This weekend’s season finale of Saturday Night Live was an especially emotional episode, one that saw beloved cast members Bill Hader and Fred Armisen bid the show a fond adieu. Hader’s big farewell sketch was, of course, the epic wedding between Stefon and Seth Meyers, while Fred Armisen was joined by a calvacade of indie rock legends—Carrie Brownstein! Steve Jones! Aimee Mann! Michael Penn! J. Mascis!—for an emotional performance as his punk rocker alter ego Ian Rubbish.
We don’t mean to create unrealistic expectations for ourselves or anyone else, but Jennifer Lawrence is going to be amazing as an SNL host this Saturday, right? Like “first time Lindsay Lohan in the Debbie Downer sketch” levels of awesome.? We’re basing this presupposition entirely on her new promos with the soon to be Mr. Olivia Wilde Jason Sudeikis (they are letting him all the promos now, aren’t they?) for her episode this weekend with The Lumineers. Just the fact JLaw was able to make a Hunger Games archery joke seem fresh almost a year later is a testament to her skill as a performer.
Promos aside, Jennifer has all the ingredients of an excellent host: she’s a great actress, she’s naturally hilarious both in interviews and onstage and she seems like the kind of person who might accidentally swear on live TV , hen laugh maniacally until they cut to commercial. Plus you know they are going to riff on her “I beat Meryl” Golden Globes acceptance speech. It’s like she said that line just so Saturday Night Life could make fun of it! That was so nice of her. So don’t blow this, Lawrence! We don’t want another “Lindsay Lohan the second time” on our hands.
We have no idea how Bobby Moynihan‘s Guy Fieri impression got cut from SNL‘s Weekend Update Saturday, but we are thankful NBC posted the dress rehearsal footage after the fact. The world needed someone to address the now-legendary New York Times review of Fieri’s new restaurant. It just doesn’t seem fair. Like Guy-Bobby explained, “It’s like comparing apples to fat dirt.” Haha, yes. Delightful. While we love and cherish everyone on SNL (especially Kate McKinnon‘s sick Ellen Degeneres impression last weekend), it’s bits like these that suggest Bobby Moynihan is currently SNL‘s resident MVP. The man has given us so many gems, like…
Guys, we think we might be too in love with Anne Hathaway‘s hair. Have you seen it? Does it make you want to shrink Anne Hathaway down to the size of a hot dog and make her live in a doll house, (which would be creepy enough on it’s own because what adult has a doll house, but then also the doll happens to be Anne Hathaway)? Just us then? That’s what we suspected.
Well, even if you haven’t reached Twilight Zone-levels of obsessiveness with girl’s coiffe yet, obviously you’ll be casting your vote for Hathaway over Jason Sudeikis for “Sexiest Hair Award” in her SNL promos. Over everyone, actually. Sorry if this stings at all, President Obama. It’s just…well, you aren’t technically in the running for this award. And you really don’t do much with your hair. Mix it up! Make it fun! Ironically, Anne will be joined this weekend by musical guest Rihanna, the other celeb whose pixie cut makes us want to print out pictures of her, glue them to cardboard and turn them into paper dolls that our daughters can play with. [Note: We should probably mention our daughters are paper dolls of Anne Hathaway.]
Considering what a controversy the cast of Jersey Shore has stirred up ever since their show first aired on MTV, we think this is a great step for them and their adopted hometown of Seaside Heights. After witnessing the devastation done to their summer haunt during Superstorm Sandy, the show is teaming up with Architecture for Humanity for a benefit called Restore the Shore, airing live next Thursday, November 15 at 11 p.m. ET (tape-delayed for the West Coast). The money raised will help rebuild the boardwalk and assist the people who live and work in the affected region.
According to the press release we got this morning, the special will also feature special guests to be announced. Who do you think they should invite? Here are our suggestions:
Now that Klaine are splitsville on Glee (temporarily, we hope!) we’re looking forward to seeing what kind of transformations Kurt and Blaine go through while coping with their emotional distress. And hoping that means at some point Darren Criss will bring back the gel-less “Broccoli Head” look he sported at prom. We were reminded of what a nice change it is to see guys sport their natural curls on Saturday night, when Bruno Mars ditched his usual pompadour for a bushier ‘do as the host and musical guest on SNL. Maybe that was partly due to the fact that it made no sense to sculpt his hair ever so carefully just minutes before stuffing it into a wig. But we’d also like to think this is part of a new trend. Free your locks from their stiff product prison, gentlemen! Ring in the new era of curl!
We were going to credit Darren with this trend at first, but then we spotted a few Tumblrs dedicated to the adorable Mr. Mars (who made a pretty decent comedian this weekend, if you ask us). Turns out, the very week that Blaine was forced to go natural at prom, Bruno also sported curls at the Met Costume Gala. Spooky! (Not really.) Read more…
“Would you like to know the longest journey I’ve ever taken? It was the one into my own mind.” We always knew Andy Samberg would make an absolutely amazing dirty hippie, and the new trailer for his upcoming BBC show Cuckoo confirms those unconscious instincts. Honestly, no matter what his role would end up being, we couldn’t be happier to see Andy mugging for the camera again. Just because he left SNL doesn’t mean we want him to leave our hearts! Samberg will also be appearing in Aubrey Plaza‘s The To Do List next Valentine’s Day and Adam Sandler‘s Grown Ups 2 next year, in addition to portraying some kind of cartoon baby in Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers, currently filming for a 2014 release date. In fact, it looks like all the recent SNL alums are going to be appearing on a screen of some particular size in the next few months. Thank the Comedy Lord…
Ryan Lochte already owned a tiny, horny piece of our heart after blowing up at the 2012 Olympics. Now we love him even more for being a real sport about Seth MacFarlane’s highly unflattering impression of him on SNL this weekend. “Well I gotta admit that was a pretty harsh one, but it’s cool to have Seth parody me,” Ryan admitted to Celebuzz. “I think he pegged me wrong, but when I heard he did a skit I knew I was in for it!” If it sounds like Ryan isn’t exactly thrilled with the impression, check out the Family Guy creator’s Lochte steez after the jump. Who would be excited about being portrayed as a drooling, mumbly jock with baby bangs? If we were Ryan, we’d never leave the pool! You know, so no one could see our tears?
Maybe it’s all those OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALS that make Ryan a bigger person than we. “It’s all in fun and of course if I’m talked about on SNL I know they are gonna get me ‘Go-od,’” Ryan joked. Overall, Lochte declared, “I give Seth two swims!” Oh man, that’s like a thousand thumbs up! On a related note, why do they give all the good lines on Animal Hospital to the monkey? That doesn’t seem particularly fair…
The creator and producer of Saturday Night Life, Lorne Michaels, has confirmed that the show has got itself a new Barack Obama character. Jay Pharoah, who has been featured on the show two years running, is going to be portraying Obama, taking over from Fred Armisen. Armisen has played the Obama role since 2008 (from the election onwards.) Michaels explains the decision, saying, “Jay has been doing Obama in his act this summer, and Jay is coming into his own. I just thought it might be time to shake it up.” A previous criticism of Armisen’s character was an obvious one — that the African-American president was not being played by an African-American actor on the show. The new season begins on September 25 and Pharoah is now a full-fledged member of the cast. His impersonations of Obama have already gone viral on the internet, so we know he’s going to be re in the role. SNL’s had some pretty memorable political character sketchs so far — George Bush by Will Ferrell, Bill Clinton by Phil Hartman and Hillary Clinton by Amy Poehler and Sarah Palin by Tina Fey. Can Pharoah elevate the character to those ranks? Here’s hoping!
Abby Elliott is officially leaving SNL, and so begins the show’s meticulous search for a new cast member. Or SNL could just hire one of the five comedians we chose for them below! Weeee! What a time saver! Seriously though, seeing as how SNL hired the hilarious Kate McKinnon immediately before Kristen Wiig‘s exit (and Andy Samberg shan’t be returning in the fall), it only stands to reason the show will be bringing in some new faces soon. Maybe some of the faces can be…these faces?