The musician performed on the long-running US comedy show last night (January 30), bringing tracks from his latest album ‘Tickets To My Downfall’ to the programme.
At the end of the night, the cast, Kelly and guest host John Krasinski gathered on the stage for the end credits. After hugging The Office actor, the musician went to pick up SNL star and friend Pete Davidson but fell, taking both of them off the stage.
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Moments later, both of the men reappeared on screen and, seemingly not having learnt their lesson, Davidson put Kelly over his shoulder. Watch footage of the moment below now.
“I remember when I was a kid watching [SNL] every weekend with my aunt and my dad, since they aren’t here to see this moment, I’m going to perform the song I wrote for them on the show,” the musician tweeted earlier this week. “Hopefully, I’ll feel them there.”
It followed the release of his self-written and directed “pop-punk musical” Downfalls High – a 50-minute film that he recently compared to Pink Floyd’s The Wall. In a four-star review, NME said of the project: “In a world of content for content’s sake – films have often been used by artists try and extend the lifespan of an album – Downfalls High feels driven by purpose.”
There’s a reason Samantha Jones is a PR tour de force and not a chanteuse. Then again, if she cared what every bitch watching SNL thought about her, she’d never leave the house. During this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, television’s most popular shows took a cue from Nicole Kidman’s The Undoing opening credits tune and imagined the lyrics to a host of popular show’s theme songs, including The Mandalorian, The Crown, Queen’s Gambit, and (of course) HBO MAx’s upcoming Sex and the City revival And Just Like That…
While the show itself won’t feature any Kim Cattrall, Chloe Fineman’s version of the Sex and the City star knows exactly what the new show will be missing. “Sex And The City without Samantha/Doesn’t that sound fun?,” Fineman’s Cattrall croons. “It’s Sex and the City without the sex?/Hope you enjoy the city.” Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out we already know what iconic Kim Cattrall song should serve as the new show’s theme. Hopefully she’ll go for it.
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“Everybody was a judge and there was so much bullying going on. I thought about the effect that had on children, and how that’s changing, psychologically, our cellular makeup. All this darkness and meanness.”
Wright ended up directing “Land,” which tells the story of Edee (also played by Wright) who goes off the grid in nature to deal with her grief after a tragedy and realizes she needs other people for support.
“You need human connection and kindness to pull you through adversity,” the former “House of Cards” star explained.
When Wright wasn’t busy starring in and directing her new movie, which will be released on Feb. 12, she passed the time during the pandemic watching old movies on Criterion Channel.
Meghan Markle's name was removed from her and Prince Harry's son Archie Harrison's birth certificate, but she was not the one who chose to make the edit, despite a recent report, her rep says.
On Saturday, Jan. 30, The Sun claimed that she had "taken the unprecedented action of removing" her first and middle names, Rachel Meghan, from the document so that it included just her title, "Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex," under the "mother" category. On Sunday, Jan. 31, a spokesperson for Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex disputed the report.
"The change of name on public documents in 2019 was dictated by The Palace, as confirmed by documents from senior Palace officials," the spokesperson said in a statement to E! News. "This was not requested by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex nor by The Duke of Sussex."
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the matter when reached by E! News.
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“Saturday Night Live” steered clear of the Biden administration in its first episode since the inauguration — and the omission didn’t go unnoticed by some viewers.
The sketch show didn’t feature portrayals of either President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday night, choosing instead to poke fun at controversial Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the GameStop saga.
“Why does SNL not do ANY sketches about Biden???” one person gripped on Twitter.
Another viewer wrote: “Disappointed I expected a stronger and funnier episode. Given Trump leaving, Biden inauguration and it was the first episode of the new year ?”
The show consistently drew on Alec Baldwin’s impression of former President Donald Trump during his term and also spoofed Joe Biden during the 2020 election.
However, after a month-long break, some were surprised not to see a Biden impression on screen.
“I really wanted SNL to cover Biden’s Inauguration…,” one viewer wrote.
Lorraine Ali, the Los Angeles Times’ TV critic, noted that it felt like SNL “suddenly seems lost” without Trump and that the show “struggled to find its footing.”
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Tom Brady wasn’t safe from ridicule on “Saturday Night Live” this week. During a cold open called “What Still Works,” a character played by Kate McKinnon interviews guests on a quest to find out what parts of the country are still functioning properly.
She rules out government, the stock market, social media and the coronavirus vaccine rollout (via an appearance by O.J. Simpson) before calling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, played by John Krasinksi, to the stage.
She immediately tries to set up Brady as the antidote to the rest of her guests. He’s in his 10th Super Bowl despite being 43-years-old. He joined a Buccaneers franchise that has historically struggled and its fortunes changed. He’s expected to win — and he wins. Tom Brady still works.
Brady admits to McKinnon that, despite all this, few people root for him. And she says she’d be rooting for Brady because he’s “the only damn thing this country can still rely on.”
But, of course, there’s a hitch.
“And it’s not like you’re a weird Trump guy or anything, right?” McKinnon asks.
“Thanks for having me,” Krasinski says before bolting.
You can watch the bit at 6:21 in the video below.
Oof.
Brady’s relationship with Trump took center stage in 2015 when he was spotted with a “Make America Great Again” hat in his locker. When asked if Brady hoped Trump would be president, he showed support for Trump in his election against Hillary Clinton.
“I hope so. It would be great. There would be a putting green on the White House lawn, I’m sure of that,” Brady told reporters.
“Then the whole political aspect came, and I think I got brought into a lot of those things because it was so polarizing around the election time. It was uncomfortable for me, because you can’t — and not that I would undo a friendship — but the political support is so different than support of a friend,” Brady said in an interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM in April 2020.
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John Krasinski and Pete Davidson kicked off a new year of “Saturday Night Live” with an unexpected smooch.
On Saturday, Krasinski made his “SNL” debut by hosting the first episode of 2021. During the opening monologue, the 41-year-old actor was flooded with questions about his time on NBC’s “The Office,” where he played Jim Halpert from 2005 to 2013.
“My question is, you’re Jim from ‘The Office,'” “SNL” star Alex Moffat said as part of the skit.
“No, I’m actually John, but yes, hello,” Krasinski replied.
When Moffat asked the whereabouts of Pam Beasley — Halpet’s wife on the sitcom — Krasinski said, “Pam is a fictional character, and that is where she is.”
Kenan Thompson, meanwhile, told Krasinski to “kiss Pam.”
“Guys, here’s the deal, Pam’s not real. She’s played by Jenna Fischer, we are friends, and we are married to other people,” Krasinski stated, referencing his wife Emily Blunt and Fischer’s husband Lee Kirk.
John Krasinski and Pete Davidson kiss during Saturday’s installment on “SNL.”Will Heath/NBC
As the Pam-centric comments continued, “SNL” star Pete Davidson joined Krasinski on stage.
“I think what’s happening is everyone’s been stuck inside for a year watching ‘The Office’ non-stop so Jim and Pam are, like, really real for them,” Davidson opined.
When Thompson asked if Davidson was Pam, Davidson said he and Krasinski should oblige to the audience’s wishes.
“Jim, you’ve got to kiss Pam,” Davidson, 27, said before locking lips with Krasinski.
'Where are the Biden joke skits? Is the President now off limits?' 'Biased' SNL is slammed for completely avoiding Joe and Kamala jokes in first episode since inauguration - after four years of making Trump the butt of their jokes
Hosted by John Krasinki, the first SNL of 2021 managed to not feature either the president or vice president in its skits despite being sworn in two weeks ago
Instead it featured 'appearances' from Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tom Brady
The move was blasted online by some viewers who described the show as a 'snoozefest' that is 'too scared of getting canceled'
Others noted how Trump had been the butt of their jokes for the past four years
One viewer said: 'Did 45 get a honeymoon period? Don't recall'
Hosted by John Krasinki, the first SNL of 2021 managed to not feature either the president or vice president in its skits.
Instead it featured special 'appearances' from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mark Zuckerberg and Tom Brady.
The move was blasted online by some viewers who described the show as a 'snoozefest' which is 'too scared of getting canceled'.
Others noted how Donald Trump had been the butt of their jokes for the past four years.
DailyMail.com has contacted a representative of SNL for comment.
Saturday Night Live completely avoided parodying Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in its first episode since the pair were sworn into office. Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris and Jim Carrey as Joe Biden on SNL last October
Hosted by John Krasinki, the first SNL of 2021 managed to not feature either the president or vice president in its skits. Instead it featured special 'appearances' from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mark Zuckerberg and Tom Brady. The move was blasted online by some viewers who described the show as a 'snoozefest' which is 'too scared of getting canceled'
Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump was also notably absent from the show's opening.
On Twitter one viewer noted: 'Did 45 get a honeymoon period? Don't recall.'
Another said: 'Why does SNL not do ANY sketches about Biden? Is Biden off limits?'
'The show that has parodied every president since its inception afraid to touch Biden,' one Twitter user said.
Jim Carrey revealed in December he had reached the end of his 'term' playing the former Vice President.
'Though my term was only meant to be 6 weeks,I was thrilled to be elected as your SNL President...comedy’s highest call of duty,' the actor tweeted.
He was thought to have been replaced by Alex Moffat.
But he did not appear as the president on Saturday night's show.
Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump was also notably absent from the show's opening. On Twitter one viewer noted: 'Did 45 get a honeymoon period? Don't recall'
Woody Harrelson also made multiple guest appearances as the next president early on during the presidential campaign in 2019.
Jason Sudeikis, who was SNL's regular Biden player when he was a cast member, returned to play him following Harrelson's short stint.
Comedian John Mulaney, who used to write for SNL, also returned to play Biden before Carrey took over.
Former SNL cast member Maya Rudolph has appeared as Harris in previous shows.
Instead of focusing on the new administration the opening skit Kate McKinnon sat with Rep. Greene (GA-R) - played by Cecily Strong - as she tried to determine 'What Still Works?' in 2021.
McKinnon's next guest was Pete Davidson as Derrick 'Boner' Evans, the new majority shareholder of GameStop.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, played by Alef Moffat, and Twitter's Jack Dorsey, played by Mikey Day, were the next guests.
McKinnon then moved on to the vaccine rollout, bringing out Kenan Thompson as O.J. Simpson - sporting an ankle monitor. The controversial football player recently made headlines after getting the vaccine.
Played by Krasinki, Tom Brady was the last guest appear.
Instead of focusing on the new administration the opening skit Kate McKinnon sat with Rep. Greene (GA-R) - played by Cecily Strong - as she tried to determine 'What Still Works?' in 2021
Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump was also notably absent from the show's opening. Jim Carrey revealed in December he had reached the end of his 'term' playing the former Vice President. Former SNL cast member Maya Rudolph has appeared as Harris in previous shows
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Maybe you missed it, or you turned off your TV after the final sketch, but last night’s Saturday Night Live featured the kind of accident you normally see in football games or America’s Funniest Home Videos reruns. The scene was perfectly set. The Studio 8H band was playing its “that’s the end of the show, good night folks!” sleepy-time jazz. Everyone was doing their hugging and schmoozing, masks on, as the credits started to roll. Aidy Bryant was off to the side, dressed as a giant cockroach for reasons that made sense in a 10-to-1 sketch about Ratatouille. And as Pete Davidson went in for a hug with musical guest Machine Gun Kelly, Kelly scooped Pete up by the knees, and they both tumbled over backward off the stage. Machine Gun Kelly is six-four, so that’s a pretty big fall. Just watch the expression Bowen Yang makes as he watches it go down. Look at his hands. Host John Krasinski jumps down off camera to help the sweet doofs up. But did they learn their lesson? Of course not. As the credits continued and Pete and Kelly were safely back onstage in the crowd, Pete then picked Kelly up and threw him over his own shoulder like a sack o’ spuds. Never let anyone tell you sketch comedy is not a contact sport.
Sunday AM Final: If you’re looking for any exciting financial action to come out of the movie business, it’s not at the box office, but rather the stock exchange, especially in last week’s boom for No. 1 exhibitor AMC.
The continued closure of movie theaters during Covid-19, with only 45% of all 5.8K US and Canada movie theaters opened, yielded Warner Bros. Denzel Washington-Rami Malek thriller The Little Things this past weekend, which only opened to $4.8M at 2,171 theaters, the best for an R-rated movie and older guy fare during the pandemic. Worldwide, The Little Things made $7.6M, with money from 20 markets, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and United Artists Emirates.
However, even though there’s not a lot of people coming through movie theaters, including No. 1 chain AMC, that exhibitor capped off a wild week, seeing its market cap mushroom to $4.5 billion and its closing stock price up close to 300% week-over-week on Friday at $13.26. That’s after a square-off between short-selling investors and Reddit investor group buyers. The stock market was so great for AMC, its notable stakeholder Silver Lake cashed out on Friday, converting $600M in the exhibitor’s debt into equity, and then selling those shares for a handsome profit.
Little Things’ 3-day weekend reps a high point in a low-ceiling marketplace since August for older guy fare, besting Solstice Studios’ Unhinged ($4M opening), Focus Features’ Let Him Go ($4M), Open Road’s Liam Neeson movies Honest Thief and The Marksman (respectively $4.1M and $3.1M), and Universal’s News of the World ($2.25M). Warners notches its Little Things notable opening in sync with the pic’s simultaneous release on HBO Max. We’ll assess that whole experiment again in a bit as new intelligence was released this past week.
As far as the exhibition landscape goes, as newly elected US President Joe Biden seeks to get the whole nation inoculated by summer, Illinois and Chicago reopened theaters this past weekend. Boston is reopening with 25% capacity limits starting Monday. The city’s theaters haven’t had their lights on since well before mid-December. AMC Boston Common and South Dorchester will reopen on Feb. 5. Seattle will reopen some cinemas next weekend as well. According to sources, to date, close to 2K theaters have not provided a reopening date. In regards to the B.O. capital states, New York has just over 20% of all movie theaters open, while California has just above 5%.
We still have a long way to go, and with the studios delaying product, even though they’re selling a bulk upfront, I gotta think there remains a belief in the tried-and-true revenue generating theatrical window system — even if physical media is retiring, and streaming is booming. In regards to this whole controversial 2021 theatrical-simultaneous HBO Max release strategy, AT&T Boss John Stankey was on the defense during a Q4 call claiming –and it’s hard to argue this point with him– that “the data points have come in and are consistent with the assumptions,” meaning Warners was correct about how the marketplace was going to suck wind for a while, as more studios abandoned the first half of the year (that said, we await with bated breath for moviegoing to return).
There were other highlights coming away from the 31-day play of Wonder Woman 1984on fledgling streaming service HBO Max and in theaters: Q4 HBO Max subscribers doubled to 17.4M, and Nielsen reported that viewing of the Patty Jenkins-directed, Gal Gadot DC movie was a monster over the year-end holiday during the Dec. 21-27 corridor, with 2.25 billion minutes of streaming, squashing Disney+’s Soul by 35%.
However, with all these horns blaring, it remains to be seen whether AT&T is making any money off this WarnerMedia experiment. It might be a good form of marketing for the streaming service in the short term, and a means to spike subs during the pandemic by tapping inventory that’s lying around. But where’s the money? Especially on a picture-by-picture basis?
WW1984 has only grossed $152M WW off a $200M production cost, not including P&A spend. The sequel ranked third in its 6th weekend with $1.3M and a running domestic take of $39.2M. I continue to beat the drum that WarnerMedia should have segued product on a picture-by-picture basis to HBO Max in response to the pandemic, versus this knee-jerk full slate move.
As such stats came out this week, AT&T Q4 expenses including roughly $780M “from the impairment of production and other content inventory at WarnerMedia,” with $520M “resulting from the continued shutdown of theaters during the pandemic and the hybrid distribution model for our 2021 film slate,” the telecom reported.
How did Little Things do on HBO Max? We don’t know specifically, number-wise, with Andy Forssell, EVP and General Manager of HBO Max boasting, “We are absolutely thrilled by how Warner Bros.’ The Little Things is performing on HBO Max — it immediately shot up to number one, where it currently remains. Following the breakthrough success of Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things shows the insatiable appetite our audience has for high quality, feature films.”
On CinemaScore, audiences weren’t wowed by Little Things, giving it a B-, which is lower for Washington in his action thriller genre, compared to the A received by Washington’s Equalizer 2 and A- of Equalizer, B+ from 2 Guns, and A- from Safe House. Some will try to defend that CinemaScore isn’t working with the same sized audience as they are during a normal marketplace. But an audience score is an audience score, and Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak shows a lower 67% positive and a 40% recommend. Those who bought tickets where theaters were open were 55% males, close to 80% over 25, with close to 60% over 35 years old. Caucasians repped 47% of ticket buyers, African Americans 29%, Hispanic 17%, and 7% Asian/other. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes weren’t amused with Little Things at 48% Rotten, but they weren’t amused with Washington’s Equalizer pics either, part 1 and 2 getting a low 59% and 51% Rotten.
In regard to Little Things’ marketing, RelishMix noticed that Warner Bros. “used a short runway, Covid-centric-tactic, given date and day/day release pivots, tapping the studio’s social channels with a SMU Social Media Universe of 53.8M SMU cross-promoted with HBO Max social channel with the emerging 1.8M SMU — and bypassed the tradition ramp-up of new dedicated pages for the film. The Warner Bros. Facebook with 34.3M connected fans, and although only one trailer, posting is robust over the last 3 weeks, with moderate engagement for Facebook views just over 500k. But the well-boosted materials on YouTube have just crossed 20M views for owned and earned posts and reposts, which is strong. Jared Leto’s super social channels (33.1M SMU) for he and his 30 Seconds To Mars band feeds are lifting the SMU Social Media Universe to 109.5M, which is good for the drama/thriller genre.”
Despite WarnerMedia’s newfound love affair with streaming, RelishMix points out, “On the WBPictures Instagram, they want to send a clear message of where you can see the film on the big screen.”
Top markets for Little Things were 1. Dallas-Ft. Worth, 2. Phoenix, 3. Houston, 4. Greater New York Metro area (NJ, CT, and Long Island/Upstate NY theaters), 5. Chicago, 6. Atlanta, 7. Denver, 8. Salt Lake City, 9. Tampa, 10. Orlando.
The pic’s 10 locations this past weekend were: 1. Harkins Estrella Falls Phoenix, 2. West Wind Sacramento Drive-In, 3. AMC Disney Springs Orlando, 4. Santikos Casa Blanca San Antonio, 5. iPic River Oaks District Houston, 6. Santikos Palladium San Antonio, 7. West Wind Solano Twin Drive-In (Concord, CA), 8. West Wind Capitol Drive-In (San Jose, CA), 9. Cinemark North Canton (Ohio), 10. AMC Thoroughbred Nashville.
Meanwhile, some clapping here for Universal, which continues to see its DreamWorks Animation Croods: A New Agecontinually stay afloat at the weekend box office, even though it’s on PVOD. It just shows that families in those parts of the nation where theaters are open prefer to head to the cinemas for a diversion. The feature is +2% in weekend 10 in the No. 2 spot with $1.84M, and a running domestic $43.9M, with foreign shooting past $100M for a $144.4M WW take. On the recent DEG year-end report, Universal estimated the 18 films it has put out on PVOD in the past 10 months have brought in more than $500 million in revenue in a $30 billion home entertainment 2020, +21% from 2019.
Comscore shows as of this AM, the weekend box office earning $13.1M, +52% from last weekend, but greatly off 84% from the same weekend in 2020. The first month of 2021 has only grossed $70.5M at the domestic box office, off 92% from the $906.6M that 2020 racked up pre-pandemic. Yikes.
The top 10 chart for Jan. 29-31:
Top 10 chart:
1.) The Little Things (WB) 2,171 theaters, 3-day: $4.8M/Wk 1
2.) Croods: A New Age (Uni) 1,901 theaters (+25), 3-day: $1.84M (+2%)/Total: $43.9M/Wk 10
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The 30-year-old singer and rapper served as the musical guest for NBC’s sketch comedy show upon its return from a winter break. Although his two performances went on without incident, he managed to fall off the stage during the end credits.
Kelly’s tumble happened shortly after guest-host John Krasinski thanked him and the cast and crew for their work on the episode. When the actor finished delivering his message, Kelly excitedly tried to pick up his famous "SNL" pal, Pete Davidson, but quickly lost his balance and the pair fell off the not-so-high stage.
"SNL" cast member Bowen Chen appears to look on at the scene in shock as he walked in the pair’s direction. Other cast and crew who were nearby were in stitches about Kelly and Davidson’s spill.
The singer was in a celebratory mood after rocking the house at Studio 8H with performances of his songs "My Ex’s Best Friend" and "Lonely."
When Kelly wasn’t making headlines for toppling over with Davidson, he caught the attention of fans and paparazzi on Saturday when he carried girlfriend Megan Fox into NBC Studios.
The young recording artist shared video of his chivalrous deed to Twitter that day with a "good afternoon NYC." Some people crowding the pair wore face masks while many others did not, including Fox and Kelly.
Both stars have been an item since the actress parted ways from her husband, "90210" actor Brian Austin Green. Fox and Kelly reportedly fell in love while they began filming their upcoming crime thriller film "Midnight in the Switchgrass," according to E! News. Production had been halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Green, 47, confirmed he and Fox, 34, had separated in May with a cryptic Instagram post and podcast episode of "…with Brian Austin Green." Right before Thanksgiving, the famous soon-to-be exes filed for divorce after a little more than 10 years of marriage.
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Looks like the next edition of Now That’s What I Call Music is going to be a must-have for TV fans.
In a riff of the popular NOW music franchise, SNL delivered its own version entitled, Now That’s What I Call Theme Songs Sung by Stars, allowing myriad series leads (or facsimile thereof) to perform original lyrics to some of TV’s most classic tracks (watch the full clip below).
The short began with Chloe Fineman giving us her best Nicole Kidman, as she crooned The Undoing‘s opening tune, “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” (“Did you notice my coat?” she asks.) From there we were served new renditions of the songs from Bridgerton (by way of Lady Whistledown aka Julie Andrews), The Mandalorian, The Queen’s Gambit, Succession and more, as Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, Beck Bennett, Melissa Villaseñor, Pete Davidson, Kyle Mooney, Alex Moffat and all stepped in to exercise their vocal talents.
But in the clip’s final hurrah, first-time host John Krasinski sang the “long-lost lyrics” to The Office‘s theme song, which began with a whole lot of “Scrantons.” He then did Dunder Mifflin proud, singing alongside the actual opening credits, which basically turned into a narration of the accompanying video (“That’s a calculator!”).
That wasn’t the night’s only fun tidbit for Office fans. In Krasinski’s opening monologue, he was consistently interrupted by “Office fans” Kenan Thompson, Moffat, Davidson and Ego Nwodim, who neglected to ask any real questions but rather used it as a chance to repeatedly call the actor “Jim.” The bit culminated in a kiss between “Jim and Pam,” with SNL‘s own Pete Davidson subbing in for Jenna Fischer. (Watch that full monologue here.)
What was your favorite skit from SNL‘s return? Grade the episode in the poll below, then tell us your thoughts in the comments!
In the segment called “What Still Works?” Kate McKinnon reviewed some aspects of society — like government, the economy, sports and the vaccine rollout — to see if they “still work.” Her first guest was Rep. Greene (Cicely Strong), who like the real representative from Georgia, began spouting conspiracy theories about the Parkland school shooting and wildfire-causing “Jewish space lasers.”
“And when your colleagues found out all about this hateful and psychotic things you said, what did they do?” McKinnon asked.
“I was promoted to the education committee,” Strong’s Greene said.
After realizing that government no longer worked, McKinnon next reviewed the stock market with Pete Davidson’s new majority shareholder of GameStop “Derrick Boner,” who helped establish that the stock market was also no longer working.
Next was social media — Alex Moffat’s Mark Zuckerberg and Mikey Day’s Jack Dorsey — and then vaccine rollout, where McKinnon wondered how a nation that has only vaccinated a small percentage of its population managed to have one available for O.J. Simpson (Kenan Thompson).
“Teachers can’t get the vaccine but you did? People with long-term lung conditions but you did?,” McKinnon asked. “So among the first 3 percent of all Americans given the vaccine was O.J. Simpson?”
“Hey, guilty was charged,” Thompson’s Simpson quipped.
To close out the segment, McKinnon welcomed the only thing that appears to be working, Tom Brady (played by SNL John Krasinski), who will return to the Super Bowl yet again next weekend, this time as quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“You still work. You’re supposed to win football games and you just keep winning football games. You might be the only thing in America that still works,” McKinnon said. “So I guess everyone must be rooting for you, right?”
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"Saturday Night Live" returned for a new year, poking fun at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the coronavirus vaccine rollout and a Wall Street crisis during the show's cold open.
In a skit titled "What still works," actress and comedian Kate McKinnon hosted a mock talk show with a slew of fellow cast members spoofing various figures in the news in recent weeks.
Among them was Greene.
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"Thanks for having me," comedian Cecily Strong, portraying Greene, tells McKinnon, immediately offering her a handgun.
McKinnon then asks about some of the conspiracy theories she promoted on social media before being elected to Congress in November.
Strong's Greene rattles off a list of false claims about the 2018 Parkland high school shooting and the September 11 terrorists attacks in New York City, asking: "Did anyone actually see it happen?"
McKinnon, apparently concerned and perplexed, asks, "You're a U.S. representative?" and presses her about what her colleagues on Capitol Hill have done in response to her statements.
"They promoted me to the Education Committee," Strong's Greene says.
"So government does not work," McKinnon replies.
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Fellow cast member Pete Davidson joins McKinnon next, playing the role of a man identified as the "majority shareholder of GameStop."
"Uhhh, we sell games," an apparently oblivious Davidson says. "People download all their games now, so we're kind of like what you would call .."
"A dying business?" McKinnon asks. "So now it seems like ..."
"The entire system is a joke?" Davidson says.
A rush on GameStop stocks last week by armchair investors organized on the internet led to the company's value on Wall Street to skyrocket before stock trading app Robinhood suspended trades on the company, a move that was met with bipartisan backlash.
Longtime cast member Keenan Thompson also made an appearance during the show's first cold open of its new year, playing the role of O.J. Simpson and wearing ankle tracking device while boasting about getting the coronavirus vaccine.
"So among the first 3 percent of all Americans given the vaccine was O.J. Simpson?" McKinnon asks.
"Guilty as charged ... about the vaccine," Simpson replies.
"Alright so the vaccine rollout, it doesn't work," she said.
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"Yeah, we can say that," said Timberlake with a smile. "There is a possibility."
"Let's go with yes. I've been in and out of the studio working on stuff. I played you a few tunes," he reminded Fallon.
Timberlake last released a full-length album in 2018, Man of the Woods. More recently, he collaborated with Ant Clemons on the song "Better Days," which was performed at the primetime Celebrating America concert on Jan. 20, following the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Looking toward the future, Timberlake told Fallon he'd love to one day work with Kendrick Lamar or Travis Scott. He also joked that he'd allow Fallon in on a track.
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Among her many accomplishments, including being the recipient of three Emmy Awards, Tyson was the first African-American to win a lead actress Emmy, for her performance portraying a woman from the 1850s to the civil-rights era in the 1974 CBS telefilm The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. She notably received an Oscar nomination for her role in 1972's Sounder, and she won a Tony award in 2013 for her work in The Trip to Bountiful.
"The love between us was and is tremendous," Kravitz said in his post. "As long as I have had consciousness, I’ve known Godmother. She and my mother were kindred spirits. Sisters. And after my mother passed, Godmother's role in my life was amplified. I constantly felt her spirit over me. She always gave me unconditional support. She came to my shows, came over for holidays, met me for dinners, stayed with me in Paris when I first moved there, and never let me too far out of her sight. Our phone calls went on sometimes for hours."
"We spoke just a few nights ago and talked about everything. She had just sent me her book that has been sitting on my nightstand where it will remain. She did it all, wrote the book, and then God called her. I can hear Godmother saying 'ok, now y’all can read about it, I’m going home.' Rest peacefully, Godmother. You did it all exquisitely," wrote Kravitz, referring to her just-published memoir, Just As I Am.
See his full note in honor of Tyson, as well as a series of personal photos, on Instagram.
Article From & Read More ( Lenny Kravitz Pens Tribute to Godmother Cicely Tyson, 'A Black Queen Who Showed Us How Beautiful Black Is' - Billboard )
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"Saturday Night Live" wasted no time diving into January’s plentiful political dramas in its first show of the year this weekend after more than a month’s holiday break.
In the show’s "Blue Georgia" sketch, cast members and guest host John Krasinski portray the usually reliably red state as a Rachel Maddow-loving, avocado toast and vegan meatloaf-serving, and solar-heated porch neck of the country.
The "politically correct" transformation follows the state's real-life election of two Democrats to the U.S. Senate in a pair of Jan. 5 runoff contests, ousting incumbent Republicans.
"Good to see a fellow Blue Stater. We’re just like y’all," a small-town Georgian waitress, played by Aidy Bryant, tells a New York tourist, played by cast member Pete Davidson, who enters the diner.
"Do you know where the men’s room is?" Davidson asks after he sits down.
"Yes, back in 2015," cast member Beck Bennett tells Davidson while playing Georgia man "Skeeter, he/him," the owner of the town’s electric truck dealership who looks a little like KFC's Colonel Sanders. "We don’t have a men’s room, but the all-gender restroom is just down the way."
Artists set up a painting of Stacey Abrams in the King Historic District on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in Atlanta. (Associated Press)
After Davidson admits surprise the diner has an all-gender restroom, Bennett jokes that Davidson thinks all Georgians are "crazy Christian types."
"Oh no, and even if you are, it’s fine," Davidson answers. "I’m Jewish."
"I hope you know what we do to Jewish folks down here in Georgia," Bennett as Skeeter warns ominously.
"We elect them!" he laughs, referring to Sen. Jon Ossoff, the Democrat who defeated Republican Sen. David Perdue in one of the runoffs. Ossoff thus became the state’s first Jewish U.S. senator. (Also winning on Jan. 5 was Sen. Raphael Warnock, the state’s first Black U.S. senator. He defeated Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.)
Later in the sketch, Deputy Jimmy, played by Andrew Dismukes, bursts into the diner, saying how "honored" he was that a group of Black Lives Matter activists wanted to "protest in our town!"
Then, a Floridian wearing a MAGA hat, played by Alex Moffatt, enters the diner and gets a stern reminder from Krasinski, the town’s sheriff.
"This is Stacey Abrams country," the lawman warns, referring to the high-profile Democrat who lost a race for governor of the state in 2018 and then launched Fair Fight Action, a group credited with helping Democrats win the two U.S. Senate races.
But at the end of the sketch, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the diner patrons' collective refusal to wear masks to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
"Because we’re free!" they shout.
The show also took on U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during the cold open, did a sketch on the GameStop stock controversy and mocked the riots at the U.S. Capitol and former President Trump’s impeachment.
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Saturday Night Live returned from hiatus last night with its first post-Trump (and blessedly Alec Baldwin-free) cold open, addressing a month’s worth of news via a segment called “What Still Works?” Kate McKinnon explains, “It’s a new year and we have a new president so some things should work, but do they?” She brings out a cast of characters to determine what still works, starting with Cecily Strong in the role she was born to play, Congresswoman and QAnon enthusiast Marjorie Taylor Greene. Strong-as-Greene has thoughts on the Parkland shooting (“The teachers were actors and the children were dolls”) as well as, of course, 9/11 (“Did anyone actually see it happen?”). Other guests include Pete Davidson as majority Gamestop shareholder Derrick Boner, along with Mikey Day and Alex Moffat as Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg, respectively. The cold open wraps up with the troubling and unsurprising realization that nothing still works, but at least we still have Kate McKinnon telling Day-as-Dorsey that his beard “is working in terms of keeping me a lesbian.”
That's how the NBC variety show opened its program on Saturday night, with cast member Kate McKinnon hosting a show that asked what still works in America. The first category was "government."
"Our first topic is government and already I have my doubts," McKinnon said.
Greene, who was played by Cecily Strong, came out and immediately offered McKinnon a gun.
"So Congresswoman Greene... hard to say those words together," McKinnon said. "What are some of the theories you believe in?"
Strong's Greene responded, "How much time you got?"
After hearing some of Greene's theories, McKinnon asked if she really believed those things and then asked if she's really a US representative.
"People can Google you and it'll say she's a real member of the US government?" McKinnon asked again.
"That may not be the first thing that comes up, but yes," Strong's Greene responded.
McKinnon thanked Greene for coming and said, "so government doesn't work." She then moved on to the stock market, which had a wild week thanks to Reddit, and brought on the majority shareholder of GameStop, "Derek Boner."
Boner, who was played by Pete Davidson, corrected McKinnon by saying, "first of all, it's pronounced 'stonk' market."
McKinnon then asked Davidson's Boner if the company's crazy week reflects GameStop's business.
"Uh, we sell games?" Davidson's Boner asked.
McKinnon came to the conclusion that the stock market doesn't work, either.
After going through topics such as social media and the Covid-19 vaccine rollout (both of which aren't working either, according to McKinnon), "SNL" finally found something that works in America: Tom Brady.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, who's heading back to the Super Bowl with his new team, appeared on the show played by this week's host, John Krasinski.
"You're supposed to win football games and you just keep winning football games," McKinnon said. "You might the only thing in America that still works... So I guess everyone must be rooting for you, right?"
"Almost no one," Krasinski's Brady responded.
McKinnon said she'd be rooting for him because the country can still rely on him and "it's not like you're a weird Trump guy or anything, right?"
Krasinski's Brady immediately thanked McKinnon for having him and left the stage.
McKinnon ended the segment by saying that she's been slowly losing her mind, and then belted out the show's signature catch phrase, "Live... From New York! It's Saturday night!"
Eilish chose to respond to a question about who her "ideal boy" would be. Apparently, he'd be a little something like Scar from Disney's animated feature film The Lion King.
For those that didn't already know, Eilish answered a question about the release date of her upcoming documentary, The World's a Little Blurry: It'll be available on Feb. 26.
And when a fan asked "how many tracks approx on upcoming album," Eilish implied there would be 16.
Eilish also shared an update on her dogs and a peek at her favorite restaurant.
Check out her mini question-and-answer session on Instagram.
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"Yeah, we can say that," said Timberlake with a smile. "There is a possibility."
"Let's go with yes. I've been in and out of the studio working on stuff. I played you a few tunes," he reminded Fallon.
Timberlake last released a full-length album in 2018, Man of the Woods. More recently, he collaborated with Ant Clemons on the song "Better Days," which was performed at the primetime Celebrating America concert on Jan. 20, following the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Looking toward the future, Timberlake told Fallon he'd love to one day work with Kendrick Lamar or Travis Scott. He also joked that he'd allow Fallon in on a track.
Wendy Williams' new biopic and documentary, Wendy Williams: The Movie and Wendy Williams: What A Mess!, are both premiering on Lifetime on Saturday, and the films focus on the talk show host's rise to fame, along with her rocky family life.
While the biopic spends a lot of time exploring Wendy's relationship with now ex-husband Kevin Hunter, the couple’s son, Kevin Hunter Jr., also makes a cameo.
While Wendy talks about her son here and there on her show and Instagram, he mostly lives a BTS life. But who is Kevin Hunter Jr., exactly? Here’s the lowdown.
He’s 20.
Wendy marked Kevin Jr.’s birthday in August with an Instagram pic packed with mementos from his childhood and birth. "Today is my biggest day!" she wrote in the caption. "Son Kevin and I are celebrating his 20th birthday. He’s in Miami and I’m in NYC, but love never stops."
She continued, "If you look closely you'll see remains of 1st hair cut, my [cervical stitch] is on sneaker, like a mom... I DO have all his teeth😂I'm not a fan of cake, but today OK...for my son❤ What are you doing?"
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Kevin Jr. has a rocky relationship with his father.
He pleaded not guilty in June 2019 to charges that he assaulted his father. According to TMZ, Kevin Jr. allegedly punched Kevin Sr. in the nose during an argument. Kevin Sr. did not press charges.
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He’s supportive of his mom.
Kevin Jr. was there for his mom when she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a moment that Wendy later celebrated on Instagram. "My son shine! 💙💙💙⭐️⭐️⭐️," she captioned a photo of herself kissing Kevin on the cheek.
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Kevin is a rainbow baby.
Wendy has opened up about the struggle to conceive Kevin Jr. She said during the 2015 PBS special American Masters: The Women's List, per Essence, that she "fought tooth and nail to be a mother. I suffered several miscarriages including two at five months." Wendy also added that her son is a "hard-won child."
He has overcome a drug addiction.
Five years ago, Wendy shared on her show that Kevin Jr., then 15, overcame an addiction to the synthetic marijuana, K2. She later spoke about the experience with ET, saying, "Our son, three years ago, he smoked K2. Now this is a drug, we see it on the news, people are walking around like zombies."
Wendy said her son "became someone I didn’t even know." But, Wendy said, her family got help for Kevin Jr. "I’m glad to say we were able to bring him back all the way around," she said.
Kevin's currently in college.
He goes to school in Miami, according to Page Six.
Korin MillerKorin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Glamour, and more.
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