Another year of Saturday Night Live has come and gone. We’ve celebrated holidays, strange news stories, and stranger politicians with the comedic troupe and their guests, and we have to say that all things considered, this year was, well, not so bad. There were even some real gems among the normal hurried junk that fans have been complaining about for years. In an effort to save you the hassle of wading through all those episodes for the good stuff, or in case you rabid fans missed any of the action, we’ve compiled a list of the skits that we consider required viewing from the past year. Click through to watch our favorites, let us know if we missed any of yours in the comments, and get ready to start the countdown all over again with the Daniel Radcliffe/Lana Del Rey combo on January 14.
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Always offering a slice of life, YouTube has revealed their top ten viral videos of the year. The most-watched clips include talking animals, babies, creeps, and Michael Bolton (not to be confused with “creeps”). Check out the list past the break where we try to figure out what each ranking says about us as a society. Leave your theories below. Read More »
We’ll admit that we’re extremely curious about how this week’s special holiday episode of Saturday Night Live will play out. It’s always interesting when a former cast member returns to host the show after striking out on their own, and in Fallon’s case, we’d argue that he has made an even better career for himself as a late night talk host. These promos don’t reveal much about what we’ll see, but they do deliver what has to be the most atonal rendition of “Jingle Bells” that we’ve ever heard. Other than an almost requisite appearance by Barry Gibb and at least one skit where Fallon accidentally breaks character, what are you expecting on Saturday night? Read More »
1. Remember the nude sketch that Tony Bennett did of Lady Gaga for Vanity Fair per Annie Leibovitz’s suggestion? Well, it’s now up for auction on eBay, with the proceeds going to Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation and Bennett’s Exploring The Arts. [via NME]
2. “I have heard that Lady Gaga is keen to play Amy in a film. I don’t know what her English accent is like but it’s not just an English accent she would have to perfect – it’s an English-Cockney-Jewish accent so she better start practicing now. But she would be great.” — Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch, as quoted by The Mirror. Meanwhile The Daily Mail is reporting that he says that there will never be a film. Which UK tabloid do we trust?!
3. Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp were on Rock Center last night discussing their talented son, Marcel the Shell, with host Brian Williams. Watch the adorable interview (which takes place in their adorable Brooklyn apartment) here.
4. Evidently, James Franco is now writing movie reviews for The Paris Review. He also narrates the new documentary Eames: The Architect and the Painter, which comes out on DVD today.
5. You know that you need to watch SNL cast member Taran Killam re-create Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” video. Why doesn’t he get to do stuff like this on the show? [via Vulture]
Bonus Buzz: 26 Of The Best Of The Worst Family Holiday Cards
This episode of Saturday Night Live was actually much better than we expected, relatively solid all the way through. Sporting a new blond bob that we think makes her look kind of like Emily Blunt, host Katy Perry never let us forget her pop-star status, finding some way to incorporate her singing voice into almost every skit. Kristin Wiig was on top of her game last night, managing to avoid all of her painfully obnoxious characters for a set of fresh, funny ones, and the show was bolstered by a number of charming guest appearances, including Alec Baldwin and Matt Damon. Click through to watch the sketches we thought were the best and those that made us cringe, and let us know your own thoughts in the comments!
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After a one-week hiatus, Saturday Night Live returned last night with the promise of a really weird show — or at least, that’s what we imagined when we heard Steve Buscemi was hosting. True, the episode seemed to contain an inordinate number of fake mustaches, but we felt Buscemi was a little underused. It’s kind of ironic — his monologue was about how psyched he was to have achieved success as a leading man after being pegged as the “creepy guy” character actor for so long, and then in almost all of the sketches he was the object, the guest, the frame — but very rarely the star. Sigh! Don’t worry though, he still got some good play, and though the show as a whole didn’t live up to either of our two favorite episodes so far this season (Melissa McCarthy and Jason Segel), it was definitely above average. Click through to watch our picks for the best and worst sketches of last night’s SNL, and let us know whether you agree or disagree in the comments! Read More »
Saturday Night Live will see singer Katy Perry on its December 10th show, where she’ll be playing host alongside musical guest Robyn — who has been busy touring with the Teenage Dream artist. Perry’s comedic stints on How I Met Your Mother and a voice part for the newly animated Smurfs film may help her find her funny bone on the live stage. Hubby Russell Brand also hosted SNL earlier this year, so perhaps he has a few pointers to share. Some of Perry’s music videos find her adopting goofy personalities, particularly “Last Friday Night (TGIF)” where Perry becomes her dorky alter ego Kathy Beth Terry who wakes up after a wild night of partying. The character seems destined to make an appearance on the show. Will you be tuning in or staying far, far away from this ep of SNL? [via Rolling Stone]
Finally — an episode of Saturday Night Live that we genuinely liked as a whole! Of course, Jason Segel is one of our favorite actors right now, so we we pre-disposed to like the show this week, but even objectively, we think it was one of the best of the season. Segel’s lovably genuine silliness fit in well with the cast, but for our money he also pulled off angry prostitute pretty well. And while some sketches were less than stellar, there were none that were unbearably terrible, which is fairly unusual, at least for this season. Click through to watch our picks for the best and worst sketches of the night, and let us know if you agree or completely disagree with our assessments in the comments!
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Almost completely built on recycled sketches and heavy on the potty humor, the only thing that made last night’s Saturday Night Live bearable was the adorable, fresh-faced Emma Stone. She displayed a Melissa McCarthy-like willingness to make a hilarious fool out of herself, and managed to instill a little life into even the weakest of skit ideas, stealing the show more than once. All in all, we think it came out to be one of the better shows so far this season. Click through to watch the skits we thought were great and skip through the skits we thought were terrible, and make sure to let us know if you agree or disagree with our assessments in the comments! Read More »
Saturday Night Live came back after a three week break with a relatively good episode hosted by frantic cult favorite Charlie Day. Day was certainly enthusiastic, and we admit we were pretty charmed by his opening monologue, but we think SNL just didn’t know quite how to use him, and we ended up not liking most of the skits where he was featured prominently. However, the show as a whole was better than many of the others we’ve seen this season, so we’re not complaining too much. Click through to watch our picks for the best and worst skits of last night’s Saturday Night Live, and let us know if you agree or disagree with our assessments in the comments.
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