In New York, Jimmy McMillan has been known for a while now. His runs for mayor of New York City in 2005 and 2009 caught the attention of Gawker among others.
However, McMillan’s visibility jumped a lot higher in the last week due to two events: the New York state governor’s debate, and Saturday Night Live.
A video highlighting McMillan’s responses during the debate on Oct. 18 took off like a rocket, mostly because of his claim that “The rent is too damn high.” Which, of course, happens to be the name of his political party: The Rent Is Too Damn High Party.
I’m not going to weigh in too much here on the Saturday Night Live “joke-stealing controversy”, because honestly, there isn’t one.
Here’s the story, such as it is: SNL‘s premiere had two skits that other sites have pointed to as having potentially ripped off other shows.
The first, and loudest, was from a SNL sketch called “Ladies Who Lunch” where Kristen Wiig is constantly one-upped by Amy Poehler’s continually shrinking hat size. This was noticed by the creators of Cartoon Network’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show: Great Job!, who took to Twitter to note the similarities to their skit, “Tiny Hats”.
The thing is — the two skits aren’t all that similar at all, except for the size of the hats.
NBC says “Saturday Night Live” will launch its 36th season on Sept. 25 with host Amy Poehler and musical guest Katy Perry.
Poehler is a former “SNL” cast member and will return to make her hosting debut. Perry’s No. 1 smash “California Gurls” has become the song of the summer.
NBC says “SNL” will welcome four new cast members this season. They include Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah.
Cast member Will Forte recently left the show after eight seasons and Jenny Slate left after one season.
Will Forte (right) as ESPN announcer Greg Stink at The 2010 Espys with fellow 'SNL' castmates Jason Sudeikis and Seth Meyers. (Alexandra Wyman / Getty Images)
The complaints are always the same about Saturday Night Live, it seems — it’s not funny anymore, the new cast members aren’t any good, it hasn’t been the same since (insert favorite cast member) left, etc.
And yet, many of us keep coming back — and now with Hulu making it easy to find the sketches that worked, SNL does continue to have an audience.
Recently, SNL‘s cycle of seeing cast members leave and hiring new faces continued.
First, we saw Will Forte leave. Though Forte’s potential breakout film, MacGruber, fizzled at the box office, clearly he’s got a future elsewhere. Besides MacGruber, his characters may not have been as well known as those of, say, Will Ferrell or any of the classic cast members. But he brings a real weird twist to everything he plays — and I personally really liked Tim Calhoun, his forever failing political candidate, and Greg Stink, the clueless play-by-play guy on ESPN Classic. Read the full story
30 Rock star Tracy Morgan will perform at the Palm Beach Improv June 18-20. Morgan, best known for his memorable seven-season stint on Saturday Night Live, has been busy this year with his film career. He starred alongside Bruce Willis in Kevin Smith’s action comedy Cop Out earlier this year. Morgan can be seen on the big screen now with Chris Rock in Death at a Funeral, the remake of the 2007 British film by the same name. Nailed, another film starring Morgan, is due out this year. He is also dabbling in the dramatic genre with The Son of No One, also starring Al Pacino and Juliette Binoche. Currently in production, the film is due out in 2011.
What: Tracy Morgan When: 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, June 18, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 19, and 7 p.m. Sunday, June 20. Where: The Palm Beach Improv, 550 S. Rosemary Ave., Suite 250, CityPlace, West Palm Beach Tickets: $39.78 Phone: (561) 833-1812
Following Betty White’s well-received stint as host of Saturday Night Live this week, The Chicago Tribune took a look at some others who have yet to host the NBC late-night juggernaut. Here are the eight they’d like to see:
1. Tom Cruise
2. Denzel Washington
3. Keanu Reeves
4. Dustin Hoffman
5. Meryl Streep
6. Angelina Jolie
7. Al Pacino
8. Morgan Freeman
Frankly, there are a few on that list I would not like to see at all — Reeves, Hoffman, Streep. None would be funny. Maybe Streep — she pretty much sparkled in Julie & Julia. Hoffman might’ve been good a few years ago. Now? Eh. Read the full story
The indomitable Miss White rocked SNL this past Saturday. She showed that she’s not just a good sport, but that she’s still got her mischievous streak and great comic timing. If you missed the show, or just want to laugh again, here are some of the highlights.
If any state had the right to claim Betty White as its Beloved Elder, it would be Minnesota. In her two most iconic roles, she played happy homemaker Sue Ann Nivens, who scandalized Minneapolis in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and naive Rose Nylund, whose St. Olaf roots informed her every earnest reaction on The Golden Girls.
But these days, everyone wants to adopt the comic legend. At age 88, White has reluctantly agreed to host this weekend’s edition of Saturday Night Live, a gig sandwiched between her scene-stealing turn in The Proposal and the start of her umpteenth sitcom, Hot in Cleveland, which debuts in June on TV Land. Read the full story
It was “Saturday Night Live” on a Sunday afternoon, as James Franco’s “SNL” documentary screened at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The actor introduced his film just blocks away from the sketch comedy show’s Rockefeller Center home. His film, “Saturday Night,” documents a week in the life of the show — in particular, the December 2008 week hosted by John Malkovich.
Franco, who has twice hosted “SNL,” said he wanted to find out “what that mysterious comedy process was.” It began as a seven-minute school assignment for Franco, who was studying film at New York University, but grew into an hour-and-a-half documentary that premiered earlier this year at the South By Southwest film festival.
It follows the episode from the Tuesday morning pitch meeting in the office of creator Lorne Michaels, through the table read when players recite their scripts and dress rehearsal, and finally to the live show. (The process starts anew Tuesday when Betty White begins her week as host.) Read the full story
Sometimes, Saturday Night Live‘s sketches are more weird than funny. Sometimes they start out weird, then actually become funnier the more you remember them.
When I first saw SNL’s Danish Repertory Theater does Sinatra sketch, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Actually, I still don’t. But I find Fred Armesen really funny as the wanna-be Frank who basically isn’t anywhere close.
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Following Betty White’s well-received stint as host of Saturday Night Live this week, 
