Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Jason Sudeikis are on their way out at Saturday Night Live. Given the crowdedness but odd insularity of the comedy scenes in New York, Chicago, and L.A., finding new cast members is not the easiest task. But these are some people who could fit right in for standing out.
Saturday Night Live will look pretty different in September, as this past weekend's season finale saw the departure of mainstay favorites Fred Armisen and Bill Hader. There are, come September, going to be a lot of new faces around Studio 8H.
Saturday Night Live said goodbye to two of its biggest stars last night, both in spectacular fashion, and had all time performances from Kanye West. It was a night of teary goodbyes and awkward Ben Affleck jokes. Join us, please, as we send off Stefon and Ian Rubbish in style.
So if Kanye West's weird behavior in the Saturday Night Live promos wasn't enough to pique your interest in tonight's season finale, last night he surprised the world be debuting a new song and video with projections on landmarks in 10 different cities around the world.
This coming weekend is a big one for Saturday Night Live. It marks the end of Bill Hader's tenure on the show and Ben Affleck's fifth time hosting. But perhaps the most significant reason to tune in is the fact that Kanye West is the musical guest, and he's making it seem like he really really doesn't want to be.
The period of transition that began with Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig quitting the show last year is now in full swing. And while Hader's Stefon may no longer flirt with the departing Seth Meyers at the "Weekend Update" desk, this shift — like those before it — could be a good thing for a legendary show always in a legendary state of flux.
So less than a year since her departure, Kristen Wiig made her triumphant return to Saturday Night Live last night to retread all the characters you knew and loved. But most importantly she stayed out of the way when she needed to let the new, very strong female cast shine.
Zach Galifianakis hosted Saturday Night Live for the third time while promoting The Hangover III and turned in an absolutely brilliant performance as every over-excited Game of Thrones fan you've ever met. Also, the show destroyed Google Glass users.
Box office hero Melissa McCarthy stopped by Saturday Night Live for the second time in her career last night and saved the episode when some of the jokes weren't that great. Oh, and a certain Tyrion Lannister showed up ahead of this Sunday's Game of Thrones premiere.
The Saturday Night Live ratings for Justin Timberlake's big fifth time came in this afternoon, and he delivered numbers the show hasn't seen since it had help from the NFL -- and that was a year and three months ago.
So, Justin Timberlake became the first person in the modern era to join the Five-Timers Club last night, both in the records books and in the fictional sketch world of Saturday Night Live. They brought out all the stops for the occasion, including old friends like... The Three Amigos?!
OK, not to be horrible and speculative, but tonight is Justin Timberlake's fifth time hosting NBC's Saturday Night Live, and that's a big deal. Tom Hanks once described the fifth time as "the most special of all," and, lo, Hanks and other five-timers may be making an appearance tonight.
Justin Timberlake has fans waiting out in the snow to see him on SNL, which brings us back to about a month ago when Bieber fans braved similar conditions.
Embattled former Saturday Night Live star Chevy Chase was the one who convinced NBC News anchor Brian Williams to let his guard down, let us in, and have a little fun.
No one wants to write about the sequester, or read about the sequester, or joke about the sequester. But it's a big deal and we can't escape it, so we do our best to come up with something, anything. The Saturday Night Live team could only come up with a sketch hinging on a Village People joke.
Today in show business news: Your favorite Boston boy bander is back, Justin Timberlake is heading to Rockefeller Center once again, and Bill O'Reilly is thinking about Killing Jesus.
Just about everybody assumed religious groups would be outraged, but just about everybody thought the sketch would offend Christian organizations. But apparently it offended at least one Islamic anti-defamation group a little more.
Christoph Waltz is a very talented actor. No one denies that. He even won an Oscar. But going into his hosting stint on Saturday Night Live, we had reservations. Delivering movie dialogue with wit and timing can easy; doing it live is not. Thankfully, we were so, so wrong.
Justin Bieber hosted Saturday Night Live last night and tried to do his best Justin Timberlake impression -- or, more to the point, he pretended to have personality. So, how convincing was he? Not very! He also addressed those pesky reports of him smoking weed.
NBC has released the first major promo for Justin Bieber's first major attempt at taking over Saturday Night Live this weekend, and it's not so bad! At least it sure is just as promising than the hosting debut of that other Justin.
Adam Levine's stint hosting Saturday Night Live was memorable not for anything he did, but the returns that came with him. Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island guys came back for the first time since the star left the show at the end of last season.
Gosh, remember Saturday Night Live? It's been over a month since we last hung out! If you were expecting strong, complex sketches that would bring the funny for the first episode of 2013, hosted by Jennifer Lawrence no less, and not lazy jokes about last week's news, well...
Today in showbiz: Transformers 4 will star a big up-and-comer, too many people watch Honey Boo Boo, Glee lives past its expiration date, and Justin Bieber is hosting all of SNL.
Today in show business news: Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs biopic has a release date, Nicolas Cage's Rapture movie gets even stranger, and Adam Levine will soon be hosting SNL.
Saturday Night Live isn't important because it's a weekly funny show. It's important because it's the only weekly funny show that can help us remember what the heck happened this year.
Saturday Night Live deferred from its usual structure last night. Instead of the traditional cold open sketch, they had the New York Children's Chrous sing two verses of "Silent Night."
It's amazing what can happen when a Saturday Night Live host is as charismatic as Jamie Foxx. It helps that he has sketch comedy experience, but whatever, last's night's episode was alright.
Sorry, Jeremy Renner, but New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stole the spotlight from you on last night's Saturday Night Live. That's no knock on you. We just can't resist the fleece jokes.
The Saturday Night Live writers cemented their love for Homeland with a (by all accounts) fantastic send up this week.
We did things a bit differently this week. Instead of the regular quick recap and a few videos, we decided a Louis CK hosted episode of Saturday Night Live needed a little more than that. So join us, please, for a readable, watchable, GIF-able recap of a great SNL episode.
Today in show business news: America's favorite cheese monger moves to TV, Charlie Sheen is going to be an even richer man, and SNL announces some upcoming guests.
With nine days to go until Election Day, political satirists are doing everything they can to squeeze every last laugh out of the campaigns, but Mitt Romney refuses to be the butt of anybody's joke.
Bruno Mars surprised everyone by being a game, and funny, Saturday Night Live host. He helped deliver one of the most talked about sketches in years but for some reason it's not available online.
Saturday Night Live is starting to hit its stride. Last night's episode started with an excellent cold open on the Vice-Presidential debate, strayed with a promising-but-flawed tech journalist sketch, and excelled with an appearance from a flirty Arianna Huffington on Weekend Update.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers scored the week's biggest exclusive by getting Big Bird to to stay up way past his usual bed time to comment on being the center of attention in Wednesday night's debate.
Maybe you didn't know, but Jay-Z and Beyonce held a fundraiser for the President in New York this week. And Ann Romney's been telling people to go easier on her husband. Enter the Saturday Night Live writers, who took both of those events and swung for the fences this week.
Saturday Night Live began its season premiere last night with a touching passing-of-the-torch moment when Fred Armisen literally handed off the Obama impersonation to Jay Pharoah.
When Saturday Night Live returns on Saturday, it's a safe bet the show will open Jason Sudeikis doing his Romney impersonation across from an Obama. But things are different this year. Fred Armisen is out. Jay Pharoah is the new impersonator-in-chief.
The future of Saturday Night Live cast member and burgeoning movie actor Jason Sudeikis' employment on the show has been questionable all summer, but now, just four days before the season premiere, it's been announced that he will, in fact, be a cast member for at least part of this season.
After a tumultuous spring and summer of cast changes, with standout veterans Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg quitting, second-stringer Abby Elliot leaving, and Jason Sudeikis still on the fence, Saturday Night Live has announced three new cast members in the lead-up to its season premiere this weekend.
Seth Myers told TMZ he's "definitely not" going to be doing the Paul Ryan impersonation when Saturday Night Live debuts on September 15. Can we stop pretending like this isn't going to be Bill Hader's gig?
Comedy blog Splitsider's Adam Frucci reports today that legacy cast member Abby Elliott (her dad is former cast member Chris Elliott) has announced that she won't be returning to Saturday Night Live after four seasons on the show.
Remember last week when there were rumors that Jimmy Fallon was in talks to host next year's Oscars telcast and Lorne Michaels was going to produce and there was a chance it would actually be funny and entertaining? Oh, how we miss the good ol' days.
Today in showbiz news, Keri Russell will soon have another show on the air, which is good news. Julie Delpy has gotten a bit ambitious about who she wants to cast in her next movie. And Zack Morris and Malcolm Middle (or whatever) are returning to TV.
Today in Hollywood news: A cast bands together to demand more money, MTV revives a popular old show, and NBC will get political again this fall.
Tom Davis was one of the original writers on Saturday Night Live. He worked with the show for over 20 years, finally leaving in 2003. He passed away on Thursday from throat and neck cancer.
Andy Samberg is leaving Saturday Night Live. It's the right decision. Here's why.
Today: Disney has made a lot but not *that* much, Justin Timberlake scores a film, and so does Rupert Everett.
The season finale of SNL was bittersweet as the show said what's likely its final goodbyes to Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis.
Steven Spielberg made a cameo on last night's Saturday Night Live -- and brought with him one of his most enjoyable films in years.
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