Saturday Night Live has survived the departure of legendary comedians from Illinois before, but this latest one surprised us. It surprised us because we had no idea this big-time cast member was from the Land of Lincoln!
SNL sailed from the 40th anniversary into Season 41 rather smoothly, though the waters roughened in recent weeks with the departures of Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah and Jon Rudnitsky. Thankfully, it’s clear skies ahead for Season 42, as the rest of the beloved cast will be staying aboard. Sailing metaphors!
SNL had always intended to take off the coming weekend in preparation for its final May shows, but given the tragic passing of music icon Prince, NBC will pay tribute to the late star with a special highlight of the artist’s musical performances.
Eternally associated with the role of Seinfeld’s Elaine (and since 2013, Veep’s title boss), Julia Louis-Dreyfus garners significantly less recognition for her time as an SNL player in the mid ‘80s. Now, with her third SNL hosting turn this coming weekend, Dreyfus reveals that her initial SNL years weren’t fond memories, given some of the sexism and lacking recognition.
SNL episodes are hard, often frenzied work, so you can imagine the sort of time and dedication and stress that went into the SNL 40 show, which featured new and former cast members along with several guest stars. One of the highlights of the three and a half hour event was the return of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” with Norm MacDonald, Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond reprising their iconic sketch roles alongside fellow SNL stars, including Kenan Thompson doing a hilarious (and timely) Bill Cosby impression. But according to MacDonald, Thompson wasn’t originally supposed to be in the sketch: Eddie Murphy was.
NBC has remained curiously quiet on ‘SNL’’s three-hour 40th Anniversary special on February 15, and while cameos galore are expected, our first major homecoming may have arrived. Following a 31-year absence, Eddie Murphy will reportedly return to ‘SNL’ to ring in the NBC sketch comedy legend’s 40th anniversary.
The NFL's strange and troublesome year continues.
From controversies involving Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson all the way to under-inflated footballs, the National Football League 2014-2015 season has had more than the usual number of news-making incidents both on and off the field...