Hader told The New York Times last week.

But the Ben Affleck/Kanye West-hosted finale was also bittersweet, with several major players--including Fred Armisen, Weekend Update's Seth Meyers (who was also the show's head writer) and Bill Hader--taking their final bows, leaving the cast virtually unrecognizable from two years ago. (This will especially be true if Jason Sudeikis just makes up his mind already and leaves during the summer.)

Despite the fact that SNL doesn't usually make a big deal about a player leaving the cast, last year's tribute to Wiig seems to have upped the ante for their own farewells. Here is how each member said goodbye.

Seth Meyers and Bill Hader: Stefon and Seth Get Married

Fred Armisen: Top of the Pops

Though the sketch wasn't the funniest of the night, it was, like Wiig's, a heartfelt goodbye in song, with Armisen ending on the lines, "It’s been all right / I’ve had a lovely night with you."

Bill Hader leaving SNL. (NBC)

If we had to think of a fourth person to leave, we'd probably guess Keenan Thompson, whose perpetually youthful appearance belies the fact that the 35-year-old has been working on the NBC variety sketch show for a decade now.

We just weren't expecting today's news that our favorite male performer (okay fine, tied for first with Taran Killam,) Bill Hader would be announcing his departure. Why, Stefon, why???

According to Dave Itzkoff's New York Times' story this morning, the "official" reason was that Mr. Hader wanted to move his family to L.A. to support his wife, Maggie Carey's, burgeoning film career. But he was also "motivated partly by seeing friends like Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig leave last season." Which is kind of a loaded answer, because it makes it sound like Hader wanted to leave for awhile and just finally worked up the courage after being inspired by the beautiful send-off Lorne gave Kristen Wiig last season.

Though if he thinks he's getting that teary farewell dance that Wiig received, he needs to readjust his expectations.

“That was a very strong and spontaneous reaction to the depth of feeling that was there for Kristen,” Mr. Michaels said. “It either comes out spontaneously because it makes sense and it represents the way people feel, or not. It won’t be the same thing this year, obviously. We’ll see.”

We know we'll be crying, especially after losing characters like Alan Alda:

Stefon:

And of course, the UPS guy:

Timberlake on Saturday Night Live with Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. (NBC

We knew this weekend's Saturday Night Live would be good--Justin Timberlake being to the variety show what fruit and sprinkles are to plain frozen yogurt ... just something that you know will make the whole supposed treat actually delicious--but did we know it was going to be history-making? Probably not. From Lorne Michaels lifting the Chevy Chase ban to the Jay-Z duet, the return of Stefon, Andy Samberg AND the classic Festrunk brothers, Mr. Timberlake proved once again he's the consummate entertainer: a song-and-dance man who also can also land a punchline.

Which is more than we can say for the majority of guest hosts this year. Below, the five best moments from this weekend's show, along with our favorites.

1. "Five Timers Club"
Can we be real for a second? The moment the concept of the opening monologue was made clear, we knew that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin would be popping up, since they are constantly competing for the record of "Most SNL appearances ever." Paul Simon, also not surprising. (He always pops in for the opener.) Martin Short and Dan Aykroyd were both unexpected, but not really anything to tweet about. Candice Bergen was totally out of left field, but it was Chevy Chase--who hasn't shown up on SNL since he was banned for verbal abuse in 2007, and hasn't been in the good graces of the program that launched his career ever since he punched Bill Murray in the face during his first alumni appearance 30-plus years ago--who really made this work. Why can't he hang up the phone??

"Wait are you guys friends or not?"
"Exactly."
--Pretty much sums up Chevy Chase's relationship with everyone.

2. "Suit and Tie"
From his forthcoming album, including a special appearance from his best friend/tour partner Jay-Z. Now THAT is how you do a live performance, people.

Also the fact that Timberlake covertly dissed Jay's protégé Kanye West with his zinger, "My hits so sick got rappers acting so dramatic"? BOLD MOVE.

3. "It's a Date"
The Dick in a Box duo AND "two wild and crazy guys" on one game show? The biggest surprise here was how well Bobby Moynihan was able to hold his own as the straight man/losing bachelor.

"Girls can't get pregnant in the summertime/It's a known fact, and that's that/Ladies can't get pregnant in the summertime/So throw away that jimmy hat girl/SCIENCE!"

4. "Weekend Update"
WE HAVE MISSED YOU, STEFON!

"New York's hottest club is Your Mother and I Are Separating ... This place has everything: a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, a sensible dinner, those shoes that nurses wear ... and you can dance the night away to the sounds of Donald Duck waking up from a Vietnam nightmare."

5. "Moët & Chandon"
Loved seeing the return of Brookie and her friend, the two wannabe late-night infomercial hosts of classy products, whose biggest claim to fame is that they "aren't porn stars anymore." The original sketch "Swarovski Crystals," was probably the funniest part of that whole Jamie Foxx episode.

"One time I did a weird shoot in Mexico. Two of the girls disappeared, but I'm alive. Thanks champagne!"
"One time I got banged into a sinkhole, but a mole person banged me back up. I'll drink to that!"

Big Bird: Best SNL sketch of the year? (NBC)

The Huffington Post just put out a compilation of its top 15 Saturday Night Live videos of the year. Unsurprisingly, Stefon made the cut, as well as The Californians, and a lot of newcomer Kate McKinnon, who in less than a season has proved herself more than able to fill Kristin Wiig's psychotically sized shoes. And then, yes the Romney and Obama sketch ... but some of these other ones? Well, take a look for yourself.

So we have Drunk Uncle, whom we love, Wiig's departure dance, and Louis C.K.'s Lincoln, which all deserve a place. But the Big Bird segment of Weekend Update and the 100th Lonely Island are far from being the best in their respective classes. Jay-Z and Beyoncé was kind of funny, but mostly for Armisen's impression of Prince. The Legend of Mokiki was just weird (though we kind of loved it, most of our friends hated it), and the return of Bronx Beats was one Amy Poehler sketch we could have lived without.

Anne Hathaway (Getty Images)

Saturday Night Live, which kept airing planned episodes in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, won't be stopped by a hurricane. The show has announced two upcoming episodes: Anne Hathaway will appear on the November 10 episode (the first after the election) with musical guest Rihanna, while Jeremy Renner and Maroon 5 will appear November 17.

Ms. Hathaway will be promoting her upcoming turn in Les Miserables, while Mr. Renner, who played Jason Bourne over the summer, does not have a new project out until the new year.

This weekend, melancholy comedian Louis C.K. and band Fun. are to appear on the show.

CK. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Stating that, “prejudice is entertainment, prejudice is fun,” Louis CK stripped himself of any social standard for morality at the very beginning of his show at the New York City Center. On the second night of the New York leg of his national tour, one thing was made clear, Mr. CK's brash shtick is what he is, well, sticking with. In the HBO special Talking Funny (April 2012), Mr. CK told Jerry Seinfeld—who believed in rehashing old jokes that were a hit with the audience every time he tours—that people come to see the comedian and not some live re-run of an older show. The balding redhead trusted his audience enough to throw a completely new routine their way, and he did just that on the night of the 23rd. 

New York is the second stop of his 16-city tour, which will conclude on February 1, 2013, at the John F Kennedy Center of the Arts in Washington DC. Before heading to Portland, his next destination on the tour, the comedian will be making his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live on November 3. After the third season of Louie came to a finish last month, Mr. CK was granted a long hiatus by FX, the fourth season scheduled to air in 2014. Suspecting that Mr. CK’s brand of self-deprecatory humor might be in short-supply next year, The Observer got a healthy dose of his new material as he rolled out another chapter of his unapologetic and incredibly obnoxious reflections on life.

On stage, the 45-year old appeared comfortable in his second skin—a faded, black t-shirt and brown, leather boat shoes, save one exception, the standard denims were traded for a pair of dark-chestnut pants. Engaging with a figment of his depraved imagination—which holds a mirror up to our basest, most perverse instincts—the audience forged a strong association with Mr. CK.  As the audience collapsed in laughter over an unconscionable world where parents have to clean up after murdering their children on sidewalks, and gifting a terminally-ill child a “great memory” (as part of the Make-A-Wish foundation endeavor) might not be as great an idea as it seems, Mr. CK reminded us of our complicity, “you guys just clapped and cheered for dead people.”

Loosely stitched together with segues, his act veered from examining the male obsession with tits to shark fins, and President Nixon to old ladies. As he made his love of the latter known, Mr. CK wished he could bring himself to sexually desire an old lady, so that he could spend the rest “of her life” with her. The sketches were highlighted by delightfully vulgar phrasings and hilariously absurd coinages distinctive of CK. Like when he voiced the frustration of a tuna over a shark chomping down the tuna’s new-born, “my wife was feeding you a baby right out of her pussy,” or described the experience of watching a film in 3-D at an IMAX while high on pot, as jerking off his “eye-dicks.”

While Mr. CK did touch on subjects that are a common feature in his routines, like the physical decrepitude that comes with aging (“my asshole’s like a waist-band on old pajama bottoms”), he steered clear of parodying the dysfunctional nature of his relationship with his daughters, a theme his material used to heavily rely on.

As Mr. CK weaved in and out of his musings on life we took away some aphoristic gems—“divorce is a piece of oak, it gets stronger with time,” “you get smarter through regret and self-hate.” As with ‘Louie,’ which seems like some version of a modern-day tragicomedy, most of his material drew from existential crises and uncomfortable truths.

Responding to a rather drawn-out applause, Mr. CK obliged the audience with an encore. He closed with this idea of “competing thoughts” in a series of what he called, “of course, but maybe.” Of the many examples he offered to support his theory, slavery was one. “Of course” slavery was wrong, “but maybe,” a lot of great stuff (like the Egyptian pyramids), wouldn’t have been accomplished if not for slaves. He ended that thought on a more conscientious note, speaking of sweat shops manufacturing smart phones in third world countries, “somebody, somewhere is suffering immeasurably so you can quickly post a mean comment online.”

Mr. CK will be performing two shows a day at the New York City Center until October 28.

Their love is stronger than all the thetans!

– Tom Cruise is ready to throw his religion overboard in the name of love! Well, either that, or he finally got around to reading that Vanity Fair cover story from August.

– And in continuing, fascinating Lindsay Lohan news, her mother thinks LiLo needs to get a restraining order against her father, Michael Lohan. Despite the fact that just last week, the mother and daughter pair needed the cops to intervene when they started fighting in front of Mama Lohan's Long Island home. Could it be because her slightly-less-than-Golden Goose turned to her ex-con daddy after their blowout and called her a coke addict?

– Fun fact: Scarlett Johansson has left her boob-Tumblring ad exec boyfriend Nate Naylor and is now currently on the market!

– As one would expect, Gizmodo and CNET both issued responses to the portrayal of their Apple-hating writers on Saturday Night Live this weekend. We're waiting on you, Wired.com!

Seth Macfarlane and Emilia Clarke (Getty Images)

After yesterday's news that smugster Seth MacFarlane has been dating Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke for "several months," (according to him) this appeared on our Facebook posting of the item:

At first we thought the person was just making a joke (or an educated guess), but a little research revealed that the second commenter actually works at one of the bars where SNL frequently hosts its after parties. (The Observer has reached out to this source for confirmation, but has yet to hear a response. Stay tuned ...)

So if his (possible) cheating doesn't cement your opinion that Seth MacFarlane is not to be made out with: Remember that the tongue in your mouth is the same tongue that does the Stewie voice for a living.

Perhaps Marcel's childlike spirit will inflect the Looney Tunes revamp? We can only hope. Otherwise, we hope Ms. Slate knows how to write for NBA stars!