The Definitive Guide to Comedy
What’s your favorite SNL character? No, I mean, by name. By full name. I don’t know that we ever learned who Stefon really was, nor that anyone really cared if Gilly had a last name. And it may have taken a few tries before we learned how to spell Dooneese …
Improv. Say that one word in comedy circles and you’ll see a multitude of reactions. OK. Mostly likely one of three: Love. Hate. Indifference. Or maybe even something that’s along the spectrum that connects those three. Who decides to pursue a life or career in improv comedy, what are their …
Feel like you’re not seeing enough yet of new Saturday Night Live cast member Beck Bennett? Sure, you could just wait for another commercial break on TV and hope that it’s one of his AT&T ads at the little kids table. Or you could watch this behind-the-scenes montage of SNL’s …
Few people who have talked about Miley Cyrus and what she did at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards ever mention that her whole to-do began with an introduction by Vanessa Bayer as the version of Miley we thought we knew before that night. So returning to the scene of …
In case you didn’t stay up past your bedtime and the end of Saturday Night Live for the half-hour “concert” by Arcade Fire, then you missed out on a mini-movie directed by Roman Coppola and featuring several comedians that may have left you with the thought that “Here Comes The …
Saturday Night Live has a big new cast for season 39. In case you didn’t know that or hadn’t heard, SNL wasn’t afraid to remind you again and again in the first half-hour that times continue to change because that’s how time works. It doesn’t keep slipping into the future. …
Bob Newhart starred in two classic hit sitcoms — The Bob Newhart Show, 1972-1978, and Newhart, 1982-1990 — but it wasn’t until last night that he could take home his first Emmy, as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, for The Big Bang Theory. Newhart just turned 84 this …
We’re one week away from the start of the first formal week of Saturday Night Live‘s 39th season, but NBC and SNL officially made a number of cast changes today. To wit: SIX new cast members. They are, in alphabetical order and pictured above: Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, …
Just in time for the new NFL season, State Farm has convinced Robert Smigel and George Wendt to bring two of the Saturday Night Live “Super Fans” back out of retirement, as “Da Bears” fans star with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in this new 30-second commercial. Roll the …
The second I saw this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine piece about former Saturday Night Live stars recalling their SNL auditions, I knew we’d be off and running with the rumors about who passed their auditions and final interview tests with Lorne Michaels. And before I could type, “Whoa, Nellie,” …
