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Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels is facing some serious accusations from a veteran actor who claims being gay kept him from getting an SNL audition. And it's not the first time the topic has come up regarding Michaels.

Former Groundlings member Tim Bagley discussed Saturday Night Live during an appearance on The Julia Cunningham Show. Bagley claimed that despite his success with the improv group, he never got the opportunity to audition for Saturday Night Live.

Bagley said the reason was because he "was out as a gay man.” He went on to say that it was widely known SNL "would not hire openly gay people."

“All my friends did, and I was always kind of a standout at The Groundlings, but I was out,” Bagley, 67, said. “That’s the problem with being out back then was there were no guardrails. I mean, if somebody didn’t want to have you on their show,...

We’re celebrating 50 years of “Saturday Night Live”! All this week, we’re digging into the late-night comedy institution with new stories, including lists, essays, interviews, and more.

The most recent “Saturday Night Live” sketch to go viral — or at least, the most recent one that multiple of this writer’s own friends sent to him — was the type of joke that you could easily find by scouring gay stan Twitter. On a December 2024 episode of the venerated sketch comedy series, Jane Wickline popped onto Weekend Update to sing a song about Sabrina Carpenter. Or, as she amusingly put it beforehand, a song in which she is Sabrina Carpenter bemoaning how nobody is creating lesbian rumors about her like her peers Olivia Rodrigo or Taylor Swift.

The sketch proved a bit polarizing: many (perhaps older people) didn’t get it, while others recognized the sense of humor right away: a younger,...

For the last several decades, Saturday Night Live has been faced with questions of its future. While so many people claim not to watch or call it unfunny, everyone still talks about it and sketches still go viral. Some feel the show has run its course, the sketches need work, or members of the cast need to go. Nothing ever comes of it because Saturday Night Live is engrained as part of the fabric of late-night television that no one really ever expects to end. But there’s one point in time when Saturday Night Live almost did get canceled, and arguably should have been. The show was hanging by a thread, and instead of a complete cast shake-up saving the show, it led to a year that has become known as the “weird season.”

This was in 1985 during season 11, a bizarre season that the new Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night...

Marvel icon Robert Downey Jr. has revealed one of his famous friends helped him land an early job on Saturday Night Live. Downey was part of SNL’s cast during its 11th season, from 1985 to 1986.

The story of Downey’s single disastrous season on SNL is told in the new Peacock docu-series SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, where producer Lorne Michaels admits he “perhaps went too young” in casting Downey and Anthony Michael Hall for his return to the show in 1985. SNL’s 11th season was dogged by negative reviews, leading to Michaels dropping Downey and most of the cast before the next season.

Robert Downey Jr. Joined Saturday Night Live in 1985

'I Was Scared S—less': Mike Myers Reveals First Reaction to SNL Co-Stars

Mike Myers says he had an anxiety attack when joining cast members like Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey.

In SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Anthony Michael Hall...

After 50 years of pushing the boundaries of network television, Saturday Night Live has birthed countless talents across multiple generations.

Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall recently looked back on their brief run on the NBC sketch comedy show during the infamous Season 11, which ran from 1985 to 1986 and served as creator Lorne Michaels‘ attempt to refresh the show after Eddie Murphy‘s exit.

“I’m proud to be a part of it. It was like an out-of-body experience,” said Hall on the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, recalling “just being shocked” at being the show’s youngest cast member at 17 after SNL “meant so much to me as a kid growing up in New York.”

Downey Jr. recounted his best friend and Weird Science co-star bringing him the opportunity. “Michael Hall said to me, I’m gonna go do SNL. I’m gonna get you an audition and I...

How much do you love Saturday Night Live? Can you rattle off your personal Top 10 favorite sketches at a moment’s notice? Have you torched friendships while debating who is the most overrated and underrated cast members of all time? (We’re not touching that first one, but the correct answer to the second part is Danitra Vance.) You’ve read all the books and oral histories, listened to the podcasts, bought the DVD box sets of the first five seasons and the occasional Mvp “Best of” compilations, tracked down...

Changes are starting to happen at Saturday Night Live ahead of its upcoming 50th season.

Punkie Johnson has left the show after four seasons. She revealed the news during a comedy show last night and just confirmed it on Instagram.

“After four seasons, I will not be returning to SNL for the 50th,” she said.

“It’s no bad blood, it’s no bridges burnt, it’s no hard feelings,” she added. “SNL was a dream I didn’t even know I could achieve. I was part of one of the most elite institutions in comedy, and I’m so grateful for it… but my time there has come to an end.” (You can watch a video of her comments below.)

Johnson, whose real name is Jessica Williams, joined the NBC show as a featured player in Season 46 before being promoted to repertory status in 2022 ahead of its 48th season.

Some thoughts on last night's "Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special" coming up just as soon as I assume Jon Lovitz is dead... Last week, I wrote about the history of "SNL," which has been filled with incredible highs, uncomfortable lows, and a mixture of things that either didn't work or simply outlived their usefulness. Perhaps intentionally — Lorne Michaels used to joke that the word "uneven" would be on his tombstone — or perhaps because it's inherent to any three and a half hour special with this many moving pieces, the special was "SNL" in a microcosm. Much of it worked spectacularly well. Some of it was disappointing and/or puzzling. And the whole thing went on much longer than it probably should have. Unlike the show's previous anniversary specials, which were largely driven by clips and testimonials, the 40th was conceived of as a super-sized, all-star installment of the show itself,...

On the eve of its 40th anniversary special (though the anniversary itself isn't until October), what is left to say about "Saturday Night Live"? There have been multiple books written about the show, several documentaries, countless essays — riding the never-ending roller-coaster between "Saturday Night Dead" and "Saturday Night Lives Again!" — best-ofs, worst-ofs, and every other kind of list you can think of. I don't know that anything I write over the next few pages will provide new insight into one of the most influential comedy shows ever made, but I wondered if you could tell the story of the show — through good times and bad, through revolutions and evolutions and retrenchments — by looking at its sketches. I wound up picking 21 in all: some among the show's most famous, some obscure but important. These aren't meant as a definitive breakdown of the best "SNL" ever had to offer, but as a...

On November 8, New York-based comedian Kerry Coddett (pictured, left) fired shots at Saturday Night Live with an editorial published on the Atlantic’s website. In it, she blasted the notion that the show’s cast hadn’t featured a black woman in years because — as longtime repertory player Kenan Thompson said in a widely-circulated interview last fall — “in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready.” Coddett contended instead that SNL’s diversity problems were endemic and ingrained. “Perhaps it’s not that black women aren’t ‘ready’ for SNL; it’s that SNL isn’t ready for a black woman,...

No more wigs and heels for Kenan Thompson!

Early next year, Saturday Night Live will add someone new to its ranks — specifically, its first black female cast member since Maya Rudolph vacated in 2007. (SNL has only featured four African-American women in its entire 39-year history: Yvonne Hudson (1980-81), Danitra Vance (1985-86), Ellen Cleghorne (1991-95) and Rudolph (2000-2007).)

The news comes from straight from executive producer/SNL Czar for Life Lorne Michaels, who told the New York Times that his team has been holding special casting sessions for weeks. The search culminated in an under-the-radar audition for black female comedians...

What’s up with this, Kenan?

In a recent TV Guide interview, Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson was asked why SNL currently has no black female cast members — and hasn’t since Maya Rudolph left the show way back in 2007.

“It’s just a tough part of the business,” Thompson replied. “Like in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready.”

TV Guide also asked Thompson what the show would do if they needed to spoof an African-American woman. “I don’t know,” the comedian replied. “We just haven’t done them. That’s what I’m saying.

This is so laughable.  I should first note that I haven't watched an episode of Saturday Night Live in a long time (the series lost me years ago), but, given what I do for a living, I do try to stay abreast of any related developments that might be of interest to readers of this blog, given its focus. So, I'll start with this, before giving you the news. How many black women cast members has SNL had in its history? Four (4) in its 38-year history: Yvonne Hudson, Danitra Vance, Ellen Cleghorne, and finally Maya Rudolph.  None since 2007, when Maya Rudolph left the show. That's about 1 black woman cast member every 9 to 10 years. The first 2 were on for no more than 2 seasons,...

With the reported departure of Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg, "Saturday Night Live" would look a lot different when it comes back for its 38th season this fall. But, this season, five shows remain in what will forever be known as "The Kristen Wiig Era." We've already seen "SNL" add a new featured player, Kate McKinnon, during the show's current three week hiatus. ("SNL" returns live this Saturday with host Sofia Vergara.) With many changes coming, Hitfix's Ryan McGee and myself debate where "SNL" is now and where "SNL" should go in the future.

Mike Ryan: Though our opinions differ (frequently) on the quality of individual sketches -- also: I'm sure I'm wrong and you're right -- I do consider you one of the most thoughtful Internet caretakers of this show that we both love so dearly. So, my question, before we get to the cast changes,...

Charles Rocket: 1980 - 1981. Weekend update anchor. The most prolific male cast member during the 1980-81 season besides Joe Piscopo, He was fired, in part, for cursing on air. (The scene below is the one that got him fired).

Danitra Vance: 1985 - 1986. Recurring characters: "That black girl," and Cabrini Green Jackson, a professional teenage mother who gives advice on pregnancy. (She also died in 1994 from breast cancer). Check out this sketch -- not something they could pull off today.

Tim Kazurinsky: 1981 - 1984. Recurring characters: The landlord from Eddie Murphy's "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood," Father Timothy Owens, and network censor Worthington Clotman.

Mary Gross: 1981 - 1985. Co-anchor of Weekend Update (briefly). Recurring characters: Alfalfa in the "Little Rascals" sketches, Chi Chi, Celeste, and Siobhan Cahill.

Robin Duke: 1981 - 1984. Recurring character: Wendy Whiner. Also played Mr. T.

Jim Breur: 1995 - 1998. Recurring character: Goat boy. He was in those Goth Talk sketches.