Latest news with #S.N.L.
New York Times
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘White Lotus' Star Aimee Lou Wood Criticizes SNL for ‘Mean' Sketch
Aimee Lou Wood, a star of HBO's 'The White Lotus,' has criticized 'Saturday Night Live' for a sketch that mocked her smile, calling it 'mean and unfunny.' Ms. Wood, a British actress, posted on Instagram on Sunday objecting to the sketch, in which the S.N.L. cast member Sarah Sherman impersonates Ms. Wood's character while wearing large prosthetic teeth. 'I am not thin skinned,' Ms. Wood, 31, wrote in one of a series of posts on her Instagram stories, adding that she loves being joked about when 'it's clever and in good spirits.' But 'the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth not bad teeth,' she wrote. In a subsequent post, Ms. Wood said she had received 'apologies' from S.N.L. but did not elaborate. Representatives for Ms. Wood and NBC, which broadcasts S.N.L., did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The sketch, titled 'The White POTUS,' imagined the show's characters replaced by President Trump and members of his cabinet. Ms. Wood, who is from Manchester, England, also criticized Ms. Sherman's impersonation of her Mancunian accent. After her initial posts, Ms. Wood said that she had since received thousands of messages of support. She shared what appeared to be one such message, which said: 'It was a sharp and funny skit until it suddenly took a screeching turn into 1970's misogyny.' The third season of 'The White Lotus,' which concluded this month and was the series's most popular yet, follows wealthy guests and staff members at a wellness resort in Thailand. Among the guests is Chelsea, played by Ms. Wood, a young romantic British woman who is dating an enigmatic older American. Ms. Wood has been celebrated for her natural smile, especially at a time when many celebrities are opting for veneers to achieve 'perfect' teeth. But in a recent interview with GQ magazine, she said that the news media's focus on her appearance in coverage of the most recent season of 'The White Lotus' had made her feel uncomfortable, even if the attention was intended to be positive. 'It makes me really happy that it's symbolizing rebellion and freedom, but there's a limit,' she told the magazine. 'The whole conversation is just about my teeth, and it makes me a bit sad because I'm not getting to talk about my work.' 'I don't know if it was a man would we be talking about it this much?' she added.
New York Times
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘S.N.L.': Trumpeting Tariffs and Predicting a ‘Great' Depression
It's not as reliable a metric as, say, the Dow Jones industrial average, but one sign that the U.S. economy is in an unusual place is when 'Saturday Night Live' needs someone from its cast to play the secretary of commerce. In the opening sketch of this weekend's broadcast (hosted by Jack Black and featuring the musical guests Elton John and Brandi Carlile) the brief part of Howard Lutnick went to Andrew Dismukes. But center stage was given to James Austin Johnson in his recurring role as President Trump — this time, recreating the speech from the Rose Garden where Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on Wednesday. (An introductory 'S.N.L.' voice-over declared that, 'like everything else so far in his presidency, it was a total home run.') In his version of the speech, Johnson called 'tariff' his favorite word (because it was 'short for tariff-ic idea') and said that tariffs would be the backbone of his 'incredible plan' for the economy. Johnson added, 'It's actually even better than a plan because it's a series of random numbers. Like the numbers on the computer screen in 'Severance.' You have no idea what the hell they mean.' He vowed he would MAWA — Make America Wealthy Again — although before that, there could be another phase, Johnson said. 'We're going to do MAGDA. Make America Great Depression Again. You know what? It'll be gr — it'll be better than great. It'll be a fantastic, unbelievable Depression, the likes of which you've never seen before.' He added that this Depression would 'be so great, we'll be the ones eating the cats and the dogs.' Presented by Dismukes with a large cardboard placard that turned out to be a page from a Cheesecake Factory menu, Johnson then was handed another board detailing his tariff system. 'No country is safe from my tariffs,' Johnson said. 'I even put tariffs on an island that is uninhabited by humans.' Reflecting on Heard and McDonald Islands, Johnson said, 'Ooh, McDonald Island. I'd like to visit there.' He added, 'Can you imagine that? A Big Mac in a hula skirt, ooh la la.' Holding up a card with an artist's rendering of that very image, he said, 'Get me to God's country, right?' (This was, of course, a reference to a social media post by the country musician Morgan Wallen after his hasty exit from the 'S.N.L.' stage at last weekend's good nights.) Johnson complained about the state of trade with nations like South Africa, lamenting, 'They've never even sent us one good thing.' 'What about me?' asked Mike Myers, the 'S.N.L.' alum, entering the scene to once again play the billionaire Elon Musk. Removing a Cheesehead hat, Myers explained, 'That was from when I tried to buy the election in Wisconsin. I'm an idiot. I should have just bought Wisconsin.' 'Suddenly, no one likes Tesla cars,' Myers said. 'So I asked myself why and then I answered myself: because of me.' He went on to play a video that introduced a new Tesla that he described as 'the first electric car in history to be fully self-vandalizing.' That soon yielded a response from the real-life Musk, who wrote in a post on his X social media site, 'SNL hasn't been funny in a long time. They are their own parody.' Stagecraft of the week This was a big week for the legitimate theater on 'S.N.L.': the silent cameos from the 'Glengarry Glen Ross' stars Bill Burr and Kieran Culkin, seen sitting in the studio audience during Black's monologue; the 'Peter Pan'-style wirework that supported Black and Sarah Sherman (as well as Carlile and Bowen Yang) in a musical number about a couple having sex for the first time. And for students of history, there was this sketch imagining the very first play performed in ancient Greece, circa 500 B.C., for chiton-clad viewers (including Black, Dismukes, Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman) couldn't understand the concept of a fourth wall and kept talking back to the players onstage. As Dismukes explained the proposition, 'The poster simply said, 'Tonight at 7 p.m., come watch a book.' Sophocles, Aeschylus, you have been roasted. Weekend Update jokes of the week Over at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on President Trump's tariff announcement. Jost began: Che continued: Weekend Update desk segment of the week Following an announcement by the White House Correspondents Association that it had canceled a planned performance by the comedian Amber Ruffin at the organization's annual dinner, Ego Nwodim said at the Weekend Update desk that she should be allowed to perform at the dinner instead. Nwodim went on to deliver a portion of her routine — in the voice of her 'stand-up persona' — which consisted mostly of jokes about the food at the dinner. (For example: 'They talking about they serving me some seared Alaskan halibut. So I said, 'Halibut you throw that mess in the trash, sucker.'') But Nwodim's bit about Senator Cory Booker's 25-hour speech yielded an unexpected response from the 'S.N.L.' crowd. 'Cory Booker out here with his filibuster,' Nwodim said. 'Shoot, I had my fill of busters, 'cause these men ain't what?' Audience members shouted back a word that we can't print here. (The audio portion of the audience response has since been muted in a version of this sketch posted online.) While Jost and Che laughed, shrugged and hid their faces, Nwodim told the crowd, 'Lorne going to be mad at y'all.' The F.C.C. had not commented as of Sunday morning.
New York Times
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Why Morgan Wallen's Abrupt ‘S.N.L.' Exit Is Being Dissected
At the end of every 'Saturday Night Live' episode, the host, the musical guest and cast members assemble onstage to say goodbye to the audience and viewers at home. While the music plays and the credits roll, they make small talk, shake hands and say their farewells. There's not much to think about. Usually. Social media has been abuzz since Morgan Wallen, the pop-country superstar who was the musical guest on Saturday, walked offstage while the end credits rolled, leaving behind the host, Mikey Madison, and the rest of the 'S.N.L.' cast. It is not clear whether his sudden exit was an intentional message. Here is what we do know. What happened? After Madison made her closing remarks, she turned to Wallen and hugged him. They shared a few words off mic before he walked offstage into the audience past the camera. Shortly after the show ended, Wallen posted a picture to his Instagram stories of a jet with the caption, 'Get me to God's country.' It was unclear what Wallen, who in recent years was rebuked by music industry's gatekeepers after a video surfaced of him using a racial slur, meant by the statement or why he left the stage. Representatives for Wallen, who performed two songs from his upcoming album 'I'm the Problem,' and 'S.N.L.' did not immediately return requests for comment on Monday. (Variety cited anonymous sources to say that the exit was an 'oops' moment and that it was the route Wallen had used all week.) Why did the moment become such a hot topic? While 'Saturday Night Live' is often the subject of scrutiny and social media chatter, the attention has been even more intense since its 50th season began in September, weeks before the presidential election. Wallen is also a central figure in popular culture, a powerhouse on the music charts despite his controversies (he pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment last year after throwing a chair from the roof of a Nashville bar). Strong reactions to a musician from a genre that leans politically conservative is only the latest 'S.N.L.' moment to provoke conversation online. Bill Burr's post-election monologue upset many when he mocked cancel culture and joked about how female candidates should dress more provocatively. Tom Hanks drew ire when he appeared as a MAGA supporter who was uncomfortable shaking a Black man's hand in a sketch called 'Black Jeopardy.' Shane Gillis drew sharp criticism this month when he hosted the show five years after being fired for using slurs on old podcast appearances. Did Wallen break protocol? It depends on who you ask. Dustin Kidd, a professor of sociology at Temple University and an expert in popular media, said in a statement on Monday that it was customary for the musical guest to remain onstage as the closing music plays. 'Most people grow up watching 'S.N.L.' and would know that, and certainly someone planning to perform would know that,' he said. 'The show would have been carefully blocked in advance.' Kidd added that Wallen's Instagram story after the show seemed to indicate that he also skipped the customary after-party. James Andrew Miller, the co-author of 'Live From New York,' an oral history of 'Saturday Night Live,' said in an interview that Wallen's exit was a 'tad askew' and an 'outlier.' 'I think that for 50 years, most of the time the goodbyes go without incident or without any kind of exceptional behavior on anyone's part,' he said. 'When something does go awry, I think it just attracts an inordinate amount of attention.' What is Wallen's history with 'S.N.L.'? Wallen was first scheduled to perform in October 2020 but was not allowed to because he violated coronavirus protocols. Videos on social media had shown him drinking shots, kissing fans and mingling in groups after a college football game while not wearing a mask or following other social-distancing guidelines. He instead made his first performance on the show in December 2020, even referring to the incident in a sketch. What have 'S.N.L.' cast members said? Kenan Thompson told Entertainment Weekly on Monday that Wallen's abrupt exit was not the norm. 'I don't know what goes through people's minds when they decide to do stuff like that,' he said. 'I don't know if he understood the assignment or not, or if he was really feeling a certain kind of way.' 'The 'God's country' of it all is strange because it's like, what are you trying to say?' Thompson added. 'You trying to say that we are not in God's country? We're not all in God's country? We're not all under God's umbrella? That's not necessarily my favorite.'
New York Times
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Journalists Share Short Sketches of ‘S.N.L.' Memories
John J. O'Connor, a television critic for The New York Times, missed the first half-hour of 'Saturday Night' when it premiered live on NBC at 11:30 on Oct. 11, 1975. 'An unusually good dinner on Long Island and a steady rain during the 100-mile drive back to the city thwarted thoroughly noble intentions,' he wrote in the newspaper that month. But 'Saturday Night,' a late-night sketch comedy series that changed its name to 'Saturday Night Live' in 1977, had his attention. And quickly, 'S.N.L.' became a fixture of The Times's media and cultural coverage. Half a century later, 'S.N.L.' is still going strong, and The Times publishes a recap of each episode, reviewing the host's monologue and noteworthy sketches. In the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of 'S.N.L.,' which NBC is honoring with a special broadcast on Sunday, The Times's Culture desk has published a deeper look into the history and influence of the show. Articles in a series, 'S.N.L.' at 50, have appeared in newspapers since last fall, exploring topics such as popular political sketches, five decades of musical guests and the subjective eye its viewers tend to develop. Times Insider asked four Culture journalists to explain their own personal histories with the show. Read their accounts below. TERENCE McGINLEY Up Late, Exposed to Sketch Comedy For better or for worse, I was given carte blanche access to TV at a pretty young age (I was allowed to stay up late, too). What could have been more exciting for a kid than watching 'Saturday Night Live' during its 1990s heyday? My favorite sketches from those years involved Sprockets, the Spartan cheerleaders and Mary Katherine Gallagher, as well as any time Chris Farley or Will Ferrell was onscreen. More than anything, 'S.N.L.,' along with two of my favorite series of that era, 'The Tracey Ullman Show' and 'Mr. Show,' gave me a foundational appreciation for sketch comedy in general and may have shaped my sense of humor more than might have been advisable. — Maya Salam, Culture editor A 'Mirror for the Nation's History' to Share 'S.N.L.' is a fascinating subject because it's been at the heart of American culture for so long that it has become a kind of mirror for the nation's history and your own. I started watching as a kid during the Dana Carvey years, which is still my favorite era. (This made it extra fun when I talked to Carvey for our catchphrases package and listened to him do George Bush, Ross Perot and all the other impressions I used to copy at school.) Now I watch the show with my daughter. If she's lucky, she may one day talk to Bowen Yang about why his George Santos sketches were so hysterical. (And I'm sure Santos would be thrilled to be remembered.) — Jeremy Egner, television editor This TV Critic Doesn't Watch I don't watch 'Saturday Night Live.' That may surprise you, since I am a professional TV critic. It certainly has surprised various editors. I know, of course, that 'S.N.L.' is a cultural institution. But institutions, by nature, are usually not where the most exciting action is in any art form, TV included. And honestly? I haven't stayed up until 1 a.m. since high school. When I say I don't watch 'S.N.L.,' though, I don't mean that I never see it. For me, the most significant development in the history of 'S.N.L.' was not a particular cast change but the invention of YouTube. That's how I, and many others, now experience the show. Sketch comedy is hit-or-miss by definition, but when it hits — a banger Lonely Island short, say — I'm glad to watch it the next day, after social media tells me about it. If you love your routine of staying up to watch 'S.N.L.' — live, from New York — I'm happy for you. I'm also grateful: You and your night-owl companions are essentially the screeners for the rest of us morning-after clip-watchers. I, and my relatively well-rested eyeballs, thank you for your service. — James Poniewozik, television critic Monday Morning, Favorite Lines Ranked Even when I was a kid and I first started watching 'S.N.L.,' I could tell that Weekend Update was the centerpiece of the show. That didn't mean I understood much of what Dennis Miller was talking about, but he seemed amused by himself. I was a little older when Kevin Nealon took over and he seemed funny enough, even if he mostly gave 'a friend's kind of goofy dad' vibes. But when Norm Macdonald took over, it was a revelation. This one still gets me every time: 'In music news, No. 1 on the college charts this summer was Better Than Ezra. And at No. 2: Ezra.' My friends and I would set our VHS every Saturday night and come to school Monday ready with our best lines, ranked. — David Malitz, deputy culture editor
New York Times
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Life, from New York
Like 'Saturday Night Live,' I turn 50 this year. In fact, I was born only one week after its premiere, which means that along with being a comedy revolution, a career launchpad and a pop culture juggernaut, the show is also a good way for me to keep track of time. Every cast represents a different era in my life. I missed the storied original group — including Chevy Chase and Jane Curtin, both of whom will appear on a prime-time 50th anniversary special tonight — as I was busy learning how to walk, talk and eat solid food. And yet its jokes ('It's a floor wax and a dessert topping') were repeated in my house enough to make their way into my consciousness. It wasn't until I was 10 that I stayed up to watch 'S.N.L.,' during the strange and spectacular season starring Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest. I was the perfect age to appreciate Martin Short's Ed Grimley, a giddy, prancing innocent who exuded the nervous energy of childhood. But it was the next hit era, featuring Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks and Dana Carvey, that got me hooked on sketch comedy. The cable-access spoof 'Wayne's World' showed up just after puberty. Perfect timing. Just as teenagers rebel against their parents, 'S.N.L.' fans eventually start rolling their eyes at the show. In my 20s, I first indulged in the popular tradition of loudly lamenting that it wasn't as funny as it used to be. I stopped watching and missed some of the best years of Chris Farley and Adam Sandler. I returned for the Tina Fey era, which ended in my 30s, and became a devoted fan of the cast that featured Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig and Andy Sandberg. In recent years, the perspective and mellowing of middle age have helped me enjoy some less-than-perfect seasons. Yet my kids watch those same episodes with an excited fandom and snorting exasperation that I can no longer muster. The celebration of half a century of 'Saturday Night Live' is a major event because the show transcends comedy. More than 26 million people watched its 40th anniversary special. This one feels even more significant, one of the last gasps of the monoculture. 'S.N.L.' has been culturally relevant for so long that it's woven into the background of our lives — continually reinventing itself, always there. The New York Times has tried to capture its impact on the culture in the past few weeks. We've singled out the show's 13 greatest ad parodies, its 38 most important musical moments and 50 catchphrases it has ushered into our vocabulary. I explored how its cast members' extensive history of breaking character has become an unlikely signature of its sketch comedy. 'S.N.L.' spans generations, and tonight's anniversary show reflects that. The special will feature former cast members Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell and Bill Murray; guest hosts Dave Chappelle, Kim Kardashian and Robert DeNiro; and musical guests Bad Bunny, Paul McCartney and Sabrina Carpenter. And these are just the announced stars. Expect familiar characters (fingers crossed for Ed Grimley) and surprises. I doubt Donald Trump will show up, but I bet there will be at least one impression of him. Last night, NBC aired the first-ever episode of 'Saturday Night Live' from Oct. 11, 1975. It made for a revealing bookend, an illustration of how a scrappy, countercultural show has become the sturdiest, most powerful comedy institution in the history of television. More coverage Foreign Policy More on the Trump Administration International Other Big Stories It can be hard to keep up with the deluge of news from the White House. The Times has created a page to track the Trump administration — including its major executive orders, memos, lawsuits and social media posts. Here are some from the past week: See the full list here. Was Trump's call to Vladimir Putin to negotiate a cease-fire in Ukraine appeasement? Yes. Similarly to how Britain gave Czechoslovakia's territory to Germany without Czech participation in negotiations, Trump's phone call with Putin made Ukraine an afterthought. 'The U.S. president wants to get credit for a peace deal even if it kills Ukraine,' The Philadelphia Inquirer's Trudy Rubin writes. No. A peace deal would allow Ukrainians to rebuild, and Trump and the Americans are offering Russia a draw, not a victory. 'A cease-fire does not require, as the Russians expect, that it abandon hopes of recovering its lost territory forever,' Lawrence Freedman writes for The Financial Times. Trump has room to negotiate with China on trade and nuclear weapons, but he shouldn't concede anything on Taiwan, Bonnie Glaser writes. The 14th Amendment was not intended to give birthright citizenship to children born to illegal migrants, Randy Barnett and Ilan Wurman argue. Here's a column by Nicholas Kristof on Trumpism. Stimulation Clicker: This game turns internet brain rot into a joyous pastime. Parties: For these 20-somethings, Trump is 'making it sexy' to be Republican. Vows: She was the female lead in his film. Now she's his leading lady. Lives Lived: Nelson Johnson, a labor activist in North Carolina, was injured in a 1979 shooting by white supremacists in Greensboro that killed five protesters. He later formed a commission to help his community process the tragedy. He died at 81. 'Stone Yard Devotional' by Charlotte Wood: You know the impulse to walk away from it all and go hibernate somewhere peaceful? That's what Charlotte Woods's narrator does in 'Stone Yard Devotional,' her Booker-shortlisted novel about an atheist who seeks refuge at a convent in New South Wales. This meditative (but by no means uneventful) account includes a mouse infestation, a celebrity nun, a pair of complicated homecomings and countless reminders that the sacred and the profane not only coexist but complement one another. As our reviewer put it, 'Activism, abdication, atonement, grace: In this novel, no one of these paths is holier than another.' Does our narrator find what she's looking for? The answer to this question turns out to be less important than how she contributes to her community. (Read our review of 'Stone Yard Devotional.') More on books This week's subject for The Interview is Arizona's junior senator, Ruben Gallego, whose win over Kari Lake was one of the few bright spots for Democrats in November. Gallego had plenty to say about where Democrats went wrong and how they can win over Trump voters while also standing up to Trump. I want to talk through some demographic groups that Democrats really need to win back if they want to be competitive. Everybody? Men, for example. Yep. You've been described to me as a bro. And not in a bad way. [Laughs.] You won Latino men by 30 points in an election in which Trump dominated that group. I know men are a very broad group, but what do you think Democrats have misunderstood about them? That we could be working to make the status of men better without diminishing the status of women. A lot of times we forget that we still need men to vote for us. That's how we still win elections. But we don't really talk about making the lives of men better, working to make sure that they have wages so they can support their families. I also think some of this is purely psychological — like we just can't put our finger on it. During my campaign, I noticed when I was talking to men, especially Latino men, about the feeling of pride, bringing money home, being able to support your family, the feeling of bringing security — they wanted to hear that someone understood that need. And a lot of times we are so afraid of communicating that to men because we think somehow we're going to also diminish the status of women. That's going to end up being a problem. Read more of the interview here. Click the cover image above to read this week's magazine. Make sweet treats at home. Revamp your bedroom on a budget. Shop Presidents' Day sales. In this week's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Mia Leimkuhler suggests easy and quick pasta recipes for when you're running on fumes, including ones for shrimp scampi with orzo, tobiko pasta and rice noodles with spicy pork. Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was jailbird. Can you put eight historical events — including the Freedom Riders' campaign, the Chernobyl disaster, and the invention of Post-it Notes — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. And we recommend the new Sports Edition of Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@
