Super Bowl commercials are still a big, huge, massive, crazy deal, with major corporations shelling out absurd amounts of money on ads designed to win over the most reliably large and receptive audience in all of televised sports. So of course ‘SNL’ was going to contribute its own commercial parody to the mix...but man, no one was expecting something this mean, scathing or on-point.
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.
Set in St. Louis, the sketch starts with Beck Bennett as a news anchor for “News 4” (which is the CBS affiliate in St. Louis) relaying a serious presentation of current events, right before he hands it off to two morning show hosts (played by Kenan Thompson and Cecily Strong) who have an obnoxious show with an obnoxious theme song called ‘Rise and Smile.’ First, there’s no way this sketch should have been cut, but that’s a pretty obvious position to take.
33 years after he first made his 'Saturday Night Live' debut in 1981, Prince returned to the live comedy variety show on Nov. 1 to perform an eight-minute medley comprising of three new songs: 'Clouds,' 'Marz' and 'Anotherlove.'
Iggy Azalea made her 'Saturday Night Live' debut last night where she first performed a medley of 'Fancy' and 'Black Widow,' and then later made her national TV debut of her new single, 'Beg for It.'
The unfortunate and untimely death of the great Jan Hooks this past week sent the comedy world into mourning, with countless writers and comics stepping forward to pay tribute to the late 'SNL' star. It could have been easy for this week's new episode to gloss over the passing of one of their own (it is a comedy show, after all), but 'SNL' has always been a slightly class institution -- it remembers those who came before.
These days 'SNL' movies are a bit few and far between (come on, 'MacGruber 2'!), but at least some of their success lives on with legendary classics like 'Wayne's World or 'The Blues Brothers.' There have been 11 'SNL' movies total over the course of the last 40 years, but how well do you think you know the late-night sketch comedy legend's cinematic history? Test your knowledge with the latest installment of ‘You Think You Know Movies?‘
'The Fault in Our Stars' was one of the big surprise hits of the summer, telling a heartbreaking love story between two young cancer patients. Despite that Very Serious Material, 'SNL' and guest host Sarah Silverman found a way to make fun of the movie and tie into current events. Thus was born the fake trailer for 'The Fault in Our Stars 2: The Ebola in Our Everything.'
You don't have to be a sports fan to know that the NFL has come under fire in recent weeks for how it has handled (or failed to handle) its players committing all kinds of heinous crimes. Although this is a very serious matter that has football fans deeply troubled and concerned about the future of their favorite sport, it's certainly not above satire, which is where 'SNL' comes in.