Dana Carvey hosts this weekend's Saturday Night Live, marking his fourth appearance as host -- which ranks him third all-time for former cast members, 24 of whom have returned to host the show they once called home. And while you might think that having an alumnus host would automatically translate into a great show, hosting SNL is a completely different animal than being a cast member.
American Idol turned into a quaint curiosity shop called The Not-So-Great American Hack Factory last night, offering what seemed like 40,000 terrible auditions and enough delusion to power a clone army of William Hungs. It was brutal, even for sketchy L.A. Let's find three auditions we liked. Don't be surprised if they're still a little unbearable.
Anyone that listens to Howard Stern knows that he is a passionate hater of Jay Leno. So it was not surprising that the radio personality chose to sink his teeth into the ConanGate instigator while visiting the Late Show last night -- but it was still very entertaining. Elsewhere, Justin Bieber switched bodies with Jon Stewart, Jeff Bridges discussed a Big Lebowski reunion, Dana Carvey talked about his upcoming Saturday Night Live gig, and Lisa Kudrow outed her flirty son.
Confession: I took some heat at Movieline HQ this morning for not including David Letterman's lotion-eating segment in today's Late Night Highlights, but that's only because I've seen the whole "Dave's eating something he shouldn't be" gag a few times before. Don't believe me? Here's a primer on all the things Letterman should have thought twice about before ingesting.
Longhorn country served up a tasty trough of sangers, y'all. I could've just eaten them up with a pitchfork and a soda gun fulla A1 sauce! Yee-hoo! But seriously: Austin only gave us three auditioners worth real remembrance, and they're listed after the jump. Bonus: I'm comparing each winner to a famous pop-culture "Austin." Clever of me! Because lots of famous people are named Austin, and pop-culture connections are as delicious as a piggy riding a sheepdog. Or something! Country, I don't understand you!
Matthew Perry has been testing out his blue humor during his recent Mr. Sunshine promotional duties. Earlier this week, the actor demonstrated a colonic for David Letterman, and last night, he talked about masturbating with Jon Stewart. Elsewhere, Stephen Colbert interviewed a cat about Egypt, Josh Brolin previewed a never-before-seen sequence from True Grit, and Jesse Eisenberg described his Oscar date woes.
All the best writers use superlatives, so allow me to wield my bestness: 30 Rock is the finest ensemble sitcom ever. Mary Richards, Sam Malone, George Costanza and Michael Bluth wilt in comparison to Liz Lemon's weirdo coterie, and the strangest member of her team remains -- after five seasons -- Kenneth Parcell, played by the inimitable Jack McBrayer. A couple weeks ago at a TCA press function, I caught up with McBrayer late in the evening for a quick, five-question interview that ended with a candid acknowledgment on his part. Prepare for the swiftest Q&A in existence.
If there's one thing that self-respecting football fans have in common, it's their unadulterated adulation of high school students singing Michael Jackson and Katy Perry. At least, that's what Fox hopes considering that an episode of Glee will air immediately following the Super Bowl this Sunday. Programming the Super Bowl lead-out is a tricky proposition: Obviously whatever is placed in that time slot is going to do gangbuster ratings, but considering that the current combination of NBC, CBS and Fox only have the Super Bowl once every three years, it may not be wise to waste this ratings bonanza on something like, say, the pilot for a Randy Quaid show called Davis Rules... which happened. So, what can Glee except from its monster of a lead-in? Let's look at nine fun facts about network programming that immediately follows the Super Bowl.
Considering Community is a sitcom that made a 9/11 reference within the first 10 minutes of its pilot episode, the fact that the show will use blackface to garner laughs this week isn't that surprising. But! Will the sight of Ken Jeong in blackface push things a bit too far? Ahead, find a brief history of blackface stunts from recent memory.
Just minutes before last night's Conan, the host happened to walk in on Jennifer Aniston almost naked -- an embarrassing incident for the actress that he then shared with a national audience. Elsewhere in late night, Aniston's former Friends co-star Matthew Perry described a colonic to David Letterman, Conan suggested a Nic Cage Threat Level system for our country, and Helena Bonham Carter told Jay Leno that losing (Oscars) isn't so bad.
Nothing ruins Saturday Night Live more than a "surprise" walk-on. Oh, sure, bad writing and a bad host can doom an individual episode, but nothing kills the spirit of what SNL is trying to accomplish more than a walk-on by a formerly mocked subject -- and the ramifications can last well beyond the episode in which it airs. Enough, already!
Fox is promoting the hell out of this Sunday's Super Bowl-Glee doubleheader. The network has already released a preview of the over-the-top episode, complete audio of the "Thriller"/"Heads Will Roll" mash-up, and now they're even doling out some Glee-approved serving suggestions for your own Super Bowl party.
The final season of Lost debuted on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010. That means at this time last year, the words "flash sideways" weren't conjoined inside your brain, and the fates of those plucky Oceanic 815 survivors were unknown. In honor of this anniversary -- hey, if it's good enough for Back to the Future it's good enough for Lost -- let's take a look at what each cast member is up to nowadays.
You might not think that David Letterman and tween sensation Justin Bieber would have much chemistry, but the unlikely pair proved otherwise on last night's Late Show, when the Beebs hung, tweeted and joked with the elder Dave. Elsewhere, Adam Sandler explained why his kids hate Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Smith talked Red State protests, Craig Ferguson dressed in drag, and Adam Scott told Jimmy Fallon about feeling ugly.
For a lot of viewers, Glee is a safe haven from America's football-obsessed, freak flag-burning culture. So it was disturbing to hear that Ryan Murphy would be: 1.) Hosting this year's Super Bowl lead-out time slot and 2.) Filling it with cheerleaders shooting fire from their breasts during a Katy Perry number. To reassure Gleeks that this Sunday's "Sue Sylvester Bowl Shuffle" will not just be a second giant halftime show -- as the preview, complete with human cannons, teased last week -- Fox has leaked its first single from the episode. Ready?
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