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On July 25, It's time to head back to the links — and the 1990s — with Adam Sandler. The star is picking up his golf clubs again for Netflix's Happy Gilmore 2, a belated follow-up to the 1996 golf comedy that propelled him onto Hollywood's comedy A-list. It's the first time that Sandler has revisited one of those vintage comedies; to date, his only live-action sequels to previous successes have been Grown-Ups 2 and Murder Mystery 2.

Interestingly, Happy Gilmore 2 is arriving on Netflix one month ahead of Sandler's latest seriocomic turn; the actor will be starring alongside George Clooney in Noah Baumbach's Venice-bound feature Jay Kelly. And the two actors will likely be joined at the hip throughout awards season as Clooney positions himself for his first Best Actor nomination since The Descendants way back in 2013. (He won a Best Supporting Actor statuette in 2007 for Syriana.)

Meanwhile, Jay Kelly...

Plot: Twenty-nine years after winning his first Tour Championship, retired golfer Happy Gilmore returns to the sport to pay for his daughter Vienna’s ballet school.

Review (Warning: contains mild spoilers): When Happy Gilmore hit theaters in 1996, I was a dumb high schooler who had loved the idiocy of Adam Sandler’s Billy Madison and hoped for more of the sophomoric shenanigans that film delivered. Reteaming with Billy Madison co-writer Tim Herlihy, Happy Gilmore was a hilariously stupid sports movie with Sandler’s trademark yelling and bizarre jokes wrapped in an underdog tale. Naming his production company after his first two hit films, Adam Sandler has gone on to make dozens of similar movies interspersed with acclaimed movies like Punch-Drunk Love and Uncut Gems. After three decades, Sandler and Herlihy have returned to give audiences the long-awaited Happy Gilmore 2, which replicates the heartfelt stupidity of the original movie...

Happy Gilmore 2 is now on Netflix!

Nearly 30 years after Adam Sandler‘s 1996 movie became a fan favorite hit, the sequel has just hit the streamer.

Here’s the sequel’s synopsis: “It’s been almost 30 years since we last saw Happy Gilmore, the long-driving hero who won the Tour Championship in 1996.”

Several stars from the original movie returned for the sequel, and plenty of actors, musicians, and athletes are in the cast as well. See who appears!

Keep reading to find out more…

Screen Rant gives it a 5 out of 10 and says: “Happy Gilmore 2 has its moments, but ultimately fails where it counts, thanks to an unfocused plot, gratuitous cameos, and unearned nostalgia.”

Consequence gives it a B, writing: “Between Happy’s family life and a whole new series of challenges for him to tackle, there’s enough freshness to the plot to keep it from feeling like...

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had some surprise guests stop by the Ed Sullivan Theater to show their support for the host. Visits from late-night TV hosts, Saturday Night Live alumni, and more brought a much different energy to the show.

Colbert began his show on Monday night with a monologue that addressed the elephant in the room. Yes, Paramount really did cancel The Late Show, and Colbert will be out of a job in 10 months. But the comedian also used the time to directly address President Donald Trump, saying "go f**k yourself" to the man many believe had a hand in ending Colbert's late-night TV run.

But things found a much more positive vibe later in the program. Colbert admitted he didn't want the show to cause fear or anxiety among fans saddened by Paramount's decision. So to help change the mood, Colbert called in a few favors.

Stephen Colbert has brought out the big guns after Donald Trump earlier celebrated the news of the cancellation of The Late Show. In the most recent episode, there were many jabs directed at both Trump and the show’s network, Paramount. Several celebrities, including Adam Sandler and Lin-Manuel Miranda, came out to support Colbert publicly.

On Monday’s episode of Colbert’s show, fans saw the host getting immense support from his fellow talk show hosts. Lin-Manuel Miranda and “Weird Al” Yankovic joined the band to sing Coldplay’s Vida la Vida, parodying the Coldplay concert moment last week (via TVLine).

The camera then panned onto several audience members before landing on Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, who were pretending to make out. Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers enjoyed the show with beers in their hands. Adam Sandler and his Happy Gilmore 2 co-star Christopher McDonald also appeared on the show,...

The cancellation of Late Show With Stephen Colbert happened less than a week ago, but already the news cycle has taken multiple wild turns. Colbert delivered the news in a very measured and gracious way at the top of last Thursday’s episode. President Trump apparently had nothing more pressing to do Friday morning than gloat about it. Then anonymous CBS spokespersons tried to push back on the narrative that Colbert had been fired and that the show was cancelled for political reasons related to the long-gestating purchase of CBS’ parent company Paramount by Skydance Entertainment, leaking that The Late Show loses a reported $40 million to $50 million each year. Colbert was back Monday night for the first time since this figure hit the press, and he seemed pretty dubious about it, particularly since the show is #1 in the late-night ratings.

“Forty million’s a big number,” said Colbert in his opening monologue.

The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert emerged last week like a dagger through the heart of late-night TV.

Would others be next? How would Colbert’s friends fare if the most-watched show in late-night can be axed for “financial reasons”?

Well, they turned up for him, literally.

Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Jon Stewart and Andy Cohen all appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday. They were joined by a slew of other stars including Adam Sandler, Anderson Cooper, Weird Al Yankovic, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Robert Smigel.

The gag started with Miranda and Weird Al coming out to perform a song – a Coldplay song, in fact, a reference to the Astronomer scandal, which saw the CEO resigning after getting caught with the company’s Hr chief on a kiss-cam at a recent concert from Chris Martin’s band.

As they were playing, the...

One of the more notable one-episode wonders in television history may be "Lookwell." 

"Lookwell," for those unfortunate enough not to know, was a comedy pilot starring Adam West that was produced by Lorne Michaels and co-written by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel. It was made in 1991, but despite its high concept and high quality, it never went to series. The pilot aired on NBC in late July of that year as a TV movie, but only those with fast-moving Vcr-record buttons were able to capture it before it vanished into the ether. Those who did manage to capture it on VHS instantly became enamored, falling in love with Adam West's sublime comedic performance and its askew sense of humor. 

The premise of "Lookwell" was a little arch, as was the fashion at the time. West played Ty Lookwell, a wealthy, retired TV actor who loved to lounge around his 1970s-decorated...

Sex is no joking matter, at least to guys like United Methodist minister Donald Wildmon, whose National Federation of Decency targeted TV comedies that crossed imaginary lines of propriety. Wildmon’s group, along with several others, demanded that advertisers withdraw sponsorship from comedies that offended their sensibilities. More often than not, however, those efforts only fueled sex-themed comedies’ popularity.

Here are four cases of classic TV comedies that thrived despite opposition from the religious right…

1 Three’s Company

For all the commotion around Three’s Company being at the forefront of Jiggle TV in the 1970s, there was surprisingly little sex on the sitcom. Naughty misunderstandings, sure, but none of the roommates engaged in so much as a kiss.

That didn’t stop Wildmon and the National Religious Broadcasters (Nrb) from planning a “blitz” against Three’s Company. “It is not that we are against sex,” said Nrb spokesperson Carl Richardson,...

Happy Gilmore 2 tees off on Netflix July 25. To celebrate, the streaming service is launching a collection of movies featuring Sandler and fellow Saturday Night Live alumni.

Sandler returns to one of his most iconic roles for the first time in almost 30 years. Stars returning from the 1996 comedy classic include Julie Bowen and Christopher McDonald. Several actors from the Saturday Night Live family are also onboard for Happy Gilmore 2, including Kevin Nealon, Ben Stiller, Marcello Hernandez, Jim Downey, and Martin Herlihy.

But Netflix isn't waiting until July 25 to let fans stream their favorite SNL stars. Here's a breakdown of what's coming to Netflix in July, featuring SNL stars past and present (via Collider).

To no surprise, Happy Gilmore kicks things off. The film premiered just a year after Sandler left Saturday Night Live and has since become a cult classic. In addition to Nealon and Stiller, the original also...

Jack McBrayer's performance as Kenneth the Page on "30 Rock" is immortal because his indefatigable enthusiasm was the heart of a show that ruthlessly pursued each and every joke it could sink its teeth into.

The performance made Jack McBrayer the go-to man for wholesome, purehearted weirdos on TV, which is why Conan O'Brien thought it would be funny to send him into the meanest, cruelest place on the planet: Chicago's Wiener's Circle, a rough and tumble hole in the wall where employees and customers scream insults and expletives at one another. Poor Jack was no match for their negativity, but luckily he didn't come alone.

Enter: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and his iconic cigar. Triumph, a rottweiler hand puppet performed by Robert Smigel with a seemingly never ending encyclopedia of insults, Triumph is one of Conan's most famous recurring characters and his journey into the depths of...

In his first appearance NBC’s “Late Night” since leaving the show in 2009, Conan O’Brien cracked up current host Seth Meyers by revealing the absolutely terrible name change he suggested when he took over the show in 1993.

O’Brien hosted the show from 1993-2009, a critically acclaimed and culturally impactful run filled with weird, original humor still praised to this day. But he took over the show from its creator, David Letterman, an already legendary late night host who left to create “The Late Show” for CBS. And as he explained to Meyers, Letterman’s legacy made them extremely self conscious.

“When [the show’s first head writer] Robert Smigel and I take over the late night, and the whole country is saying, I mean, there are articles that say ‘this is insane,’ ‘Who is Conan O’Brien,’ ‘this is a bad idea, and that’s my family talking,” O’Brien explained. “And everyone thought, this is,...

When The Simpsons first debuted back in 1989, it was obviously unlike any other series that had come before it. But it still had its fair share of pop-culture influences. For one thing, the opening credit sequence was straight out of The Jetsons. And Matt Groening has said that much of the show was inspired by his love of classic sitcoms like Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver.

But the tone of The Simpsons can be traced back to two wildly different TV shows from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

The Ringer just shared the first chapter of the new book Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of “The Simpsons” Changed Television — and America — Forever by Alan Siegel. In it, writer Jon Vitti, who penned classic episodes such as “Cape Feare” and “Radio Bart” revealed that “the basic hybrid that creates The Simpsons is...

Two weeks after the death of Cheers alum George Wendt, the actor’s cause of death has been revealed.

According to a death certificate from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which was obtained by People, Wendt died from cardiac arrest. Underlying causes included congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, and hypertension, per the outlet.

A rep for Wendt confirmed his death on May 20 at the age of 76 in a statement to Rolling Stone. While an exact cause of death was not given at the time, the rep...

Shortly after taking over the NBC late-night spot formerly occupied by David Letterman, Conan O’Brien found himself on the precipice. Early critical reaction to Late Night With Conan O’Brien was lukewarm, and the ratings weren’t much better. “It was very raw. I was very inexperienced,” Conan remembered this week on the Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend podcast. “It was choppy waters for quite a while, and people thought maybe this isn’t going to work out.”

So it was big news when Letterman invited Conan to guest on his new CBS show. “It was the big number one show at the time,” Conan explained. “This was a big deal to get to go on Dave’s show and promote the show that we were doing a couple of blocks away.”

But what kind of bit could Conan do on Letterman’s show? He brainstormed with his writers, throwing...

George Wendt from Cheers wasn’t just Norm, he was The Norm. While some of you may not remember him, this iconic star left an unforgettable mark owing to his character and effortless knack for making every barstool feel like home. Honestly, Wendt wasn’t just a cast member; he was the reason many tuned in, week after week, just to watch this lovable accountant sip beer, dodge work, and deliver deadpan gold at Boston’s coziest bar.

Of course, Wendt’s performance helped anchor one of television’s greatest ensemble casts, and his presence literally defined the word “sitcom staple.” Over the years, he was a fan favorite, popping up in reruns, memes, and nostalgic hearts. Sadly, the man who made Norm a household name passed away at 76, leaving a mug full of memories and a legacy that’ll outlive the last call. To honor him, let’s raise...

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world, Sammy, and I’m wearing Milk-Bone underwear.”

George Wendt, best known as Norm, the master of the hangdog lament with elbows propped on the Cheers bar rail, passed away this morning at the age of 76. He earned six consecutive Emmy nominations for the role, one of the classic comedy’s anchors from its first episode to its last. It was a significant step up from his first job in show business, sweeping the floors at Second City, where he eventually became a member of the improvisational repertory company.

Wendt joined Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast last summer and reminisced about trying out for the iconic sitcom. He almost didn’t get to audition since he was already committed to another comedy over at CBS when the opportunity came knocking.

“They want you to come in anyway,” his agents told him.

George Wendt, the actor and comedian best known for playing Norm Peterson on the classic sitcom Cheers, died Tuesday, May 20. He was 76.

A rep for Wendt confirmed his death to Rolling Stone. An exact cause of death was not given, though the rep said Wendt “died peacefully in his sleep while at home.”

The rep’s statement continued: “George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him. He will be missed forever. The family has requested privacy during this time.

George Wendt, best known for playing the beer-swilling Norm on Cheers, died peacefully in his sleep while at home early Tuesday morning, according to a family representative. He was 76.

Wendt was on Cheers for the entirety of the show’s epic run from 1982–1993. On a series full of beloved characters, his Norm Peterson was arguably the most beloved, with his entry into a scene announced each time as all the bar’s patrons exclaimed, “Norm!” What followed was usually a setup from one of his co-stars followed by a snappy one-liner from Norm.

As a result of that performance, Wendt earned six consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, but never won.

“I have a hard time talking about Norm. It’s like he’s too close to me,” Wendt once said of the character. “I think he’s the toughest to write for because he’s not really anything.

George Wendt, an American actor and comedian who earned six consecutive Emmy nominations for his performance as Norm Peterson on the beloved NBC comedy series “Cheers,” died Tuesday morning at his home. He was 76.

Wendt’s death was confirmed by his publicist Melissa Nathan with the following statement: “George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him. He will be missed forever. The family has requested privacy during this time.”

A student of the Chicago improv landscape, Wendt was a comedian at The Second City in the 1970s before becoming a television actor. After numerous guest spots, he landed the role that would come define him: the loyal barfly Norm Peterson, whose regular first line of “Afternoon everybody” became one of the fan-beloved motifs of the series.

A standout among the cast, Wendt earned six Emmy nods in...

The Green Lantern is probably the best superhero to be named after a piece of camping equipment.

I jest, of course, but I think even the character's most die-hard fans would have to admit that the Green Lantern is a surreal concept. The character belongs to a corps of high-powered space police who said about the cosmos under the power of magical rings that glow with a green light. Green, it seems, is the physical manifestation of willpower, and the Green Lantern Corps are just suffused with it, allowing them to wield their rings as weapons. The rings allow them to manifest any object they can imagine, at least temporarily, constructed out of green light. There's more lore as well, but detailing every last bit of Green Lantern mythology would have us both punching our computer monitors in frustration.

Nevertheless, the Green Lantern, in all his iterations, has remained a...

Jack Black almost played Green Lantern? (Photo Credit – Instagram)

It sounds bizarre now, but once upon a time, Jack Black almost wore the Green Lantern ring. Yep, that Jack Black. Before the world knew Hal Jordan as the chiseled Ryan Reynolds in a glowing green suit, the role nearly went in a completely different direction—a funnier, stranger one. And no, this isn’t an internet myth. It was real. Warner Bros. considered casting the unpredictable comedy star in the lead, with a script that leaned fully into the ridiculous.

Let’s rewind. The Green Lantern movie had been stuck in development limbo since the late ’90s. In 1997, Warner Bros. reached out to Kevin Smith to write the screenplay. Smith, already burned out after the mess surrounding Superman Lives, passed. That left the project floating in space, with no clear path forward.

In 2004, enter Robert Smigel, the comedy writer best...

In case you've been living under a rock, Adam Sandler has been on quite a streak. From delivering an award worthy performance (that was sadly snubbed at the Oscars), to going back to his roots with great comedy specials and completely stealing the show in one of the best moments from the "SNL 50" anniversary special, it's a damn good time to be the Sandman. Well over 30 years into his career in entertainment, Sandler shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, and this year won't be the exception.

On the horizon, Sandler's got two big movies hitting Netflix in 2025: "Jay Kelly," a dramedy written and directed by Noah Baumbach, will see Sandler team up on screen with George Clooney and Laura Dern, while fans of "Happy Gilmore" will finally get the long-awaited sequel, "Happy Gilmore 2," this summer. In case you've been debating doing a full marathon of Adam Sandler's best roles,...

What’s that? You’ve never heard of Poochinski, the show starring a murdered cop who is resurrected as a crime-solving bulldog voiced by the great Peter Boyle? Well, perhaps that’s because they only made one episode before some executive thought this brilliant TV series just might not find an audience.

Honestly, when stacked against some of the other bizarre pilots that were never picked up, Poochinski starts to look like a pretty good idea. Who wouldn’t love a police procedural starring a detective dog that’s been resurrected from the dead, anyway? Here’s a look at some of the other pilots that, for better or worse, were just too weird to make into a full series…

1 ‘Stick Around’ (1977)

Before he became the lovable foreign mechanic Latka Gravas on Taxi, Andy Kaufman loaned the “Foreign Man” character from his stand-up act to another potential sitcom. Set in...

No matter how offensive he’s being, there’s just something about Triumph the Insult Comic Dog that people find charming. Ever since he first appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in in 1997, he’s gotten away with humiliating Star Wars nerds and crashing political conventions mostly without consequence. He’s even managed to endear himself to everyone from Stephen Colbert to Mike Huckabee.

On occasion, however, Triumph — and, by extension, his performer Robert Smigel — have managed to antagonize the wrong person. And, instead of laughing things off, Triumph’s target has responded with genuine fury. Here are five such times when Triumph has truly pissed someone off, very much finding himself in the doghouse.

1 Security at the 1999 Westminster Dog Show Play

When Triumph attended the Westminster Dog Show in 1999, the Montenegrin Mountain Hound wasn’t yet the canine insult institution he is today, so not everyone was entertained by his antics.

Adam Sandler is one of his generation's most iconic comedy actors. His early works, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer, etc., are among the most well-known and acclaimed. While later movies have seen a more "mixed" critical reception, Sandler has no doubt made his mark. But what if there was a secret Easter egg in several of his movies? And what if that Easter egg was hidden in plain sight?

In several Sandman pictures, his female love interest has the initials "Vv." There's Veronica Vaughn, Virginia Venit, Vicki Vallencourt, and more. But not every onscreen partner has these initials, so what's the story with the ones that do? Have we stumbled down some new conspiracy theory rabbit hole? Is "Vv" a secret sign warning of what's to come? Or is it just Sandler being Sandler and making up funny names? In all likelihood, the latter is the case.

Usually, it’s the films that are loud at the SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin. This year, however, the parade of personalities in the City of the Violet Crown will be creating plenty of thunder including Blake Lively, Jenna Ortega, Michelle Obama, Disney co-chairman Alan Bergman, Amazon and MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Conan O’Brien fresh off the Oscar Dolby Theatre stage.

There are an intriguing amount of sit-downs here at SXSW this year after the fest kicks off Friday, rivaling the number of sidebar chats at a San Diego Comic-Con and certainly towering over the few at this past year’s Sundance, where the best chats were off-menu and not contained in any program: Elvis Mitchell’s conversations with Bill Murray and Quentin Tarantino.

In a déjà vu to Comic-Con, O’Brien will be on stage twice: once in a Sunday comedy event with...

Any montage of Adam Sandler's or Chris Farley's best work on Saturday Night Live needs to include the "Schmitts Gay" commercial parody. But comedy duo weren't the first choice for the now-classic SNL sketch.

Saturday Night Live brought commercial parodies to the mainstream right from the jump. For 50 years, SNL has been mocking real commercials or inventing their own off-the-wall ads for every imaginable product.

Perhaps the most famous SNL commercial parody is 1991's "Schmitts Gay" written by Robert Smigel. In an interview with The Ringer, Smigel explained the inspiration behind the beer ad.

"There were so many commercials at that time that were populated by bros," Smigel said. "And it was just such a stupid, embarrassing way to sell beer. It just cracked me up."

Smigel wanted a way to call out the sexism and homophobia he saw in beer commercials of the late '80s and early '90s.

It was a massively star-studded affair at the SNL50: The Anniversary Special on Sunday evening (February 16) held at Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Saturday Night Live celebrated it’s 50th anniversary with hundreds of stars who have appeared on the show over the years.

From music stars like Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter and Cher, to actors like Ayo Edebiri, Emma Stone and Anya Taylor-Joy.

Keep reading to find out more…

The late-night sketch show’s special featured many returning sketches, with past and present SNL cast members reprising their characters, and even several celebrities who have hosted reprising their characters!

We have gathered every celebrity, cast member and more’s looks from the red carpet and you can see over 200 below…

Abby Elliott

Adam & Jackie Sandler

Adria Arjona & Jason Momoa

Aidy Bryant

Alex & Hilaria Baldwin

Alex Moffat & Caroline Kingsley Moffat

Al Franken

Al Sharpton

Amelia Dimoldenberg...

The “it was all just a dream!” episode can be a lazy comedy writer’s best pal. Why bother with all of that “story logic” and “continuity” when you can just write whatever you want with no consequences? Want to put the King of Queens gang into an episode of The Honeymooners? It’s all a dream! What if Gilligan was on trial in old-timey London? A dream! I won’t give away WandaVision if you haven’t seen it, but fond memories of sitcom dreams drive a lot of the action.

Call ‘em lazy if you want to — heck, I just did at the beginning of this story — but sitcom dream episodes can be a lot of fun. Don’t sleep on these five examples of dream work making the comedy team work…

1 The Dick Van Dyke Show

What a nightmare — Rob Petrie dreams that he’s lost both...

A new Happy Gilmore 2 image spotlighting Adam Sandler's titular character in his element has arrived. The hotly-anticipated sequel to the 1996 classic will debut on Netflix sometime in 2025.

Netflix's new image reveals Sandler's Happy on the golf course, decked out in a Boston Bruins jersey, taking a big swing as a group of spectators looks on in anticipation. The Happy Gilmore 2 image also presents a look at Happy's new caddie, played by the internationally acclaimed musician, budding wrestler, and Bullet Train actor Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, popularly known as Bad Bunny.

Related Knives Out 3 Gets Netflix Release Update, First Look at Daniel Craig's Return Revealed

Netflix shares big news about the anticipated release of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

Behind-the-scenes Happy Gilmore 2 photos arrived late last year, while the movie was filming, showcasing Sandler in a striped bathrobe worn over a gray sweater,...

Howard Stern celebrates the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” with a week-long showcase of his legendary interviews with “SNL” cast members, celebrity hosts, writers, and musical guests representing every era of the late-night show’s storied history.

SNL on Stern: Part IHoward Stern SpecialsListen on the App

Listen on the App

‘SNL On Stern’ How to Listen

“SNL On Stern” begins with a special live kick-off show at 5pm Et on January 31 and runs for a full week on Howard 101 (Ch. 101) and the SiriusXM app.

What You’ll Hear

Brand new commentary from Howard discussing his longtime fascination with “Saturday Night Live” and its stars (many of who appear in this one-of-a-kind oral history of “SNL”), plus highlights from Howard’s interviews and additional commentary from “Saturday Night Live” cast members and executive producer Lorne Michaels.

‘SNL On Stern Roundtable’

The roundtable special stars “SNL” cast members Chris Kattan,...

NBC continues to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” with the new documentary, “Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music.” Following the recent four-episode docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” amid the 50th season, which airs Sundays, and ahead of the star-studded, three-hour primetime event “SNL50: The Anniversary Special,” the feature-length music doc promises a deep dive into the musical performances that have become as much of a cultural hallmark as the comedy show’s sketches.

The doc is directed by Grammy and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez, and features a roster of more than 50 interviews with musicians and “SNL” staffers, including Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish & Finneas, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Lorne Michaels, Fred Armisen, Conan O’Brien, Bill Hader, Eddie Murphy, Maya Rudolph, Bowen Yang and many, many more.

Here is when and where...

NBC is celebrating 50 years of Saturday Night Live by honoring all of the musical guests in a new three-hour special.

Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music is airing on NBC on Monday night (January 27) and will feature untold stories behind the culture-defining, groundbreaking and news-making musical performances, sketches and cameos of the past 50 years.

The special will showcase interviews with musical artists, cast, writers, producers and more who have been part of SNL’s legacy.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Questlove, who leads the band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, directed the special with Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez.

“Everyone knows the most famous SNL appearances, whether it’s Elvis Costello, Prince or the Beastie Boys, but they’re the tip of a huge iceberg,” Questlove said. “The process of going back through the incredible archival footage was like being in a time machine, DeLorean or other. I’m so happy...

Was there ever a more reliable laugh on Saturday Night Live than Robert Smigel’s TV Funhouse cartoons? At some point, Lorne Michaels didn’t even watch the animated shorts before air, confident that they’d be hilarious. Michaels simply wanted to be surprised like the rest of us.

But the show has been relatively cartoon-free since the mid-2000s, with TV Funhouse-style shorts replaced by the live-action antics of Lonely Island and Please Don’t Destroy. The pre-filmed segments generally kill but they don’t leave much room for Smigel-style cartoons. So it was a surprise on this weekend’s SNL, hosted by Timothée Chalamet, when the words “An SNL Animated Short” popped on the screen.

Welcome back, cartoons, it’s been a minute!

“God,” written by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidel, is a spiritual sequel to their Washington’s Dream sketches with Nate Bargatze. Like those popular bits, “God...

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog went off the leash to call out Dave Chappelle ahead of his hosting performance on Saturday Night Live this weekend when the stand-up will surely turn in another memorable, topical and terrific opening monologue — for Triumph to poop on.

The last time Chappelle hosted Saturday Night Live was on November 12, 2022 when the controversial stand-up giant used his opening monologue to defend Kanye West from accusations of anti-Semitism after West had recently tweeted that he was “going death con 3 on Jewish people.” Shortly thereafter, West donned a gimp suit and went on Alex Jones’ show to make such definitely-not-anti-Semitic comments as “I like Hitler,” “I love Nazis” and “I see good things about Hitler." Now, roughly two years later, Chappelle is ready to return to Studio 8H this Saturday when he will probably give a tearful eulogy for Jean-Marie Le Pen.

The official Twitter account of...

The 50th anniversary of “SNL” is about to kick off.

Acclaimed Academy and Emmy award-winning documentarian Morgan Neville is honoring the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” with docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” which he executive produces. The four-part series offers a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the beloved sketch series, with each episode taking a different perspective on how the show began.

More than 60 SNL alums are interviewed onscreen, including Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Molly Shannon, Pete Davidson, Stephen Colbert, Tracy Morgan, Bob Odenkirk, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, John Mulaney, Larry David, Will Ferrell, Rachel Dratch, and Fred Armisen.

The first installment, “Five Minutes,” is about the audition process. Emmy Award winner Robert Alexander directs the first episode, which includes never-before-seen audition footage and firsthand accounts from alums as they reflect on their preparation and journey to the “SNL” stage.

The second episode,...

Wild and crazy guys, the van down by the river, and, of course, more cowbell – just some of the classic sketches shown in the new trailer released today for Peacock‘s four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.

“Anybody can do comedy,” former cast member Tracy Morgan says at the start of the trailer before delivering the punchline – “But are you funny?”

The upcoming docuseries promises lots of funny moments from the history of Saturday Night Live. In the trailer, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Dana Carvey and Amy Poehler are among the famous faces speaking about the venerable NBC late-night series. Andy Samberg reveals he threw up after auditioning.

The docuseries, Peacock says, will offer a behind-the-scenes look “at some of the American late-night comedy institution’s most iconic elements and rich history.”

The docuseries, executive produced by Morgan Neville, includes four episodes, each taking “a different creative approach...

Peacock has released a first look at SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, a new documentary series that offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the American late-night comedy institution’s most iconic elements and rich history.

Executive produced by Academy and Emmy Award winner Morgan Neville, SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night streams exclusively on Peacock beginning January 16.

SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night is a four-part docuseries honoring the legacy of SNL, with over 60 contributors, including SNL alumni, and covering decades of SNL history. Spotlighting some of the show’s most iconic elements, each episode delves into the rich history of SNL and pulls back the curtain on the audition process, the writers’ room, the fan favorite “More Cowbell” sketch and the pivotal Season 11.

Each episode of the docuseries takes a different creative approach to the tapestry of Saturday Night Live and embraces the unique vision of their award-winning directors: Emmy Award winner Robert Alexander...

Starting in 1996, the cartoon showcase TV Funhouse became a regular fixture on Saturday Night Live. The brainchild of veteran SNL writer — and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog creator — Robert Smigel, TV Funhouse is best remembered as the home for Ace and Gary, “The Ambiguously Gay Duo,” who would defeat the forces of evil in the most suggestive ways possible.

But there was more to TV Funhouse than just Ace and Gary. Other recurring segments included “The X-Presidents,” — in which (then) ex-presidents Reagan, Ford, Bush Sr. and Carter (Rip) would make America safe with their variety of superpowers, and “Fun with Real Audio,” where real news audio from political figures would be used over hilariously humiliating animation. There were also dozens of one-off cartoons featuring Smigel’s signature brand of twisted humor.

Sadly, TV Funhouse ended in 2008, and but for a one-segment revival in 2011, it hasn’t been heard from since.

To help launch the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live (officially next October), the feature-length documentary Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music from Oscar- and Grammy-winning director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Summer of Soul) and produced by Oz Rodriguez will premiere Jan. 27, 2025, on NBC.

Thompson is also among the doc’s bevy of executive producers along with SNL creator Lorne Michaels.

The three-hour special promises to feature the untold stories behind the musical performances, sketches, and cameos of the past half-century. Fifty musical artists, cast members, writers, and producers from throughout SNL’s colorful history dating back to the mid-1970s were interviewed for the film — including Bad Bunny, DJ Breakout, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish & Finneas, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Darryl Dmc McDaniels, Tom Morello, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo, Mc Sha-Rock, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton, Justin Timberlake, Lee Ving, and Jack White.

Never pictured Charlie Brown as a younger version of Frank Costanza? Get ready to bask in their mutual holiday misery.

The two blockheads have a lot in common. Charlie Brown detests the overcommercialization of Christmas; Costanza finds tinsel distracting. Both are drawn to aluminum poles. And both have a long list of holiday grievances. “Rats. Nobody sent me a Christmas card today,” grumbles Charlie Brown in the original special. “I almost wish there weren’t a holiday season.”

Complaining about the season is what Costanza’s holiday is all about. “At the Festivus dinner,” he explains, “you gather your family around, and you tell them all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year.”

While A Charlie Brown Festivus is fun, it’s disappointingly short at 33 seconds. Luckily, there are more Charlie Brown Christmas parodies that also deliver the goods.

Funny or Die weighed in with a version...

A documentary about the music performances on “Saturday Night Live” is coming to NBC, directed by Oscar winner Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Emmy winner Oz Rodriguez.

Titled “Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music,” the three-hour special will premiere on the network on Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. and stream the following day on Peacock.

The latest project celebrating five decades of “SNL,” the film will “feature untold stories behind the culture-defining, groundbreaking and newsmaking musical performances, sketches and cameos of the past 50 years,” per the logline.

The doc will also feature more than 50 interviews, including Bad Bunny, DJ Breakout, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish and Finneas, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Darryl Dmc McDaniels, Tom Morello, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo, Mc Sha-Rack, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton, Justin Timberlake, Lee Ving and Jack White.

Also interviewed are “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels and cast and creatives of present and past,...

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” NBC is sharing the untold stories behind the late night staple’s culture-defining, groundbreaking and newsmaking musical performances, sketches and cameos over the years in a new documentary.

“Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music,” which is set to premiere Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. Et/Pt on NBC and stream the next day on Peacock, will be directed by Grammy and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Emmy Award winner Oz Rodriguez.

“Everyone knows the most famous ‘SNL’ appearances, whether it’s Elvis Costello, Prince or the Beastie Boys, but they’re the tip of a huge iceberg,” Questlove said in a Thursday statement. “The process of going back through the incredible archival footage was like being in a time machine, DeLorean or other. I’m so happy I went on the trip and now get to share it with everyone.

It's no coincidence that there is a direct line from Saturday Night Live to hosting a late-night TV show. SNL producer Lorne Michaels has his hands in multiple shows, and the same talents that make someone a standout SNL cast member translate to a host gig.

Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers have all carved out impressive careers behind a late-night TV desk. And all three got their chance thanks to working with Lorne Michaels on Saturday Night Live. Consider the crossover among writers, and you have even more proof that SNL can make someone a star.

However, three current late-night TV stars had a shot at joining Saturday Night Live only to see things fall apart. It didn't curtail their careers too much ... but it's fun to imagine where they'd be had their SNL auditions been successful.

Stephen Colbert

Long before The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Late Show,...

"Bones" was led by David Boreanez and Emily Deschanel as FBI agent Seeley Booth and forensic anthropologist Temperance "Bones" Brennan, respectively. But while this duo were the core of the series, no TV show can last a full 12 seasons without some support from other cast members. In the case of "Bones," the Fox procedural was undergirded by a wide array of supporting characters and guest stars who helped to give the series its enduring appeal. Alongside the team of "squints" at the fictional Jeffersonian Institute Medico-Legal Lab — the idea for which was brought to the show by a real detective — there was an array of guest stars who helped expand the "Bones" universe, many of whom became fan-favorites.

Just take Patricia Belcher, who played U.S. Attorney's office federal prosecutor Caroline Julian. She remains the only "Bones" guest star to appear in every season of the series from 2005-2017. First...

“I felt like I couldn’t do well in that situation,” Ben Stiller told Howard Stern about his short tenure as a Saturday Night Live featured player. Stiller didn’t stick around long enough to get the promotion to full cast member, but he’s not the only talented comedy star to leave the show without making it to the A-team.

Here are five more SNL featured players who got the boot before they graduated to the main cast…

1 Tim Robinson Play

The star of breakout sketch-comedy hit I Think You Should Leave got a few moments to shine on Saturday Night Live, but not enough to earn him a return ticket to the show. In an unusual move, Robinson moved from acting on SNL to join the writers’ room, making him the first and only SNL performer to become a writer after originally being cast solely as a performer.

What’s the deal with observational humor? I know! It’s not observant, and it’s not humor!

Ever since Seinfeld took over the TV comedy industry in the early 1990s, every second-rate stand-up has kept a bad Jerry-Seinfeld-style set in their back pocket that barely gets a swift exhale when they test it out on an audience. While Seinfeld and Larry David made massive fortunes finding the funny in everyday circumstances, the popularization of Seinfeld’s sense of humor led to an epidemic of tedious, trivial comedy trotted out as if it was somehow hip and idiosyncratic for a comic to base their entire routine around whichever national TV commercials were making the rounds that week.

Legendary TV writer and former Saturday Night Live staffer Robert Smigel took note of this tired trend, and when Seinfeld himself hosted the show on April 18, 1992, Smigel had Seinfeld do a Seinfeld impression...

Right now is a scary time to be living in America, as the country is just days away from an election that will decide the next president: Will it be the current vice president, or the anthropomorphic hemorrhoid who retroactively ruined Home Alone 2? Stay tuned.

At this crucial moment in history, the Fourth Estate is more important than ever. But since cable news is a dumpster fire, and major newspapers seem to be ethically-kneecapped by their billionaire owners, we will instead have to rely on the journalistic integrity of a rubber hand puppet.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (who as you may not be aware is secretly controlled by a human being named Robert Smigel) has been providing on-site election coverage for The Daily Show this year. Most recently, Triumph popped by Madison Square Garden to interview Trump supporters eagerly lining up for the city’s most toxic open mic night.

"Jack and Jill" is Al Pacino's lowest-rated film, sitting at a measly 3% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Tomatometer consensus reads "impossible to recommend on any level whatsoever." Jennie Punter of Globe and Mail calls the movie "cruel and creepy, not funny." Mary F. Pols from Time magazine wrote, "More than 24 hours has passed since I watched the new Adam Sandler movie 'Jack and Jill' and I am still dead inside." The movie's only achievement is winning all 12 of its Razzie nominations, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actor, Worst Actress (with Adam Sandler winning for both), and Worst Screenplay.

Adam Sandler plays both Jack, an advertising executive, and his twin sister Jill, who is the worst of Jewish stereotypes: an obnoxious, neurotic, and whiny nag. The "humor" is ugly and mean: the cross-dressing invites countless transphobic jokes about her masculine appearance, and there are fatphobic jokes about her...