Last night's Saturday Night Live had its work cut out for it after the last few weeks. Weaving in actual Mad Men stars Elisabeth Moss and John Slattery alongside host Jon Hamm was a nice touch, but this is a week after the show featured cameos from Sarah Palin, Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin. And it was a welcome return for Maya Rudolph, stopping in as expected to play Michelle Obama and sing a duet with Kenan Thompson dedicated to Amy Poehler's new baby. But that came on the heels of former cast members Bill Murray, Will Ferrell and of course Tina Fey all making high profile returns in recent weeks. more ›

Good news and bad news for SNL fans this weekend. Tina Fey allegedly will not return in her role as Sarah Palin (though she did last night), but former cast member Maya Rudolph will return to play the role of Michelle Obama, TMZ reports. Does that mean Barack Obama himself will appear to accompany his faux-Michelle, or will Maya return the weekend before the election, when he's rumored to be making an appearance? SNL will likely pull out all the stops through Election Day, as their ratings are sure to go down afterwards. more ›

Nothing makes our skin crawl like reading stories about bedbug infestations. The notorious nocturnal bloodsuckers are almost impossible to get rid of, attack you under the comfort of covers, and can leave you covered with welts. Yesterday, the Daily News took a final 2007 look at the bedbug epidemic that leaves no corner of the city untouched. more ›

Saturday night viewers of NBC didn't get a new episode of Saturday Night Live, but 150 audience members at the UCB Theater did! Live and un-aired, the show was to help raise money for crew members affected by the strike. Amy Poehler, who organized the event, made this statement:"The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater is a second home to a lot of these performers and writers. We are doing this to raise spirits, raise awareness, and... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery at the Washington Mutual on Sheepshead Bay Rd. in Brooklyn, a worker fell into the water off Pier 11 on Governor's Island, and a bank robbery on 57th St. and Broadway in Manhattan.
• Additional charges could be in store for the woman who allegedly shot a Staten Island commune leader before fleeing to Philadelphia.
• Maya Rudolph is not returning for the new season of Saturday Night Live
• New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office is cruising Facebook.com for underage hookups, in order to file charges against the online social networking site.
• Is there a mad firebomber in Park Slope, endangering Subarus, garbage cans, small animals and Eve Ensler's privates? Brownstoner readers are worried.
• A 28-year-old woman was killed while crossing Houston St. this morning. A truck knocked the young woman out of her shoes and pinned her as she was crossing 6th and West Houston at 7:15 a.m.
• Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens was scratched from the series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, including tonight's start. Kei Igawa will start in place of the high-priced hurler with the hurt hamstring.
• Six New Yorkers were awarded MacArthur Genius Grants.

MUSIC: Ever wonder what former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp has been up to? Well, he's back fronting his other old band, The Rentals. With a long list of former members, amongst them Maya Rudolph and Petra Haden, the group is now six-strong, and playing Nokia Theater tonight in support of their new EP, The Last Little Life. more ›

It's possibly the most famous couple to sue over bed bugs: Saturday Night Live star Maya Rudolph and auteur Paul Thomas Anderson claim that their SoHo rental was infested with the vermin and are now suing Halstead Property and the owner, Francis Feeney! They were paying $13,500/month for a Greene Street loft (plus two months' rent, security deposit, broker's fee), but found themselves (and their baby!) bitten. Ew. The exterminator told them they would have to move out for a couple weeks, and the family hasn't been back since. more ›

With Tina Fey gone from the writers' staff to primetimier pastures and Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Finesse Mitchell axed from the staff, people were wondering how this season of Saturday Night Live would stack up. And while articles calling it "Saturday Night Dead" are a mainstay every fall, Gothamist wasn't very confident given that the host would be Dane Cook, who already hosted not even a year ago! Here's our thoughts about the season premiere: more ›

The best thing about Virginia Heffernan's New Yorker profile of Tina Fey, besides feeding our Tina-Fey-starved minds, is the breakdown of the different comedy styles of SNL performers and writers: more ›

Adrien Brody will be hosting Saturday Night Live on May 10th. Gothamist guesses that there were be some bit about him kissing...he'll kiss Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, then the "funny" comes in when he kisses the SNL dudes, like Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, and Chris Kattan, maybe even Lorne. Gothamist won't bother to find any of the latest slash fiction about Adrien Brody and [insert actor here] but we will develop a drinking game.
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I did see J. Lo perform on the Today Show, I missed Mariah's interview with Matt Lauer. . I didn't watch the Diane Sawyer interview with Whitney Houston, but I did glean from Saturday Night Live (Robert DeNiro sucked, by the way, or at least the skits did) Weekend Update when Maya Rudolph and Tracey Morgan spoofed Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, that Whitney: 1) called Diane Sawyer, "Diane Swyer"; 2)Bobby Brown was profusely sweating; and 3) Whtiney doesn't smoke crack because it's cheap. more ›