Results tagged “sethmeyers”

Last week's season premiere of Saturday Night Live may have had America's Most Overhyped Sexpot Megan Fox as host, but this week's second episode ended up being the true Ladies Night, with divas in full force. Host Ryan Reynolds did that thing you do when your spouse is an even bigger star than you and brought along his wife (and soon-to-be Broadway actress) Scarlett Johansson, who reprised her role as a local saleswoman pitching "Chandeliers!" for dad Fred Armisen's Long Island business, that has now apparently expanded to porcelain fountains.

The good news for Big Terrific co-host Jenny Slate is that the morning after her debut, everyone is talking about her ad-libbing skills. The bad news is that the talk is around whether Slate might be fired or punished after accidentally dropping an F-bomb on the show's season premiere last night. You can see Slate immediately realize what she's just done in the clip below.

If Fred Armisen plays any black politician, please let it be NY Governor David Paterson! His impression of our "accidental" governor debuted on Weekend Update last night and it absolutely killed. For reference, we've placed a photograph of Paterson above—compare it to the SNL bit below:

"You thought I was gone, didn't you?" That was the opening line on last night's SNL as Amy Poehler proved reports wrong that she would be leaving the show following the delivery of her baby and the end of the election season. Seeing a svelte Poehler in the cold open as new Secretary of State Clinton as well as back in her Weekend Update chair was a welcome sight after the show had a rough last outing with previous host Tim McGraw.

SNL Head Writer and Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers told the LGBT-related magazine The Advocate that he "stands behind everything that happened" on last Saturday's show that has many critics crying foul over its reliance of gay jokes in almost every sketch of the night. Meyers takes the "I have plenty of black friends" defense by pointing out that there are gay writers on the show and that SNL is "on the right side of the issue." He also compared the abundance of gay-related sketches to come out of a week involving a lot of Prop 8-related discussion to this week's show where "we are having the same issue this week with Thanksgiving." The blog Defamer has been the harshest in its criticisms of the episode calling it "a gay minstrel show" and equating a sketch with two closeted mechanics to "a Yes on 8 ad." Meyers said that he generally avoids the blogosphere but that, "People on our 'side' take it far more personally when they feel offended because they feel like it is a betrayal."

Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin and even Cindy McCain all appeared on Saturday Night Live during the campaign season...poor 'ol Joe Biden never got the invite though. Until now! Politico talked to the show's head writer, Seth Meyers, who told them: "Joe Biden is my biggest regret. I really wanted some quality Biden time. The door is still open, Joe." Meyers also added that on Tuesday night he "had an hour of goose bumps and then my natural cynicism kicked in. It’s not a great time to start being President." As for what happens to SNL now that the election is over (they got their highest ratings over the last month), there's good news and bad news -- Meyers says that viewers shouldn't expect any more Tina Fey cameos ("We all have to let her go back to her regular life now") but he pads the harsh reality by adding there will be "Lots and lots of MacGruber.”

Weekend Update, the longtime staple of Saturday Night Live that sends up the news stories of the week, began last night with a breaking exclusive of its own: co-anchor Amy Poehler had just given birth to a baby boy. Alongside husband Will Arnett, Poehler delivered her first child "Archie" early Saturday evening. Archie Arnett came in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce and both mother and child are reported to be in good health. Poehler was not expecting to miss last night's show and had been rehearsing up until Friday. Her delivery means in all likelihood that her final episode of SNL was last week, where Poehler got the opportunity to shine with a rap number alongside a dancing Sarah Palin on a night that scored the highest ratings for the show in fourteen years.

Rumors of Sarah Palin making an appearance on Saturday Night Live have been quickly put at bay by head writer Seth Meyers, who says, "Of those specific rumors, there's no truth. We do have an open door policy, but there's nothing specific yet, but our window of opportunity is before the election." With such natural comedy skills, this is surprising news! Meyers also added that, regarding the pre-election primetime Weekend Update specials, "We'd love to have her [and] we spoke to her earlier [before] the time Tina did her, and it seemed like something was going to work out." Will Palin surprise everyone with an appearance, or will the McCain campaign keep her far away from Fey & Co.? [via The Observer]

Saturday Night Live sunk its claws into Governor Spitzer's meaty scandal. Bill Heder played Spitzer while Kristen Wiig was Silda Wall Spitzer in the cold open (video above). Heder didn't try to emulate Spitzer's extreme lip biting, but he did have a balding head and slightly maniacal gleam in his eyes. Wiig brought pursued lip frustrated restraint to the suffering spouse.

In between campaign stops for March 4th primaries, Hillary Clinton put on a happy face about the recent Saturday Night Live skits that aired during the show's return last week, adding that "it's so nice to be a fashion icon at my age" (video here). Last night the SNL troupe was at it again with an opening skit that mirrored last week's. As Clinton (Amy Poehler) faced off with Obama (Fred Armisen), it became less clear who SNL might be supporting; their Fauxbama is pretty lifeless:

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an armed robbery on Washington Ave. in the Bronx, a bank robbery on 18th Ave. in Brooklyn, and a pedestrian struck on 69th St. and Queens Blvd. in Queens.
• Amidst "barbs and accusations," talks between studios and the writers guild appear to have broken down. Repeats will continue, as will Seth Meyers' long circular picketing sojourn.
• Animals at the Queens City Zoo will be receiving special holiday culinary treats to chow down on every weekend this month.
• Some news outlets use the word "reorganized," but three more city schools are being closed due to disappointing performance. The total is now 13.
• Tomorrow is a great opportunity to visit five historic homes in Flushing, Queens that are generally not open to the public, as part of a holiday tour.
• NBC is refusing to air an ad asking viewers to remember and thank members of the military for their service because it refers to the spot's sponsor's web site, which it deems too political.
• Police are searching for someone who shot a woman in Queens late yesterday. The victim was shot in the chest and found clutching a knife in her hand.
• SantaCon was today; we'll have extended coverage of the bearded bacchanal tomorrow.

Members of the Writers Guild of America have been striking in Los Angeles and New York this past week over details of a basic contract between writers and producers - one of the biggest sticking points is the amount of residuals writers get from DVD and new media distribution. The NY Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd asked Seth Meyers (who we spoke to on Tuesday) to give her a weekend update about the strike:...

The Writers Guild strike continued into its second day today; in L.A. Jay Leno delivered donuts to strikers on his motorcycle, while here in New York Seth Meyers joined the picket line and the giant rat outside Silvercup Studios in Long Island City (30 Rock and Gossip Girl are among the productions filmed there). The Saturday Night Live star and head writer had this to say:TV is completely changing, the way people are watching...

Members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike today after talks between the WGA and Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers collapsed last night. WGA East members are striking outside of NBC headquarters at Rockefeller Plaza on 49th Street today - 30 Rock's Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers, and the Daily Show's John Oliver were on the line, as were many other writers for other productions - and other...

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:

Well, the big day has come and gone, but not without leaving us with some impressive stats (feel free to help us out in the comments with better stats and info!):