Weekend Update is officially going to the Emmys. NBC confirms that SNL writers and stars Colin Jost and Michael Che will host the 2018 ceremony later this year, while creator Lorne Michaels is getting back involved as well.
Mean Girls is finally, finally coming to Broadway. Rumors of a musical have abounded for years, and now Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels are bringing it to us as early as next spring. That’s so — well, you know.
The banner year of SNL’s forty-second season culminated with an experiment that saw its final four episodes airing live on the west coast. Now, even as Season 43 loses some familiar faces, creator Lorne Michaels confirms SNL will be keeping its new format.
You know Saturday Night Live as a staple of late-night TV for decades. But did you know the show had a different title when it first debuted in the fall of 1975? SNL was originally called NBC’s Saturday Night, because at the time a different show was using the title Saturday Night Live. That show, hosted by Howard Cosell, lasted 18 episodes on ABC before it was cancelled. Soon after, SNL adopted the Saturday Night Live name, which is how it’s been known ever since. That’s just one of the facts packed into the latest episode of the ScreenCrush series You Think You Know TV?
SNL will pick up with its 42nd season tomorrow night, albeit without recent mainstays Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah, who were unexpectedly dismissed from the cast over the summer. Now, SNL boss Lorne Michaels explains the decision, noting “They served the show well.”
Many have tried to compete with SNL in the realm of Saturday sketch comedy, though few ever shared as much DNA as FOX’s upcoming Lonely Island-produced Party Over Here. It took us aback to see Andy Samberg going against his former boss, but the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star reveals that the group made sure their series wouldn’t compete in the SNL timeslot, or move forward without Lorne Michaels’ approval.
The Kanye West Twitter train shows no signs of stopping, but SNL seems safely out of the crosshairs after a leaked rant saw the controversial performer nearly walking off before air. Of course, veteran pro Lorne Michaels didn’t sweat the meltdown, given that “he’s an artist, you know?”
Spirited a performance though Kanye West gave at this past weekend’s SNL under host Melissa McCarthy, the always-tempestuous artist appeared visibly upset in his brief promo appearances. There may have been more to that story than West’s usual dour expression however, as reports claim Kanye very nearly bailed last-minute over stress.