lorne michaels

For some reason, Showtime's original series have been attempting to reference every major song on the Billboard '70s and '80s rock chart in their episode titles. Last night's Dexter titled "Blinded by the Light" kept sticking in my head and then I remembered why.

Just as the Kids in the Hall were coming to a close in Canada, Lorne Michaels brought a lesser known comedy troupe called The Vacant Lot to the CBC and Comedy Central. It only lasted one season, but one of their very funny inaugural sketches "Blinded by the Light" got stuck in my brain. Thankfully YouTube is required to save every memory ever recorded, and that includes the Vacant Lot's sketches. Enjoy.

(S35E02) After that Jenny Slate f-bomb nonsense and Megan Fox's not terribly original hot girl material from the season premiere, it was exciting to see a really solid episode (and a star-studded one, at that). Ryan Reynolds did a fantastic job as host (snaps for his wavering voice during the porcelain fountains sketch and accent in SYTYCD), though he didn't have any major stand-out roles. Did I miss the memo that Lady Gaga wasn't just musical guest but co-host as well? Such a role is normally left up to Ryan Reynolds' giant biceps.

It's been a while since we've seen such consistently enjoyable writing in an episode. Usually, there's a distinct lull during the course of the 90 minutes, but I didn't feel it this time. Hopefully, this is a good indication of the rest of the season.

For those who missed it (or weren't on the east coast) on Saturday night, new SNLer Jenny Slate managed to do something in her first-ever sketch that hadn't been accomplished on the show in 28 years: she let loose with an f-bomb.

In the sketch, Slate and Kristin Wiig play biker chicks, and instead of saying "friggin'" or "freakin'" or any of the other substitutes they were supposed to use, Slate actually uttered the words "and I fuckin' love you for that." See the video below. The look on her face after she just realizes what she did is even more priceless than the f-bomb itself:

Short answer: no. Longer answer: probably not.

It seems that every season is the "Saturday Night Live isn't what it used to be" (aka "Saturday Night Live sucks!") season, but it always survives. And some years, like last season when they had the election to riff on and appearances by Tina Palin and lots of buzz in the news, they thrive. But The Washington Post's Tom Shales visited with executive producer Lorne Michaels and finds that Michaels is worried about the upcoming season.

Nick told you earlier today that Saturday Night Live had hired two new female cast members. I guess two female cast members had to be let go to make room for them (it's late night math).

Casey Wilson and Michaela Watkins have been let go from the show. Watkins has actually released a statement saying that she had a great time on the show and doesn't have any regrets. No official word yet from Wilson.

I didn't mind Watkins at all, she was fine, but I can't say I'll be sad to see Wilson go. I really don't think she added too much to the show and was often over the top/irritating in her performances and impersonations. I think she's the type of cast member that can be replaced rather easily. I know that other SNL fans never grew to like her either. But at least she had a sense of humor about it.

Update: Watkins is actually shocked by the firing.

This is an interesting find: the Saturday Night Live audition tapes for Phil Hartman, John Belushi, Will Ferrell, and Dana Carvey. Below is Hartman's audition, and after the jump Carvey's two audition bits (Choppin' Broccoli!).

Will Forte is hilarious. Last night, he stole the show from Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, which admittedly doesn't seem very hard to do, with non-stop jokes and a mini rock opera. He might not be the most popular comedic actor on Saturday Night Live, but he's definitely one of the funniest. That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to his MacGruber movie.

Yup, a MacGruber movie. Forte told Fallon about a script he wrote for a feature film based on the SNL sketch. "John Solomon, Jorma Taccone, and I just finished writing it. We're gonna make it in Albuquerque. It's me and Kristen Wiig and cast to be determined," he said. Video after the jump.

(S34E22) Justin Timberlake returned for his third turn as host and it was tough not to keep expectations pretty high. I mean, if an vengeful warlock were to suddenly put a crippling curse on his music career (like they do), Timberlake could definitely fall back on being a professional SNL host. Yes, this would become a real profession, just for him.

As usual, some sketches fell a bit flat, but Timberlake's over-confident, hammy swagger made things a little more interesting. This particular episode also gave us another legendary musical Digital Short with Timberlake and Andy Samberg and a couple of all-around MILFs. It's tough to top a surprise appearance by Leonard effin' Nimoy, but "Motherlover" was certainly the highlight of the evening. Here are some other notable video moments!

People have been complaining that they're aren't enough cast members on Saturday Night Live now. Amy Poehler left after having her baby, and they're aren't many blacks on the show either (Fred Armisen is playing President-Elect Barack Obama and Kenan Thompson usually plays the other parts, even the female ones). But now executive producer Lorne Michaels has taken the first step in correcting some of those problems.

NBC will announce today that they are adding two new performers to the regular cast. One of them, Abby Elliot, is the daughter of ex-SNL cast member/Get A Life star/David Letterman regular Chris Elliot. The other is comedienne Michaela Watkins, from The Groundlings. I'm not sure if people still use the word "comedienne," but I like it.

Now we have to see if the show's ratings surge continues. The election is now over and the big draws (Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and the debate sketches) will stop.

When I watched the Nancy Pelosi/President Bush/Barney Frank bailout sketch on last Saturday's Saturday Night Live, I had no idea that one of the couples featured in the sketch (played by Darrell Hammond and Casey Wilson) was actually based on a real-life couple, and now that couple is angry at how they were portrayed. And by "portrayed" I mean that SNL putting up the words "People That Should Be Shot" on the screen while the couple was talking.

NBC has edited the segment (which you can see at the link above) so that the words no longer appear on the screen. In fact, in this new edited version, you can actually hear the audience laugh at the on-screen joke, even though nothing appears there now.

In what can only be labeled as the "shock of the decade," Richard Huff of the New York Daily News has reported that Tina Fey will return to Saturday Night Live tonight to play Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee.

I've gotta tell ya, as far as the surprise factor is concerned, this ranks right up there with fall of the Berlin Wall and the Challenger explosion. I mean, Fey looks nothing like Palin. That's especially true when she's wearing her glasses; I can't seem to see any resemblance at all between the two at all in that case.

But I guess Lorne Michaels thought that Fey was the best person for the job, and asked her to take some time from knocking out 30 Rock episodes to play this woman. Maybe she'll be able to pull off the impression, though I can't imagine how.

Have you been watching The Line, the online summer series from Saturday Night Live cast members Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, and Jason Sudeikis? Well, then you might already be familiar with the newest addition to the NBC late night show.

The new guy is Bobby Moynihan, who costars in the online series (about two obsessed science fiction fans waiting in line to see a popular space movie). Others might know Moynihan from his years with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, including his improv work on ASSSSCAT (recently with this guy).

So I've been back from LA for a couple of days, watching Rich and Keith file frantic reports from Comic-Con. It just makes me shake my head in sympathy. Though CC is a different animal from the TCAs, in both structure and in sheer volume of people and activities, I still know exactly how they feel. It all starts to feel like a blur after awhile -- panels, reporter scrums, parties, meeting your favorite (and not-so-favorite) TV stars... When you get back to "normal life," it almost feels like it never happened.

Anyway, now that I have a day or two to reflect, I took a cue from our friends at AOL and came up with a list of things I learned on this press tour. But this list will involve both the network-related things I learned with what I learned about celebrities, my fellow critics, and myself.

Taking a cue from ABC, NBC had Jay Leno pose as a reporter and ask NBC's two-headed entertainment chief, Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, about when Leno would be leaving and when Conan would be starting. Only, instead of just wearing a baseball cap like Kimmel did, Leno donned a bald cap and beard to make him seem extra stealthy.

Some of the "funny" lines are after the jump, but here's the gist of the news: Leno's last day on the Tonight show will be on May 29, with Conan O'Brien taking over the following Monday, June 1. Conan will do his last Late Night sometime during the first quarter, according to Graboff and Silverman, and Jimmy Fallon will take over the timeslot at an undetermined time during either March or April (that's after starting online, as Lorne Michaels announced yesterday). No word on what will play in Conan's 12:30 slot in the interim period.

Just wanted to post a quick report about yesterday's late-afternoon Saturday Night Live panel. On the panel was (new TCA Career Achievement award winner) Lorne Michaels, Weekend Update anchor and co-head-writer Seth Meyers, and cast members Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kristin Wiig, Will Forte, and Casey Wilson.

Given the comedy star power on stage, the panel was strangely unfunny. That's probably because Michaels answered most of the questions. Anyway, two pieces of news came out of this panel:

• SNL will run live 30-minute Thursday election specials in primetime starting October 9 and running until the election. The specials will feature Weekend Update but may also have sketches. There will also be a primetime "Presidential Bash" episode the night before the election.
• Michaels mentioned that Jimmy Fallon will air his show online for "five or six months" before it airs in Conan O'Brien's old timeslot, in order to give it a headstart in finding its creative legs. "We learned with Conan how brutal it was to find a show when it was on the air," he said.