Tag: andy samberg

President Clownface is screaming at the FCC to investigate another show

by Therese Odell, posted in watch this

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President Decaying Hand is SO MAD that NBC renewed Seth Meyers’ show last year.

by Therese Odell, posted in watch this

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Who’s returning? Who’s leaving? Let the ‘SNL’ cast speculation begin!

by Therese Odell, posted in watch this

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Yeah, those rumors aren’t going away anytime soon.

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Charli xcx does her best to keep ‘Saturday Night Live’ from being a turkey

by Therese Odell, posted in saturday night live: season 50

Saturday Night Live
Charli xcx
November 16, 2024

Here’s what I know about Charli xcx: She’s a pop star. She is British. She is responsible for the whole “Brat summer” thing. She’s friends with Troye Sivan who was on The Idol. She had a collaboration with Billie Eilish this summer that was kinda naughty and all over TikTok. What I didn’t know is that she’s been around for about a decade, she’s pretty funny, quite natural in sketches and in front of a live audience, and she’s very happy to make fun of herself and her entire persona.

Now, that said, she wasn’t given a lot of great material to work with this week as the host (and musical guest) of Saturday Night Live. It wasn’t a terrible episode — I can point to countless worse episodes (including last week’s) — but the writers gave her a combination of recurring sketches that are starting to feel a little worn around the edges, and mediocre bits that needed some punching up. The biggest shame, though, is one of the best sketches of the night, and the one where she best shone, was cut for time. I’ll never understand the decision-making process of Mr. Lorne Michaels.

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John Mulaney and Kamala Harris deliver a ‘Saturday Night Live’ that is one for the ages

by Therese Odell, posted in saturday night live: season 50

Saturday Night Live
John Mulaney & Chappell Roan
November 2, 2024

The wonderful John Mulaney has hosted Saturday Night Live six times in the past six years. In fact, since 2018, he’s become a staple, usually hosting once a season in what will be one of the strongest episodes of that particular season (if not THE strongest). But it’s not all laughs: Mulaney has been through some shit in those 6 years — a relapse into drugs and booze, a divorce, a stint in rehab, and all the humiliation associated with all of that happening in the public eye. But Mulaney also bounced back, and stronger than before: he’s now a father of two, newly married to a woman he stood by through a cancer scare, and with a career that withstood all of those stresses.

And that is why, even if Saturday Night Live didn’t intend it, Mulaney was the perfect person to host the show on this particular Election Eve — in some ways, he represents the country itself. Like John, 2020 and 2021 were rough years for our nation: a pandemic, an economic crisis, a volatile election, an attempted coup — there were times we weren’t sure we were going to make it out the other side. But we fought through and came out changed: and like Mulaney, better than before, with the strongest economy in decades, unemployment at the lowest rates in memory, and our country in (relative) peace times.

I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with this, except to say that I hope Mulaney and our country maintain that sense of optimism, that we keep making good decisions every day, and that we all stay on track. I guess our country, at least, will find out whether or not we choose to on Tuesday.

Oh, and also? This is just a fantastic episode, start to finish.

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Michael Keaton Beetlejuice’s his way into a so-so ‘Saturday Night Live’

by Therese Odell, posted in saturday night live: season 50

Saturday Night Live
Michael Keaton and Billie Eilish
October 19, 2024

Michael Keaton is 73 years old, only a year or two younger than my own parents but that’s neither here nor there except to say that he’s one of our acting treasures and I’m glad he’s having a moment with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and he looks great for his age and that he was not the thing that dragged down this episode.

What I am saying is that SNL has run for four weeks in a row, which, at least in recent years, is not the norm (it’s usually 3 episodes on, 1 off); and maybe the writing staff needed a break. (I’m guessing the idea was to be off the week before Halloween so that they could be on both the week before and after Election Day.)

ANYWAY. Michael Keaton, who has hosted in 1982; 1992; 2015; and now in 2024, wasn’t the problem: he was nimble and funny and game. The problem lay more in the writing and the concepts of the sketches that fell short. Hopefully, everyone gets a nice week off and comes back refreshed ahead of the MOST TERRIFYING ELECTION SEASON OF OUR LIVES.

No pressure.

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Ariana Grande sings her way through a strong ‘Saturday Night Live’

by Therese Odell, posted in saturday night live: season 50

Saturday Night Live
Ariana Grande & Stevie Nicks
October 12, 2024

Ariana Grande is no stranger to Saturday Night Live, despite this only being her second time to host, the first time being some 8 years ago in 2016. She’s been the musical guest twice, and both of those times, she appeared in sketches. But here’s the thing: even though I shouldn’t be, I’m always surprised at how comically gifted she is. In my mind, Grande is first and foremost a pop diva with questionable taste in men. I always somehow manage to forget that she got her start on Nickelodeon comedies just like Saturday Night Live‘s most reliable player, Kenan Thompson. Ariana Grande’s been doing comedy since she was a literal child; of course she has good comic timing.

All of that is to say that Grande hosted a very solid episode this week. While the majority of her sketches put her in her comfort zone by having her sing (sometimes deliberately poorly), Grande was just as good — maybe even better — in sketches where she didn’t belt out a single note. Grande is a talented host who should be invited back more often, especially now that Pete Davidson is no longer in the cast.

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Nate Bargatze makes his triumphant return to ‘Saturday Night Live’

by Therese Odell, posted in saturday night live: season 50

Saturday Night Live
Nate Bargatze &
October 5, 2024

Here’s an SNL fact that will forever stay in your brain and kick out your grandmother’s birthday or the name of your first friend in elementary school: since 2010 (so 300+ episodes), Nate Bargatze is only the 9th person to be asked back within a year of their first time hosting SNL. Despite not being a household name when he hosted last season, Bargatze had an impressive debut, wowing even cynical viewers with his great timing and every-guy delivery.

That said, he’s still not familiar to most people:

 

 
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Hopefully this episode, which was a solid outing (if not quite as great as his debut) will make him a more familiar face to more of America, because he certainly deserves it.

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Jean Smart deserved a smarter episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’

by Therese Odell, posted in saturday night live: season 50

Saturday Night Live
Jean Smart and Jelly Roll
September 28, 2024

Welcome to the historic 50th season of Saturday Night Live — historic not because it’s the longest-running show of all time or anything, but mostly because 50 is a nice round number.

And in keeping with the historic nature of the season, our premiere episode maintained the honored tradition of being underwhelming and failing to live up to expectations following a long summer hiatus. For the most part, the premiere’s sketches were lazy, obvious, and overly long, but what else is new? The show’s been on the air for 50 years, they’re not going to change the formula now.

But you can’t blame the host, all-around acting phenomenon Jean Smart, who elevates everything she is in. When Smart was given material that was clearly written with her in mind, she lived up to the task, and even made dumb conceits entertaining. However, when plopped down in the middle of a bit that has her playing a generic Real Housewife or some party promoter neither she nor the audience has ever heard of, not even Smart can save the day. Smart deserved better and more consistent writing — let’s hope the writers shake the cobwebs off in time for Nate Bargatze’s episode on Saturday.

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