Melissa McCarthy hosted Saturday Night Live last night for the third time with musical guest Imagine Dragons, but the popular comedienne’s performance was overshadowed by the fact that it was Seth Meyers’s last show. Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen and Stefon (aka Bill Hader) all showed up in support of the long-time Saturday Night Live cast member and gave him a heartfelt send off.
Seth Meyers has been a part of the Saturday Night Live family for 12 years (Darrell Hammond is the only cast member who’s been on the show longer than that). He joined the cast as a featured player alongside Amy Poehler, Dean Edwards and Jeff Richards. While the latter two never found stardom on SNL, Meyers and Poehler became a kind of team. The duo worked together on sketches such as Spy Glass, Little Sleuths and the Needlers (aka the couple that should be divorced), and later became co-anchors of Weekend Update.
However, Meyers’s biggest contribution to Saturday Night Live was perhaps behind the scenes. He started writing some of the show’s smartest sketches and soon assumed Tina Fey’s role as head writer on the program. Fey pointed out in Bossypants that all of the landmark Sarah Palin sketches that she starred in during the 2008 Presidential run were not written by her, but by Meyers.
After Jimmy Fallon takes over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno, Meyers will assume control of Late Night. Another one of Saturday Night Live’s head writers, Colin Jost, will be taking Meyers’s place on Weekend Update when the show returns March 1.
Saturday Night Live returns March 1. There is no word on the host or the musical guest.
[Photo Credit: NBC]