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Posts tagged "SNL"

September 7th 6:13PM

Before They Get Stale: Bo Burnham, Norm Macdonald and Trevor Williams

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He just caused a big splash at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and now Bo Burnham just landed a pilot deal with MTV. And the goddamned beatnik still doesn't have the decency to get a haircut?! Does he want people to think he's a draft dodger? [Variety]

Norm Macdonald on being difficult when it comes to comedy, "A lot of people are in it to make money, and coming from stand-up, you have to work hard because almost nothing works… If you lose the audience for three minutes, you’re dead." [NYT]

What will Mad Men look like in its tenth season when it hits the 70's? Trevor Williams, of The Whitest Kids 'U Know, wrote this sketch that answers that question. [Babelgum]

Good news, everyone! The cast and crew of Futurama shared their favorite moments from the first one hundred episodes. [Wired]

Stand up Wil Sylvince was in this short boxing film for HBO. It's not funny. In fact, it's quite dramatic. It's already inspired me to become a boxer. Is there a boxing category below lightweight? [Comic's Comic]

Paul Lieberstein, who plays Toby on The Office, seems to be stirring up some rumors of late, "Maybe when the series is done we'd do an Office movie. I'd be up for that…" [E!]

I already brought you the news that Ochi's Lounge in New York shut down. Christian Finnegan wrote a really nice eulogy to the comedy staple. Break out the tissues, NY comedy nerds! [Facebook]

That SNL documentary James Franco shot found a distributor. Also, did you know James Franco masturbates a lot. Yeah, we didn't need to know that either. Thanks, interview! [THR]

September 3rd 8:30AM

Is SNL Getting a New Obama?

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The Comic's Comic already called Paul Brittain, Taran Killam and Vanessa Bayer as the new freshman class of SNL cast members, and it's now breaking the news that Jay Pharoah will be joining them in the Fall. First of all, let's say congrats to Jay Pharoah and second, let's say, what a great name, Jay Pharoah! Is that a stage name? Maybe we'll find out when someone builds him a Wikipedia page…

The Comic's Comic has learned that Jay Pharoah, a young stand-up comedian from Virginia's Tidewater who has a full arsenal of impersonations — including one of President Barack Obama (and yes, he'd likely do it instead of Fred Armisen!) — is just about a done deal to become the fourth new cast member to join the on-air ranks when SNL's 36th season begins on Sept. 25, 2010.

From what I can tell from all his internet videos (he has a great deal of content online, but who knows how much longer it will be up) his stand up is mostly composed of impersonations, particularly of rappers and musicians.

A lot of people have complained in the past few years about the lack of black cast members on SNL. Fred Armisen is currently portraying President Obama and Kenan Thompson is pulling a lot of weight as the sole black performer. So, Jay signing up to the cast seems like nothing but a good thing, and it seems like he's got a lot to add to the show's dynamic.

Right now, the only question remains, if four new cast members are joining the team, will any current cast members be fired? Will Forte has left voluntarily, but I guess we'll be hearing soon who stays and who goes.

After the jump, I've assembled some videos from The Comic's Comic and Jay's video accounts.

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August 27th 8:30AM

Who Doesn't Have a Job Now? Will Forte Edition!

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Yesterday, we brought you news about a bunch of people who recently became gainfully employed. Today, we bring you news about people who are currently skimming the classifieds (do those still even exist?)

Will Forte has been a member of one of the stronger SNL casts in recent memory. He's created memorable characters like MacGruber, The Falconer and Senator Tim Calhoun, and has even spun his characters off into films. But, after eight years as a reliable cast-member, Will Forte has decided to mozy along into the sunset

Will Forte, the longtime “Saturday Night Live” cast member who portrayed that incompetent adventurer, among a wealth of other eccentric characters, will not be returning to “S.N.L.” when the NBC late-night sketch series begins its 36th season in the fall…

While the announcement is not official, the report comes from the New York Times, and they are a legitimate news source, with journalists and notepads and this hat, so let's take their word for it.

Eight years as an SNL cast member is nothing to sneeze at. As many past SNL alums have stated, there comes a point where you have to make the jump forward and leave the dream job and that time has just come for Will Forte.

Word is Will Forte left amicably to pursue other projects. Even though MacGruber and The Brothers Solomon did not do too well at the office of box (box office?), he's been in a number of other films. He also voices a recurring character on The Cleveland Show. The man will be fine!

In related news, 9.5% of America's labor force still doesn't have a job. I hope their agents and managers are all on it!

After the jump, I've embedded one of the weirdest SNL sketches in recent memory, starring Will Forte.

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August 26th 8:30AM

Who Has a Job Now? Hannibal Buress and Chelsea Peretti Do!

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Many funny people aren't getting paid to be funny, but are instead getting paid to be security guards. So I am always a big fan of funny people getting paid to be funny. As the Comic's Comic reports, Hannibal Buress and Chelsea Peretti both got new jobs on NBC sitcoms…

Hannibal Buress has left the writing staff of Saturday Night Live inside 30 Rockefeller Plaza to write for NBC's 30 Rock, while Chelsea Peretti started work Monday as a writer on NBC's Parks and Recreation.

Hannibal worked on SNL ever since he was handpicked after an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon back in August 2009. Chelsea was a writer on The Sarah Silverman Program and also helped develop the pilot for a TV version of WTF with Marc Maron.

If you're wondering how SNL plans to fill the Hannibal-shaped void, over the summer they made two new hires. We've already mentioned that Second City's Shelly Gossman landed the gig, but now we have word that Tom Flannigan, another Second City member, has been brought on board as an SNL writer.

Now, let's move from the small screen to the other small screen. Popular blog for blog writers, The Awl, just announced it would be launching a new comedy website, and Gizomodo writer and UCB improviser Adam Frucci is leading the charge

I'm starting a new website called Splitsider with the guys behind The Awl. It's going to be a blog that focuses on comedy, one of my biggest passions, and I'm very, very excited about it. It's launching soon, and I hope you'll come check it out. You can follow the Splitsider Twitter account for updates on it and details on the launch.

Congrats to everyone! You all deserve to take yourselves out for ice cream. And to pay for it yourselves, like the ADULTS WITH JOBS you are now! You will not be sad reminders of the downward spiral of our dying nation at least for another TV season!

Also, I was thinking of following this post up with a post called Who Doesn't Have a Job and it would just be "9.5% of American's labor force." SOCIAL COMMENTARY!

August 20th 5:04PM

Before They Get Stale: Jon Glaser, Laura Kightlinger and Michael O'Brien

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Jon Glaser describes the next season of Delocated, "Oh, man, there are some super-spectacular murders this year. There’s a couple of spectacular murders. There’s a cute murder. There’s a weird murder. Then there’s a super-fun murder." [AV Club]

Speaking of Jon Glaser and Delocated, they are both things that exist. You know what also exists? This super trailer to Delocated that stars Jon Glaser, who also exists. [Funny or Die]

Laura Kightlinger writes and directs this web series starring Eddie Pepitone and Frank Conniff. A kitten is involved. Everyone loves kittens. [Funny or Die]

Cartoon Network has a new cartoon show based on MAD Magazine. Its target audience will be 12-year-olds who like spoofs and parodies and 40-year-olds who still live in the house they grew up in. [Mad Blog]

Michael Patrick O'Brien, the SNL writer who co-wrote the "Kickspit Underground Rock Festival" sketch, was invited to The Gathering of the Juggalos, "The roughest thing… was Brad got 'bag tagged' (backhand slap to the crotch)…" [Live from New York]

Kevin MacDonald goes into the creation and process of the popular sketches and characters from Kids in the Hall. Here he is on the famous Citizen Kane sketch, "What Dave doesn’t know is that Dave really is like that." [AV Club]

Jeffrey Ross talks about the Twitter campaign to crown him the next Idol judge, "I'm willing to take that hit [insult people] because I'll be able to make it come off affectionate." [Spin]

Have you seen the New York Times Weekender Ads? Well, if you have, then this parody of what the NY Post version would look like is pretty funny. If you haven't seen it… well then, fuck you, buddy. [Gawker]

August 17th 5:52PM

Before They Get Stale: Whitney Cummings, Chris Gethard and Kristen Schaal

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Whitney Cummings describes the Roasts, "It’s the one hour a year where nothing is off limits and nobody’s feelings are involved… and nothing is offensive. It’s a celebration of the first amendment, I guess." [Wallstreet Journal]

Speaking of Whitney Cummings, here she talks about the connection between journalists and comedians in this video interview. [Punchline]

Chris Gethard explains how he landed the role on Big Lake, "It was one of those, 'I got lucky' situations. But, at the same time, I had been working very hard to put myself in a place where I could act on that luck." [Movie Line]

Scott Gairdner just got hired to work on staff for Funny or Die. If you don't know who Scott Gairdner is, he made my favorite Michael McDonald Halloween video. [Scott Gairdner]

Marc Maron and Hari Kondabolu had a conversation over text, Hari posted it on his blog and then a fan made a video dramatizing it. THE CIRCLE OF LIIIIIFE INTERNEEET!!! [Hari Kondabolu]

Kristen Schaal talks about The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex, "I probably will never write another thing about sex again." [NY Magazine]

The Life and Times of Tim got a last minute reprieve by HBO and will have a third season after all. I support anything that gives more money to the comics I love and the voice cast is just full of 'em. [AST]

SNL's Nasim Pedrad is starring in a movie she is writing herself. Multitasking! [Live from New York]

August 17th 1:40PM

SNL's Jenny Slate Stars In This Cute Video About Cuteness

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Hello, little video written by Saturday Night Live's Jenny Slate. It's okay, little guy. Come on out. Don't be shy. That's right. You're a cute little thing, aren't you, video put up on Vimeo by director Dean Fleischer-Camp? Yeah, you are very cute. You know you're cute, right? No, no, no, it's okay, don't run away. Do you like treats? Here's a treat. Oh, you love treats! How cute! We're just going to hit play on you, video. That's okay with you, right? Aww, you like it when people hit play! So cute!

Okay, everybody say goodbye to the video. It's nap time. Time for naps! Here's a warm sippy cup of milk. It's really cute when it's sleeping.

[Shhhh... alright, quick poll. How much of my creepy writing on this blog post was super creepy? 73%? Was the answer 73%?]

August 13th 11:08AM

Todd Phillips Tackling John Belushi Biopic

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Over the years, many people have tried to mount a biopic of the life of John Belushi. He did drugs. He had sex. He was big on rock and roll. If there's not a movie there somewhere, Hollywood will eat a hat and call it breakfast grits (a Depression-era hobo is writing this post).

But the film is a hard nut to crack for a lot of reasons. And now Todd Phillips is the latest nutcracker taking a crack at those nuts

John Belushi may be getting a (second) second life on the big screen.

The Pursuit of Happyness screenwriter Steven Conrad and The Hangover director-producer Todd Phillips are developing a biographical film about the late comedian’s life. Warner Bros. recently acquired the rights from Belushi’s estate.

Conrad will script the project and Phillips will produce, though he has not yet committed to directing it. Alexandra Milchan and Bonnie Timmerman are also producing.

Researching the film history of the Belushi biopic led me to Wired, the 1989 film adaptation of the controversial biographical book by Bob Woodward. The film was a fiasco that almost derailed Michael Chiklis's career (almost depriving the world of his two most famous characters: The Thing and the Shield). From the same Hollywood Reporter article…

When Wired was subsequently turned into a 1989 feature starring Michael Chiklis, Belushi’s friends and family publicly boycotted the film, which then OD’d at the box office.

Get it? OD'd because John Belushi died of too many drugs. Apparently the original film had a framing device where an angel cab driver drove John Belushi's ghost through his life's trials and tribulations. I just had a framing device where I laughed in my chair for twenty minutes over that fact.

Click after the jump to watch a clip of the actual John Belushi doing what John Belushi did best.

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August 6th 8:30AM

Adam McKay to Direct Film From In The Loop Writer?

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The Other Guys comes out today, so there's been no shortage of Will Ferrell videos and interviews online. But what about the other half of the comedy equation? Adam McKay has directed and co-written the best Will Ferrell movies and has been a guiding comedic voice going as far back as his days working as head writer for Saturday Night Live. Where is his compensation? Oh, right, it's in his berjillions of dollars.

First up, one of the more exciting things I've heard in a while is the fact that Adam may direct a film from Jesse Armstrong, one of the co-writers of In The Loop and Four Lions

…we’re actually developing a Lee Atwater script with Jesse Armstrong, one of the writers of In The Loop. I would direct that, and that is pretty overt. Basically, we’re framing Lee Atwater as the guy who was the linchpin of the past 25 years. That guy is immensely important. You look at what he did, he was the one who defeated Dukakis. People forget that Dukakis was 14 points ahead in the polls over Bush senior. By the time he lost, he lost by eight points, and it was all that Willie Horton stuff, the mental-illness insinuations, all this sleazy win-at-all-costs stuff that just became a sort of road map.

The other film Adam McKay says he may do next is The Boys, which is based on an ultra-violent Garth Ennis comic. Both projects sound interesting, but I'd rather see the Lee Atwater film mostly because In The Loop is probably the best film I've seen recently whose name didn't start in Toy and end in Story 3.

Oh, and there's also a great little interview with Adam McKay I embedded after the jump.

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August 4th 5:31PM

Before They Get Stale: Moshe Kasher, Carol Burnett and Michael Cera

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Moshe Kasher talks about his upcoming memoir, which sounds like it will be pretty fucked up. Next stop: Oprah! [Punchline]

Forty-five years ago, a female fan of Eddie Munster sent a piece of fan mail to Butch Patrick. Forty-five years later, they are in love. This story is so heart-warming it's spoooooooky. [Yahoo News]

Carol Burnett will play Jane Lynch's mother in an episode of Glee. I've never seen Glee, but apparently her character will be a Nazi hunter? Is Glee about singing Nazi hunters? Because if it isn't, I have an idea for a new show. [EW]

It's that time of the year again. SNL is taking requests for show tickets for the upcoming season. Click through and scroll down to the bottom of the page for the instructions. [NBC]

As you've probably already seen (or maybe you haven't because aren't a king of the internet like me), Paul Rudd was a DJ at a Bar Mitzvah back before he was famous. [Best Week Ever]

Michael Cera almost died once climbing the mountains of Denver. He found the will to live when he realized there was a world outside of Denver. [Gawker]

While it was already somewhat known that UCB New York was creating a second theater space tailored for stand-up, there was a bit more confirmation at the Del Close Marathon. The PIT also announced it was expanding as well. [Comic's Comic]

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