SNL
MikeM
Saturday Night Live panel. On the panel was (new TCA Career
Achievement award winner) Lorne Michaels, Weekend Update anchor and co-
head-writer Seth Meyers, and cast members Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg,
Jason Sudeikis, Kristin Wiig, Will Forte, and Casey Wilson.
Given the comedy star power on stage, the panel was strangely unfunny.
That's probably because Michaels answered most of the questions.
Anyway, two pieces of news came out of this panel:
* SNL will run live 30-minute Thursday election specials in
primetime starting October 9 and running until the election. The
specials will feature Weekend Update but may also have sketches. There
will also be a primetime "Presidential Bash" episode the night before
the election.
* Michaels mentioned that Jimmy Fallon will air his show online
for "five or six months" before it airs in Conan O'Brien's old
timeslot, in order to give it a headstart in finding its creative
legs. "We learned with Conan how brutal it was to find a show when it
was on the air," he said.
A couple more notes:
* Amy Poehler will remain with SNL through her pregnancy. "Amy
will be there until her baby is born, which hopefully will be just
after the election, so that she can do everything she can," deadpanned
Michaels. "But I think that she'll be with us through the election and
as long as she can be and then I think she'll take, you know, the time
before she jumps into everything, I think she'll want to spend some
time with her child, I would assume." He said her departure would be a
"big loss."
* Fred Armisen is working on his Obama impression. He was
strangely quiet and evasive about the subject, but he did quip that he
hasn't asked the writers about what they intend to do with the role in
the Fall. "No, I just ignore everything. I run my own summer camp,
anyways."
* I asked Andy Samberg if there was going to be any more "Laser
Cats" in the future. "I think everyone hopes so," he joked. "We don't
want to trot it out there if the material's not there. So we're just
making sure it's quality. We don't want to just cash in. It's an
integrity thing. Hopefully." Funny guy.
I may include a little more from this panel later today.
tar~bal
"MikeM" <Michae...@vzw.blackberry.net> wrote in message
news:af3d2b7d-6c78-497d...@w7g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> Just wanted to post a quick report about yesterday's late-afternoon
> Saturday Night Live panel. On the panel was (new TCA Career
> Achievement award winner) Lorne Michaels, Weekend Update anchor and co-
> head-writer Seth Meyers, and cast members Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg,
> Jason Sudeikis, Kristin Wiig, Will Forte, and Casey Wilson.
>
> Given the comedy star power on stage, the panel was strangely unfunny.
> That's probably because Michaels answered most of the questions.
That's probably because Amy Pohler, the one star left on SNL, wasn't there.