All posts tagged: Saturday night

Dan Aykroyd Calls Saturday Night Movie a ‘Stand-Alone Masterpiece’

Dan Aykroyd Calls Saturday Night Movie a ‘Stand-Alone Masterpiece’

Published by skeptic

Dan Aykroyd has officially given Saturday Night his stamp of approval. The actor and original Saturday Night Live castmember took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday to share his thoughts on director Jason Reitman‘s latest film, which centers on the 90 minutes leading up to the sketch comedy show’s first broadcast in 1975. “Cracking a Head to applaud Jason Reitman’s triumphant SNL film. Wow!” Aykroyd wrote after watching the movie at his local theater. “What a propulsive, engaging, funny, beautifully cast and acted, suspenseful, adventurous, music-filled ride.  A perfect window into the creative process at its highest level. Pretty accurate too.” The Ghostbusters actor continued, “I was there that night and got to relive it wonderfully again. Congratulations Gil, Jason and Blumie. Don’t miss it whether you know the show or not. It is a stand-alone masterpiece and surefire candidate for Best Picture.” Saturday Night takes place on Oct. 11, 1975, the day SNL premiered, and follows a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers who change television forever. Dylan O’Brien plays Aykroyd, alongside Gabriel LaBelle (Lorne Michaels), Rachel Sennott …

Saturday Night Takeaway fans issue ‘complaints’ after being forced to mute TV

Saturday Night Takeaway fans issue ‘complaints’ after being forced to mute TV

Published by Sam

Saturday Night Takeaway viewers have issued “complaints” after being forced to mute the TV while watching the latest episode. The ITV entertainment series, which is coming to an end next month, aired its latest episode on Saturday (30 March), featuring guest announcer Emma Willis and music guests JL, featuring I’m a Celebrity winner Sam Thompson. One moment, though, left viewers reaching for their remote control. It occurred during the segment Ring My Bell, in which studio audience members win £500 if their house appears on screen. The rules are that, when someone’s door is shown, they must stand up and declare it. Then, a neighbour, holding an item as chosen by presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, must run to the door and ring the bell. Due to the quick speed nature of the game, several doorbells are heard ringing, which resulted in chaos for many viewers at home. “Does anyone else’s dog go off at ding dong that’s my doorbell?” one person asked on X/Twitter, with another adding: “I cannot express enough how every …

The Republican coping goes into overdrive

The Republican coping goes into overdrive

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Americans claim to dread a Trump-Biden rematch, but some Republicans seem more stunned than anyone else that Trump is back on the ballot. Now they are desperately trying to rationalize supporting their nominee. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: “A Psychological Necessity” Saturday Night Live during the 1980s was at the height of its satirical powers, skewering both Republicans and Democrats with surgical efficiency. (In one of the greatest of all such skits, Phil Hartman played Ronald Reagan as a multilingual genius running the Iran-Contra plot faster than his hapless staff could follow.) The current political situation, however, reminds me of a 1988 debate parody with Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz. After Carvey’s George H. W. Bush plows through a string of non sequiturs and repeats “stay the course” and “a thousand points of light” a …

The Perils of Turning ‘SNL’ Into a Campaign Stop

The Perils of Turning ‘SNL’ Into a Campaign Stop

Published by skeptic

Watching the real Nikki Haley spar with a fake Donald Trump was awkward—and not very funny. Will Heath / NBC February 4, 2024, 1:50 PM ET Last night, audiences who tuned into Saturday Night Live to see The Bear star and Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri host for the first time were greeted with an awkward surprise: The sight of the Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, trying her best to seem at ease opposite a fake Donald Trump. Haley popped up in the cold open, playing herself as a “concerned South Carolina voter” attending a CNN town hall with James Austin Johnson’s Trump. “Why won’t you debate Nikki Haley?” she asked. In response, Johnson started rambling about Nancy Pelosi—mistaking the former South Carolina governor for the Democratic congresswoman—which Haley followed up by asking “Donald” to take a mental-competency test. While Johnson went on an absurdist Trumpian rant about how he was deemed “mental,” Haley tried to make herself seem like a reasonable alternative, maintaining a stiff posture and a persistent smile. It was framed as a …

We Get It, Jacob Elordi Is a Heartthrob

We Get It, Jacob Elordi Is a Heartthrob

Published by skeptic

By focusing on his good looks, SNL didn’t leave much room for the actor to let loose. Will Heath / NBC January 21, 2024, 11:48 AM ET If you know two things about the Saltburn and Priscilla star Jacob Elordi, you’re probably aware that he’s very tall (Google says 6 feet 5 inches) and very handsome in a classical way (sharp cheekbones, strong chin). If you were seeking more information, you didn’t get it from his hosting gig on last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live. Nearly every time Elordi was on-screen, the show made sure to remark on his beauty, and it made for a fairly sleepy 90 minutes in which attractiveness became a lazy shorthand for charisma. Trying as he might to show off his range by putting on different accents, Elordi was, in sketch after sketch, tasked with being hot so that he could be fawned over by the women in the cast. The resulting jokes felt regressive—yes, ladies were into the big, gorgeous man—and frustratingly stale. The Elordi beats of the …

The Curious ‘SNL’ Return of Kate McKinnon

The Curious ‘SNL’ Return of Kate McKinnon

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The quirky ex–cast member came back to the sketch show, only to disappear into it. Will Heath / NBC December 17, 2023, 11:29 AM ET When Kate McKinnon departed the Saturday Night Live stage in May 2022, along with a slew of others including Pete Davidson and Aidy Bryant, the clock immediately began counting down to her return. Davidson had the honor of being the first among that departing cohort to host, earlier this season, but McKinnon got her chance last night, closing out the year with SNL’s annual Christmas episode. As she discovered, it’s one thing to steal the scene and quite another to steer the show. “I’ve always felt more comfortable in a weird costume,” she admitted in her opening monologue, referring to the many oddball personalities she played on SNL. Since leaving, she jokingly confessed, she’s been struggling to figure out who she is apart from those roles, quipping, “I’ve been trying to assemble a human personality.” (Her spin as Weird Barbie in the blockbuster Barbie film perhaps complicated that effort.) Indeed, …

Jason Momoa’s Manliness Overwhelms SNL

Jason Momoa’s Manliness Overwhelms SNL

Published by skeptic

When a Saturday Night Live parody song begins, there’s usually a moment of anticipation where you wonder what the punch line is going to be. That was the case last night as a group of female cast members began a ballad about their aloof spouses, one wondering, “Is he dreaming of another woman he wants more than me?” Then the sketch cut to what the men were thinking. What was on their mind: The Roman empire, of course. Yes, it was maybe a couple of months delayed, but the rap song that ensued was about the meme that men are almost always pondering the details of the Roman empire. The night’s host, Jason Momoa, took the lead: “Five times a day it pops into my dome, which reminds me: They invented the dome. Just one of the reasons that I think about Rome.” With the burly Momoa, there to promote his latest turn as the DC superhero Aquaman, SNL’s writers had a paragon of muscle-bulging masculinity to deploy. The “Rome Song” sketch was just one …

The Stand-Up Who Brought Low-Key Chuckles to ‘SNL’

The Stand-Up Who Brought Low-Key Chuckles to ‘SNL’

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The announcement that the stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze would be hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend was met in some corners with a bit of confusion. When SNL goes the stand-up route for a host, it usually plucks an alum (John Mulaney, for instance) or a household name (Dave Chappelle, for example) to do the job. Bargatze is certainly popular, well known for specials on Netflix and Amazon that highlight clean jokes about family quirks, but SNL offered him perhaps his biggest platform to date to demonstrate to unfamiliar viewers who he is. The uninitiated got a show that leaned on the Tennessee-born Bargatze’s folksiness and ability to make wry conclusions about modern life through his average viewpoint. The evening’s best sketches gave him space to deliver understated comedy about everyday topics. Bargatze established the tone for the night in his monologue—essentially a mini set—which he began by noting how old he felt, as someone from the 1900s. “The world is so future now,” he said. Other bits included a run about his magician dad …

Poland Shows That Autocracy Is Not Inevitable

Poland Shows That Autocracy Is Not Inevitable

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Thirty-four years ago, in June 1989, Poland woke up to a surprise. Despite a voting process rigged to favor the Communist Party; despite decades of propaganda supporting Communists and smearing anti-Communists; despite the regime’s control of the army, the police, and the secret police; the democratic opposition won, taking all of the seats that it was allowed to contest. A team of former dissidents took control of the government two months later—the first non-Communist government in Soviet-occupied Europe. In the decade that followed, Poland slowly decentralized the state and built a democracy. This morning, Poland woke up to a similar surprise. Since first winning power democratically in 2015, the nationalist-conservative party Law and Justice, or PiS, has turned state television into a propaganda tube, used state companies to fund its political campaigns, and politicized state administration. In the run-up to this election, it altered electoral laws and even leaked top-secret military documents, manipulating their contents for electoral gain. Even so, the party appears to have won only just over a third of the vote. Three …

This War Isn’t Like Israel’s Earlier Wars

This War Isn’t Like Israel’s Earlier Wars

Published by skeptic

On Saturday night, I was seated on the first El Al plane to fly from the United States to Israel since Hamas had attacked my country. Many airlines had canceled flights to and from Israel, but El Al had refused to grant the terrorists that victory. Though we took off after midnight, sleep was impossible. My mind writhed thinking of the reports of unbearable Israeli casualties, the images of the captured and the dead, and the prospect of wider war. Alongside those waking nightmares was an agonizing irony. I’d just come from participating in events in New York marking the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Just as in 1973, when Israeli reservists living or vacationing abroad rushed to rejoin their units already in combat, my plane was filled with young men ready to trade the thrills of New York for the horrors of a war under way. Their presence was another reason to reflect on the eerie similarities and stark differences between these two wars, both of which broke out on Jewish holidays—the …