With Abby Elliott leaving Saturday Night Live alongside Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis (still rumored), Lorne Michaels has had some big shoes to fill for next season.
And according to a recent post on NYTimes.com, the SNL executive producer is getting all three new cast members direct from the Windy City. Read More
Saturday Night Live has announced its bookings for the first three episodes of the new season, and it’s a gentlemen’s club of sorts. First up is Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane with musical guest Frank Ocean on September 15; following that are Premium Rush actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and nu-folk band Mumford & Sons on September 22, and James Bond franchise Read More
Video
The one thing they don’t tell you about the RNC in the lame-stream media is how much fun all these guys have! It’s basically a week of comedy routines involving pretty transparently racist/sexist/homophobic humor; like a Dane Cook and Daniel Tosh special that just never ends.
Case in point: who knew that Karl Rove, former political strategist to President George W. Bush, was so good* at impressions? During today’s live interview with Politico’s Mike Allen, Mr. Rove did his best Ragin’ Cajun voice, which could give Saturday Night Live‘s Bill Hader’s James Carville routine a run for its money. Read More
In a surprising off-season announcement, comedy heiress Abby Elliott announced she won’t be returning to Saturday Night Live on September 15th. In 2008, Elliott—whose grandfather is comedy legend Bob Elliott and whose father, Chris Elliott, is an SNL alum—became one of the youngest cast members in the show’s history at age 21. She is the fourth performer to leave after last season’s finale, following Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg and possibly Jason Sudeikis. Read More
In the August issue of Marie Claire, cover subject Kristen Wiig says that the success of Bridesmaids had nothing to do with her departure from Saturday Night Live this year. Though handicapping how soon it would be before the newly-minted movie star would depart the sketch show became a parlor game last summer, Read More
Well, we can’t say we didn’t see this coming. Right on the heels of Kristin Wiig, Lonely Island’s Andy Samberg announced on Friday to The New York Times that was he was leaving Saturday Night Live. Not that he hadn’t already hinted that in his last Digital Short. Read More
After swirling rumors that Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg–along with costar Jason Sudeikis–would be leaving the cast of Saturday Night Live at the end of the 2011-12 season, Ms. Wiig and Mr. Samberg were indulged with tributes during this weekend’s season finale. At episode’s end, Ms. Wiig was serenaded by the Arcade Fire in a Read More
Video
After the somewhat lackluster return of Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live this weekend, we had to ask “What’s up with that?” Obviously, Will Ferrell is hilarious, but the sketches were hit and miss. It’s especially mind-boggling since Hulu has put up several of the un-aired segments from Mr. Ferrell’s episode that were ten times funnier than what we actually saw on television.
This is an inexplicable trend of the live comedy show in recent years: One of the funniest sketches this season was “The Californians,” a soap opera about navigating the drive up to Malibu. Bill Hader’s struggle to keep it together during the bit made it an instant classic and spawned a thousand GIFs. (Unlike his predecessor Jimmy Fallon, Mr. Hader’s struggle not to crack up on stage makes any sketch 1,000 times funnier.) But even better than the version that actually made it to air was the dress version of ‘The Californians,’ which Hulu offers with several other scenes from past seasons that either never aired or just weren’t as funny when they did.
We understand the idea of having “web extras” as supplemental material, but not at the expensive of the actual show. Why bother tuning in when the funny stuff is only going to be online? Below, we compare and contrast these un-aired clips with the version that made it on TV…as well as some bits that never got off the Internet. Read More
How good was Eli Manning on Saturday Night Live this weekend? Better than we expected, right? In general, we don’t hold up much hope for sports celebrities making it through an entire show without fumbling over the teleprompter while the imminent smell of fear wafts out of our flat screen, and yet Lorne Michaels seems determined to keep bringing them back. (Which reminds us: Charles Barkley, please don’t return next season!)
But the younger Manning brother was actually pretty good: what he lacked in verbal dexterity, he made up for in physical comedy. (We loved the video game/Tebowing sketch for this very reason.)
However, it wasn’t any of the sketches, or even Tanning Mom on Weekend Update that had us grabbing our remote to rewind again and again…it was the Fox & Friends cold open with Fred Armisen as Rupert Murdoch. Were you able to catch the Trayvon Martin references hiding in the “corrections” part of the credits? Read More
In the rich tradition of Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Lopez, and Elton John, Mick Jagger is taking the stage at Rockefeller Center to host and perform on the season finale on May 19. While the finale host is often someone with a big summer movie to promote, Mr. Jagger’s presence ensures that the show will be Read More
