The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Natasha Rothwell has traded 30 Rock for the Sony lot, writing now for Issa Rae’s HBO series, Insecure. But Rothwell’s own characters in her half-hour special for The Characters on Netflix are quite secure, assured and ready to break down barriers. She had been writing and creating characters for years, …
Comedy fans may have noticed the latest Katt Williams skirmish with civilians and news headlines, which culminated with Williams daring to call out Kevin Hart in some sort of million-dollar joke-off, or something. Then he called it off. But Jay Pharoah found it the perfect excuse to imagine a black …
There’s usually a moment during a Saturday Night Live cast member’s rookie season when that comedian showcases the set piece from his or her audition that helped secure a spot in the cast in the first place. Perhaps the most famous example is Dana Carvey’s “Chopping Broccoli” tune he played …
The madness of another presidential election continues to shine all-star comedy on Saturday Night Live, as even before Larry David hosted this 12th episode of season 41, the Bernie Sanders campaign let everyone know that the Democratic junior U.S. Senator from Vermont and presidential candidate would leave New Hampshire for …
FOX is bringing sketch comedy back to late-night Saturdays, and it’s enlisting former Saturday Night Live digital stars The Lonely Island to do so??? Hold on. Not so fast. Yes, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone of The Lonely Island are executive producing Party Over Here with Paul Scheer — …
Hannibal Buress, threw himself a big ol’ bash when he turned 30. By then, Hannibal already had released two albums and a Comedy Central special, written for Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, won an American Comedy Award, and was providing straight-man sidekick glances for The Eric Andre Show. It’s …
For as much as we think we know about the making of each Saturday Night Live episode, we still don’t get to see the magic of those early Monday pitch meetings, when the cast and writers meet with that week’s host and offer up ideas for sketches. I imagine JB …
The husband-wife team of Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond are organizing an all-star tribute to Lorne Michaels at Lincoln Center on Feb. 11, 2016, to benefit the center’s American Songbook series. So far they’ve lined up Tituss Burgess, Jimmy Fallon, Cheyenne Jackson, Taran Killam, Jane Krakowski, Audra McDonald, Maya Rudolph, Martin …
The 2016 presidential election still hasn’t recorded a single primary or caucus vote yet, but the campaigns already have been so chock full o’ nuts that the Saturday Night Live all-stars keep getting called back in for active duty. We’ve seen Larry David as Bernie Sanders, Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton …
Christmas has become an extra special time for Saturday Night Live, as the cast and writers save their best for the end of the year and always manage to attract their biggest alums and famous friends to make a holiday cameo or two. Having all-time favorites Tina Fey and Amy …
