#Lorne Michaels

[adaptationsdaily]

Coneheads (1993) Dir: Steve Barron

[oldshowbiz]

SCTV cast member Dave Thomas recalls:

"When Chevy Chase left the original SNL cast, Joe [Flaherty], John [Candy] and I auditioned for the open slot.

"Lorne came into town acting like a little prince. It was a painful audition. We did what was probably the worst improv of our lives. Bill Murray got the part.

"Afterward, Lorne told John Candy not to give up his day job. It was a joke, but John never forgot that.

"By SCTV’s second season, the sense of competition with SNL had disappeared because they’d become so big. We were only getting smaller—stations started dropping us. People were discouraged, but we kept filming. Things turned around once we made it to American networks.”

[sydcarmyfan]

Congratulations Ayo! Dear SNL, I have an idea…

[contac]

[fuckyeahforte]

Kristen Wiig had quite a few special guests join her for her SNL monologue, including previous SNL hosts and a few SNL alums like Will Forte and Fred Armisen!

[one-time-i-dreamt]

Jesus Christ

[luckydiorxoxo]

Lindsay Lohan and Jane Krakowski attendthe "Mean Girls" premiere

[coolthingsguyslike]

[demifiendrsaalt]

Forgot About Lorne ft. Eminem - SNL

[dateinthelife]

24 April 1976

The Beatles are offered $3000 to appear on NBC's Saturday Night. While, coincidentally, John and Paul were watching together during one of Paul and Linda's unannounced drop-ins at the Dakota, they did not end up going down to the studio to claim their check. This writer is uncertain whether two Beatles would qualify for Lorne Michaels' deal, but it seems unlikely.

Paul and Linda did not join John and Yoko for the late night airing of The Time Machine, so we'll never know if they would have contemplated time travel together.

[nerds-yearbook]

In Marvel Team-Up 74 (cover date October, 1978) TV Producer Lorne Michaels and the cast of Saturday Night Live (Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner) made guest appearances. ("Live From New York, It's Saturday Night", Marvel Team-Up 74#, Marvel Comic Event)

[oldshowbiz]

1976.

Saturday Night Live: 40% Canadian.

[sydcarmyfan]

Ayo and Jeremy: SNL’s future hosts suggestions

I really want Ayo and Jeremy to host Saturday Night Live. It will be so funny and we deserve it.

Can you imagine a skit where Jeremy’s character has a huge crush on Ayo’s character so he keeps doing dumb funny stuff to win her over? So The Bear but it is LIVE.

Lorne Michaels, please make it happen. It will definitely be a great show!

[jerseyluck]

I believe the Cecily Tyson is the most-watched episode of SNL. And they absolutely biffed that episode. Just a terrible episode with just the most offensive material. (Dan Aykroid, an all-time great, manages to bring his 3 worst recurring characters into one night. And Frontier Midwife is all-time bottom tier sketch for those who are willing to watch it.

Cut to 45 years later and we get Ayo Ederbiri, a popular black actress hosting the show. More people were watching, and once again Lorne blows it. There nothing outstanding that people are going to remember when the season except for bad decision of cameos and the next host. Just poor planning from a production side all along.

Both hosts are trying their best but the material around them lets them down.

Time is a flat circle.

[supercalifragipopculturevomit]

Saturday Night Live S49E16: Kristen Wiig

How epic was last weekend's episode of SNL?? Wiig is one of the all-time greats, it shouldn’t be a surprise, but you never really know with this show. Sometimes the host’s humor doesn’t gel well with the cast or translate to the audience. Sometimes the energy is just... off.

Wiig's been beloved as a comedian for a long time, but I gained even more appreciation for her after this episode. The sketches she picked, not only did they play to her strengths but also gave other people the opportunity to shine. And her humor is so fluid: she can do loud, physical comedy as well as subtle, niche comedy. Like the secret ingredient to everything, she elevates any dish.

Let’s start with the cameos because IT WAS STACKED. Any of the guests on any given night would have been enough, but she is getting inducted into the “Five-Timers Club”, so the show pulled out all the stops.

It starts off with Paul Rudd and Matt Damon in the audience; cuts to Jon Hamm, Martin Short, Fred Armisen, and (my beloved) Will Forte off to the side; and — as if that wasn't enough — it ends with Ryan Gosling bequeathing her the coveted jacket. JUST BANANAS. Full monologue HERE.

It was reminiscent of her last episode as a cast member, with legend after legend seeing her off.

NOW, ONTO THE SKETCHES:

JUMANJI – Andrew Dismukes is his own person but there’s something about him that reminds me of Forte. His humor is not as unconventional but he has a similar dedication to absurdity. With sheer commitment, he makes a lot of stuff work that really shouldn’t. So it made sense to me that Forte was invited to this sketch—which I can only assume came from the mind of Dismukes.

No offense to the current SNL batch, I like them a lot, but this episode made it apparent that Wiig, Forte, (and also Armisen) are on another level. Wiig, the reigning queen of the batshit lady, set the tone for this bizarre scenario. She made it work. Forte, the ultimate king of 10 to 1 sketches, added credibility to it. I'm trying to imagine it with Heidi Gardner and Mikey Day as placeholders for Wiig and Forte, respectively, and while I could still see it kind of working, I don't know if it would be as memorable.

PILATES (Pre-Tape) – this could should be an actual movie. Wiig as the creepy, high-energy instructor calling everyone "Mamas" cracked me up. Partly because it reminded me of Kaley Cuoco’s irritation with the pet name, which she recently griped about on the Conan Needs a Friend podcast.

SECRETARIES – this sketch wasn’t made for Jon Hamm but it was also made for Jon Hamm. Trudy made her first appearance when Pete Davidson hosted at the start of the season. Gardener carried that sketch the best she could but now she had two aces up her sleeve: Wiig and Hamm. Wiig, as Tootie, dived into the screwball comedy complete with mid-Atlantic accent; while Hamm only needed to revisit his role as Don Draper. I was near tears seeing them at the brink of breaking near the end. Also made me miss seeing them in Bill Hader’s Vincent Price sketches. It's got a similar vibe.

RETIREMENT PARTY – my favorite sketch of the night. This was the closest an alumnus has ever gotten to recreating the mid to late-aughts vibe of SNL, my favorite era. I've not thought about this sketch much or particularly missed it, but when Wiig came out with her oxygen tank, Armisen in his knee-length trousers, and Forte in his Hamilton wig, I was hit with so much joy and nostalgia. Made me realize how much I, as a viewer, took for granted, spoiled with such a wealth of hilarious recurring sketches.

Jason Sudeikis was often the perfect straight man for these sketches, but Day did a good job reacting to all the unhinged guests. I also wonder if he had a hand in writing it as Wiig’s lines sounded like something his character Supercentenarian Mort Fellner would say.

WEEKEND UPDATE – once again, Marcello Hernandez ruled behind the desk, this time as the 4.8 Magnitude Earthquake that recently (very gently) shook New York. He was later joined by Keenan Thompson as the Solar Eclipse. Not the biggest fan of Thompson but I do enjoy his dynamic with Hernandez. Wiig, on the other hand, reprised her favorite character, movie critic Aunt Linda. Her film reviews are always a riot but she had me cackling the moment she referred to Colin as Seth.

GO-KARTS – solid sketch that got me so invested and left me with many questions: What’s the bad thing? Why would it get Daddy drinking again? But mostly, who’s Sheila? Chloe Troast’s reveal off to the side was a nice touch. And the nickname, Big C, had me hollering.

LA MAISON DU BANG! – this was the sort of sketch Wiig used to do a lot with Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler back in the day and while I enjoyed seeing how much fun they were having, it was never something I got overly excited about. But seeing a version of it reborn was a delight. Molly Kearney leaping into frame with a saxophone was a welcome surprise. Reminiscent of Sudeikis’ tracksuit-wearing dancer in What Up With That?.

The musical guest, Raye, also killed it. She's like Amy Winehouse reincarnate. She sang barefoot at one point and I loved that tiny detail.

Links to her incredible performances HERE and HERE.

Fantastic show, all around. Best of the season, so far.