Salon.com > SNL

Nirvana without Kurt is not Nirvana!

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:45:00 +0000

Of all the bands that seemed ripe for reunion, Nirvana had to be near the bottom of the list: The death of Kurt Cobain in 1994 left the trio without a singer, songwriter or guitarist, and replacing him, really, was unimaginable.

And yet there were Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and touring guitarist Pat Smear, onstage at Madison Square Garden last week with substitute frontman Paul McCartney, storming through a new song called “Cut Me Some Slack” — the first time the surviving members of Nirvana had performed together in public since Cobain’s suicide. And there they were again, on “Saturday Night Live,” in what seemed more like a plug for Grohl’s upcoming documentary “Sound City,” about the beloved (defunct) Los Angeles recording studio of the same name. (“Cut Me Some Slack” is on the soundtrack, don’t you know, and — what a coincidence! — available for purchase right now.)

Must-see morning clip: A rare, somber SNL opening

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 14:50:00 +0000

In a fitting departure from the comedic riffs which typically open SNL, Saturday's show began with the New York City Children's Chorus singing "Silent Night" to honor the victims and mourners of the horrific school shooting.

Will “Ghostbusters 3″ ever come?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:48:00 +0000

"Ghostbusters" fans have been whispering about a third film for several years, now. But once original cast member Bill Murray backed out, it seemed like a no-go. Esquire caught up with "Saturday Night Live" legend and "Ghostbusters" star Dan Aykroyd recently to pin down the details of the '80s sci-fi comedy classic:

Aykroyd on why "Ghostbusters 3" is finally ready:

I've worked on every draft in the last three years, as Ivan has, and now we have a story and a draft that everybody seems to agree would make the third movie. At this point, I think we're closer than we ever have been. And because of the ever-shifting sands and nature of the motion-picture business, I will just say that hopefully, at some point, it will be morphing into what is known in the business as a [Aykroyd mimes air quotes] "production number XP39789." Then I will begin to rent cars, get hotel rooms, and bill for writing. But that point hasn't come. All my work has been gratis to this point, as Ivan's has, and I'm hoping that I can get that production number set up in L.A. and help everyone bring the movie to fruition, as the originator and creator of the concept. If it does not happen, the life of Dan Aykroyd and his family and friends will be quite full without Ghostbusters 3.

What do you mean, you don’t know who Gilda Radner is?

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 19:22:00 +0000

It was sad to hear that some chapters of the Gilda's Club cancer charities have decided to drop Gilda Radner's name from their title because young people no longer know who she was. (See the Nov. 28 post by Salon columnist Mary Elizabeth Williams on the subject.) We say that not just because we love Gilda's comedy, but because we liked who she was as a person. What many people don't realize is that there were some dramatic contrasts between the Gilda Radner you saw on "Saturday Night Live" and who she was behind the scenes.

Jason Sudeikis: Mitt Romney sounds like a black comic imitating a white guy

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 18:30:00 +0000

On last night's "Conan," "SNL" star Jason Sudeikis, who played both Mitt Romney and Joe Biden on the late night sketch show, said Mitt Romney's voice sounds basically like "when black stand-ups do a white guy voice":

O'Brien referenced today's clip of the comic on "Meet the Press's" Press Pass series, in which Sudeikis discussed the relationship between politics and comedy with co-star Fred Armisen, who played Barack Obama on SNL. Sudeikis called Romney disappointingly corny, saying, "That's us wishing he was aware of how corny he is. ... He is as bland as bland can be, at this point. He's like a butter sandwich. Unsalted butter. With the crusts cut off."

Watch the full discussion with David Gregory, below:

Dumb tweet of the day: Victoria Jackson’s GMO theory

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:06:00 +0000

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Watch “SNL’s” Guy Fieri sketch that didn’t air

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:36:00 +0000

"SNL" almost brought back Bobby Moynihan as restaurateur Guy Fieri, who made headlines last week when the New York Times' Pete Wells lambasted Fieri's Times Square restaurant in a scathing review. Although the scene didn't air, NBC released the dress rehearsal Weekend Update sketch that imagines what it must have been like for Fieri to read Wells' review for the first time:

Must-see morning clip: Chris Christie and his fleece on SNL

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:29:00 +0000

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stopped by SNL's "Weekend Update" on Saturday, donning his celebrated fleece sweatshirt.

"It's basically fused to my skin at this point... I'm gonna die in this fleece" said Christie. He also took the opportunity to barb mayors who ignored his Sandy evacuation orders, "I do not thank any of the stupid mayors who ignored my evacuation orders. They're idiots. And when you ignore me, it makes you look like a real Seth Meyers."

Watch below, via Hulu:

Jason Sudeikis discusses playing Romney and Biden on “SNL”

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:51:00 +0000

"SNL" cast member Jason Sudeikis, who had the unique opportunity to play both Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Vice President Joe Biden on the sketch show, admits that playing Biden was "more fun" than playing Romney. However, he enjoyed seeing "the human side" of both candidates, and said of Romney,"The guy’s more human than we ever give him credit for."

Sudeikis did not address speculation on whether or not he will be leaving "SNL".

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“SNL” recap: Louis C.K. for President

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

It's the big weekend before Election Day, which for "Saturday Night Live" often involves a surprise political cameo — a final appeal for a candidate to voters to show us how funny and charming he or she can be. Four years ago, Sarah Palin dropped by Studio 8H, facing off with Tina Fey's fake Sarah Palin, and later, on "Weekend Update," she bopped merrily along as she was getting skewered by a very pregnant rapmaster, Amy Poehler. Obviously, it didn't help, but it didn't hurt her either.

There were no surprise guests on this edition of "SNL:" not Mitt, nor Paul. No Barry or Joe. Not even Chris Christie or Mike Bloomberg. This was Sandy's week, and just as the hurricane gave us a kind of reprieve from tedious 24-7 candidate-stumping coverage, so too did "SNL" keep it a lot lighter on political fare than you'd expect. This isn't to say the episode ignored the fact of Tuesday; it just didn't have that special edition feeling. It relied instead on its wonderfully droll host, Louis C.K., and Sandy, to set the tone.

Louis C.K. on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon”

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:12:00 +0000

On last night's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," comedian Louis C.K. stopped by the studio to discuss Hurricane Sandy, a panicked call to the U.S. Coast Guard and the challenges he's faced preparing for his upcoming appearance on "SNL."

Chris Elliott: “‘SNL’ looks like a lot of fun but you’re constantly auditioning”

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 18:20:00 +0000

Last Wednesday, I had the honor of doing a live interview with one of my heroes — comedian, writer and actor Chris Elliott — at the Barnes and Noble in New York. I’ve been a fan of Chris’ since his first appearances on "Late Night With David Letterman" in the early 1980s, when he changed the face of late night television forever with such characters as “The Guy Under the Seats,” “The Fugitive Guy,” “Chris Elliott Jr.” and countless others I am rendered incontinent just thinking about.

Over the course of an hour or so, Chris and I discussed topics including but not limited to his groundbreaking work with Letterman, "Get a Life" (the greatest television show of all time), "Cabin Boy" (the greatest movie of all time), his time at "SNL," his Adult Swim series "Eagleheart," and, of course, his excellent new book "The Guy Under the Sheets: The Unauthorized Biography," a hilarious and at times chilling tell-all that chronicles not only his show business exploits but also surprising encounters with John Gotti, the Beales of Grey Gardens, Aileen Wuornos and several others I just never saw coming. Chris is a comedic genius and I have incredible hair. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

“We Killed”: Were women not funny until 1960?

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Say it with me: Are women funny? Since this question was first answered in the negative in the pages of Vanity Fair by the late, redoubtable Christopher Hitchens, it seems to have been designated by the chattering classes as one of the great unanswerables of the universe, destined to be dredged up every time someone’s looking for page hits by pissing off the wrong person at some heavily trafficked and influential ladyblog (#sorryfeminists!). To everyone else, this may seem like a settled a matter of simple logic: Women are human beings (no matter what some Republican members of Congress might believe); some human beings are endowed with an innate talent to make others laugh; ergo, some women are funny. The end.

And yet, it is with this specious query (if there is a God, then surely the fact that this piece of lazily reasoned hackwork seems destined to be the most quoted of all the Quotable Hitchens is His karmic revenge) that Yael Kohen chooses to open “We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy,” forcing from the beginning what could have been a transcendent and inspiring work of oral history into an oddly defensive crouch. What was almost certainly meant as a topical gambit — the book was born out of an article the author wrote for Marie Claire — feels a bit like reading a novel with a prologue like: “I know you’re probably wondering why you should care about anything I’m about to tell you since I just made it all up in my head, but please let me spend the next 300-plus pages trying to convince you!”

Also strange is Kohen’s emphasis of focusing on her subjects’ relative shortcomings. Under this surely unconscious lens, a fanatically hardworking trailblazer like Joan Rivers is a frustrated actress who failed to take over the desk at “The Tonight Show” and curdled into a bitter insult comic; Carol Burnett, an unchallenging sketch comic; Lily Tomlin, an underground weirdo that nobody knew what to do with. Talents like Sandra Bernhard and Whoopi Goldberg are mostly heard complaining about getting stuck performing in the Belly Room, the all-female performance venue inside L.A’s former Comedy Store (which, in their descriptions of the narrow space and rickety staircase you had to take to get there, sounds like the world’s most hilarious mechitza), but little attention is paid to Goldberg’s subsequent blockbuster film career apart from her briefly noting a sleazy studio executive commenting distastefully on her inherent “unfuckability.” The hilarious Rachel Dratch is encouraged to talk about how affinity for playing unglamorous characters may have hurt her career. Others pontificate — not uncattily, may I add — on how a young Sarah Silverman got stage time because everyone wanted to sleep with her. Why talk to these extraordinary, successful, brilliant women, only to dwell disproportionately on their disappointments? Why treat them as a race apart, or explore their stories mainly relation to men? As Tina Fey, whose voice is notably absent here, said in her memoir “Bossypants” on what she says to young women who come looking to her for advice: “Remember: Don’t be fooled. You’re not in competition with other women. You’re in competition with everyone.”

That’s not to say there’s not some great stuff here. “We Killed” is a well-meaning effort, at times even a noble one. Kohen clearly has a gift for drawing her subjects out: Merrill Markoe’s four-page, stunningly clear-eyed testimony on the rise and fall of her relationship with David Letterman is like a three-act play. Considering how she wound up making her fortune, all the snide comments about the young Kathy Griffin are good for cackle. And the ambitious chronology of the chapters deftly illustrate how the rise of women in comedy mirrored the rise of the women itself, from frustrated housewives to ambitious power-suited baby boomers to sexually frank post-feminists in heels and Spanx. The recurring theme of Johnny Carson’s appalling treatment of female comedians who broke his stringent rules of acceptability speaks a cathartic truth to power, even when the power in question is moldering in the grave.

But for all the dazzling breadth of Kohen’s sources, “We Killed” remains notable for what it leaves out. In her telling, the story of women in American comedy began with Phyllis Diller and Elaine May sometime in the early 1960s. There’s no Fanny Brice or Sophie Tucker; no Dorothy Parker or Frances Marion or Anita Loos; no 1930s screwball heroines that put paid to the former Apatovian notion of the female as eternal straight man. Hollywood scarcely exists at all; the realms of theater and print are totally absent. The name “Nora Ephron” is not mentioned once. Lena Dunham, like robot maids or clothes that change color with your mood, is merely a shadow of a faraway and unknowable future.

Of course, that’s the difficulty of the oral history: You can only talk to people who are alive, or about people who are in living memory, or are willing to talk to you. But if you’re trying to make a definitive case on the potential for hilarity of the double X chromosome, that seems like an awful lot to leave out.

Which brings us to the second problem of writing only about what people want to tell you: It doesn’t leave a lot of room for outside analysis. We hear that Johnny Carson hated female comics and John Belushi refused to perform in anything he knew a woman had written. But neither Kohen nor anybody else tries very hard to explain why. Because ultimately, the question to ask isn’t whether women are funny; the question is why it’s so important to some men that they not be.

Interestingly enough, it’s Christopher Hitchens himself who gives the game away in his essay that started a cottage industry, saying: “Men have to pretend, to themselves as well as to women, that they are not the servants and supplicants. Women, cunning minxes that they are, have to affect not to be the potentates … People in this precarious position do not enjoy being laughed at, and it would not have taken women long to work out that female humor would be the most upsetting of all.” Humor is power. We kill, and something inside them dies.

“Michael Bolton’s Daughter Is Destroying My Life”

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:53:00 +0000

ABC is taking the whole Michael Bolton-as-a-pop-culture-reference thing to a whole new level. Deadline reports that the 30-minute sitcom "Michael Bolton’s Daughter Is Destroying My Life" is now in development at ABC and stars the Grammy award-winning pop singer. The show "tells the story of a naïve young writer who moves to the big city and ends up taking a job heading 'social media' for singer-songwriter Michael Bolton. The writer quickly learns she has her hands full with Bolton and the wild-child daughter he has recently taken in."

Will Bolton turn into the gimmicky, forced "fictional" character like James van der Beek is in "The B in Apt. 23"? If Lonely Island's "Captain Jack Sparrow" offers any evidence, then hope remains:

Is “30 Rock” just “The Muppet Show” with humans?

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Over the summer, while on vacation, my partner, Dustin, and I decided to watch the first season of “The Muppet Show.” We marveled at the guest stars — Juliet Prowse, Ruth Buzzi, Joel Grey. And then we marveled at the way Kermit was troubleshooting an issue with Scooter, whose new dog demanded his own dressing room. And in a later episode, he was ego-massaging Miss Piggy. I realized … I was watching Liz Lemon.

"Liz Lemon is Kermit," I said to Dustin. "The Muppet Show" is "30 Rock"!

I tested my theory on a Facebook thread: Jenna is Miss Piggy. Kenneth is Scooter. Tracy is … possibly Gonzo? That was a tougher one to cast. On the thread, a friend led me to a blog post by comic-book writer Brian Lynch, from 2009. It turns out I was not the first person to have this revelation. Brian had some tough words for "30 Rock" — perhaps in jest (tone on the Internet can be hard to parse). He wrote, “Tina Fey's ‘30 Rock’ is currently the most acclaimed comedy series on television. It's won numerous Emmys and Golden Globes and I think Pulitzers. Critics and audiences alike love the show and its lovable zany characters, and consider it one of the most original comedies in years. And I guess it is original … if you've never seen ‘The Muppet Show.’ Because, my ‘friends’ (in quotes because I don't know or trust you, please don't be offended), Tina Fey's ‘30 Rock’ is quite obviously ripping off Jim Henson's beloved TV show.”

Is Obama too inscrutable to impersonate?

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:00:00 +0000

For a comic, trying to impersonate the self-possessed, intellectual manner of President Obama is about as thankless a task as having the world leader’s job. It takes a level of mastery, creativity and maybe even a little perversion to chip away at Obama’s impenetrable reserve, and wedge your way into — or invent whole cloth — his inscrutable psyche. Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele, better known as Comedy Central’s comic duo Key and Peele, are arguably the best in the Obama-impression biz, with their “Obama’s Anger Translator” shtick: Peele plays Obama as the carefully compartmentalized, deliberately even-keeled, poised and well-spoken world leader, while Luther (Key), his unabashedly angry black sidekick — the id to the president's superego — parses the subtext of his words, and translates them into a profanity-laden raging tirade. (Here they are on the 47 percent.)

Must-see morning clip

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 13:20:00 +0000

"Saturday Night Live" has brought another on-point satire this week, where the cast sets to figure out what issues the undecided (cough, uninformed, cough) voter cares about.

Watch the full clip:

Must-see morning clip

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:36:00 +0000

Much to America's delight, "SNL" aired a special edition of Weekend Update last night, parodying the "newsy" Republican gab fest "Fox & Friends" for its coverage of Romney's leaked 47 percent speech. They reviewed a few other leaked speeches, too: one of Romney in "Cash Cab," and one of him in the shower. The segment winds down, appropriately, with a fact check of the show.