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The upcoming season of Apple TV+’s acclaimed comedy series, Platonic, will feature plenty of surprises, including the introduction of some new characters whom SNL fans may recognize. Rogen and Byrne will unite with former SNL stars Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, and Beck Bennett.

Platonic season 2 is all set to return on August 6. Bryant will appear as ‘Wild Card’, Mooney will take on the role of Terry, and Bennett will portray Carrie. Season 1 featured SNL stars Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as former best friends, Will and Sylvia, who reconnect years later in adulthood. Although the show was initially planned as a limited series, it was renewed for a second season.

What Does Platonic Creator Have to Say About the New Characters? Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen in the second season of Platonic | (Credit: Apple TV+)

Platonic Season 1 tied all loose ends, and the finale provided a clear resolution for the main characters,...

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Happy Gilmore 2 is a sports comedy film directed by Kyle Newacheck from a screenplay co-written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler. The 2025 legacy sequel film picks up the story of Happy Gilmore as he has given up golf after a tragedy and taken up excessive drinking instead. Due to his alcoholism, Happy loses everything from his fortune to his house, and when his daughter wants to go to an elite ballet school, he must return to the golf course to earn the money. Happy Gilmore 2 stars Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Benny Safdie, Bad Bunny, Ben Stiller, and Margaret Qualley. So, if you loved the bonkers story, hilarious comedy, and entertaining characters in Happy Gilmore 2, here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Happy Gilmore (Starz) Credit – Universal Pictures

Happy Gilmore is...

For those who love to laugh, a trio of beloved ’90s comedies are receiving special 4K Ultra HD reissues this week, with one of them also including a new re-edit that perhaps does a better job of capturing the movie’s spirit. Dirty Work (including “The Dirtier Cut”), Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Billy Madison, and are available for purchasing beginning Tuesday, July 29th.

Mostly notably is the new reissue of Dirty Work, which includes both the original cut of the 1998 Norm Macdonald cult classic, as well as the recently produced “Dirtier Cut.” The “Dirtier Cut” features seven minutes of footage originally cut from the movie to achieve a PG-13 rating, along with alternate takes lovingly restored from the original camera negatives. The release also contains a two-hour assembly cut of the movie, sourced from video, and an extended alternate ending. Order here.

Also up for grabs are new 4K Ultra...

Marvel’s iconic superhero team, the Fantastic Four, have been starring in comic books since 1961 and appearing in godawful movies since 1994. Now they’re back on the big screen in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a big-budget MCU adventure/novelty popcorn bucket Ponzi scheme.

But there’s a big problem with the Fantastic Four, one that was perfectly elucidated by the late Norm Macdonald nearly 20 years ago: their individual superhero names.

In 2006, Macdonald released the sketch comedy album Ridiculous, which even dedicated fans of the comedian don’t love. It seems as though Macdonald’s promotional efforts for the album were more memorable than the album itself, specifically the time he appeared on The Daily Show and joked about the death of Steve Irwin, mere weeks after the “Crocodile Hunter” was killed.

“Please don’t make me laugh at this,” Jon Stewart begged his guest.

But the opening track, “The Fantastic Four,...

The release of the long-awaited sequel to the Adam Sandler comedy classic Happy Gilmore is now imminent, with the follow-up coming as part of Sandler’s mega eight-movie deal with Netflix. Now that Happy is returning to tee up, fans cannot help but wonder what other Sandler classics could get a sequel thanks to the streamer. Well, the beloved comedian has now responded with excitement to a certain suggestion...

Speaking to Variety at the premiere of Happy Gilmore 2, which is due to land on Netflix later this week on July 25, Sandler was asked whether he would be interested in bringing back Billy Madison for another adventure. By far one of his most beloved comedies, the first Billy Madison was released back in 1995 and follows Sandler as the titular 27-year-old slacker who, to inherit his father’s fortune, must go back to school and complete grades one to twelve all on his own.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Truth The job of the stand-up, it seems, is that of a surgeon. They dissect, examine, and expose the faults, flaws, and foibles of the public, the powerful, and themselves. In 1960, a Life critic observed this about Nichols and May’s humor: “They hold the human race on a pin and make it laugh at itself while it squirms.” That legacy carried forward- through George Carlin’s blistering social commentary and Richard Pryor’s raw, autobiographical confessions. We’ve since crowned the comedian as the modern philosopher. But even that idea- noble as it sounds- has been dismantled by comedians themselves. Norm Macdonald, never known for intellectual posturing, worked more in the tradition of Bob Hope: clear-cut, joke-first, unpretentious. However, in what was sadly his final Netflix special, Macdonald deadpanned, “[The public] expect [comedians] to know things nowadays.” And when “they say comedians are the modern-day philosophers.

The Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards — or, the ESPYs, for short — aired Wednesday night. Hosted by Shane Gillis, the big sports celebration had its 33rd annual Espy Awards ceremony, airing live out of Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre.

With a series of competitive and special awards handed out at the annual sports awards, here’s how you can watch the 2025 ESPYs from home if you missed the live airing.

When did the ESPYs air?

The ESPYs aired Wednesday, July 16, at 8 p.m. Et/Pt, broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

The ceremony aired on ABC and streamed live on ESPN+.

What if I missed the ESPYs live?

Starting Thursday, July 17, anyone with a subscription for ESPN+, Disney+ or Hulu can stream the 2025 ESPYs on-demand across the three streaming services.

Who hosted the show?

Stand-up comic Shane Gillis hosted the 33rd ESPYs for ESPN. Gillis recently hosted “Saturday Night Live...

The audience at last night’s Espy Awards was lukewarm at best toward their host Shane Gillis, just like Norm Macdonald would have wanted.

Much like Gillis’ hosting gigs at Saturday Night Live, where he famously set the record for quickest turnaround from hired-to-fired, Gillis’ performance at the awards ceremony dedicated to giving America’s most beloved, compensated and awarded athletes even more attention was underscored by his visible nerves and the sporting world’s muted responses to his opening monologue. Despite how the wealthiest and most worshipped celebrities in our country often refused to laugh at themselves, Gillis’ material, unlike his stage presence, was actually rock-solid more often than not, and he capped off the up-and-down monologue with a tribute to the greatest ESPYs host ever and a jab at said legend’s favorite punching bag.

In honor of Macdonald, Gillis closed his set with an O.J. Simpson joke that temporarily turned the ultra-rich,...

It seems as though Hollywood stars will do almost anything to win major acting awards that in no way resemble golden popcorn buckets.

In addition to going on media blitzes, attending gala events and straight-up suck-uping to voting bodies, one potentially unsung method of achieving awards recognition just might be getting shitcanned by Lorne Michaels.

Among the most recent crop of Emmy nominees is the great Jenny Slate, who was recognized for her work in Dying for Sex in the “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie” category. Slate was famously let go after just one season on SNL (but not for dropping the F-bomb that one time as some folks mistakenly believe).

Obviously Slate is nominated because of her exceptional acting, but we can’t help but notice that she isn’t the first person who’s gotten recognition from the Television Academy after being fired by SNL.

Jeff Ross was inspired by the late Norm Macdonald to go public with his colon cancer diagnosis. “I was very good friends with Norm Macdonald, and he didn’t tell people about his health issues, and we didn’t get to give him a proper sendoff,” Ross shared on the Tuesday, July 15, episode of the third hour of Today. “As I went through it with myself and chemo, it was really my family and friends that lifted me up and helped me get through it.” Macdonald, who was best known for his comedy chops and five-season run on Saturday Night Live, died at age 61 of acute leukemia in September 2021. At the time, Ross paid tribute to him by sharing a throwback Instagram snap of the two of them sitting at a restaurant table with the late Bob Saget and Gilbert Gottfried. “I’m wrecked. I felt so lucky to sit at this table,...

Conan O’Brien sits down with John Mayer during a new episode of John’s interview series, “How’s Life with John Mayer,” on SiriusXM. During the conversation, Conan discusses traveling and playing the guitar, how he impressed Jeff Beck, his popular podcast, hosting the Oscars, comedy icons Dave Chappelle, Mitch Hedberg, and Norm Macdonald, writing a book, and more.

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Conan O’Brien on “How’s Life with John Mayer” How to Watch and Listen

Watch and listen to the full conversation on the SiriusXM app and web player anytime starting Tuesday, July 15.

Check out the trailer for the episode above.

Related: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Talks Parodies, ‘Uhf,’ and More on John Mayer’s Show Life with John Mayer

“How’s Life with John Mayer” is an exclusive series on John’s year-round channel,...

Scroll long enough on the internet, and the odds are good you may see Arby’s ads starring Cedric the Entertainer from the Original Kings of Comedy and Black-ish star Anthony Anderson. They’re part of a long tradition of comedians shilling for fast-food chains. Some were championing hot wings or pizza before they hit it big, like Steve Carell. Others, like Kristen Wiig, entered the game after becoming a superstar. Then there’s Jason Alexander, who did it both before and after — proving there’s no wrong way to make a quick buck off a cheap burger.

Here are 10 other examples of comedians doing fast-food commercials, so we can see how they measure up against the new Arby’s campaign with Cedric and Anderson…

1 Jason Alexander for McDonald’s

A few years before he played George Costanza on Seinfeld, Alexander was his theater-kid self in a McDonald’s ad for the McD.

Norm Macdonald and Harland Williams were old buddies dating back to their early days as up-and-coming comedians in Canada. That’s one reason Macdonald never messed with Williams in the same way he teased other celebrities. “He couldn’t get away with anything with me, and he knew it,” Williams said on the We Think It’s Funny podcast. “We had a very good mutual friendship.”

The Norm Macdonald who Williams knew was different from Macdonald’s stand-up and podcast personas. “When we were just hanging out in real life, that wasn’t how he presented himself,” he said, imitating Macdonald’s comic cadence. “You know, it was a bit of a character.”

Williams was talking about Macdonald’s “Hey, buddy!” persona, a facade that was half Macdonald and half put-on. On several occasions, Macdonald told Williams that the funny delivery was rooted in his love for a certain cantankerous...

Exclusive: Random House has taken the North American rights off the table to I’m on the Moon, the debut comedy memoir by former Late Show and Late Night With David Letterman producer Daniel Kellison.

The deal was sealed ahead of a scheduled auction that had already attracted offers from several major publishers.

Originally titled The Fuck-Up—a name that reflected Kellison’s own self-perception during those formative years—the memoir now goes by I’m on the Moon. It chronicles Kellison’s darkly funny and wildly unlikely journey from being raised by a four-time-divorced Vermont hippie mom and a one-eyed babysitter, to taking a hit of acid and deciding, with sudden clarity, that he had to work for his hero, David Letterman. “From the ominous glow of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant to the bright lights of 30 Rock…”

The book charts Kellison’s rise from a chaotic childhood...

Norm Macdonald’s Weekend Update gags about Sly Stallone’s less famous brother were a lesson in anti-comedy. There was nothing particularly funny about invoking his name week after week, but the sheer silly repetition of “You guessed it — Frank Stallone” got more laughs every time Macdonald repeated the bit.

Like Macdonald’s constant jokes about David Hasselhoff’s popularity in Germany, the out-of-nowhere reference was the source of the funny. While Macdonald never cleared the bits with Frank Stallone, he did get the chance to discuss the recurring gags with his big brother, Sylvester.

When the Rocky star hosted the Saturday Night Live season opener in 1997, he wanted to have a word with the Weekend Update host. Specifically, he found Macdonald and asked, “What the fuck with Frank?”

Macdonald told Stallone that he didn’t mean anything by the jokes. “It’s a complete non-sequitur,” he explained. “It’s ridiculous.

The “Roastmaster General” – Jeff Ross – returned to “The Howard Stern Show” on Wednesday, June 25, to promote his new Broadway show, “Take a Banana for the Ride.” During his appearance, the comedian shared stories about his legendary roasts over the years, discussed his health, and talked about comedy greats like Chris Rock, Joan Rivers, Norm Macdonald, Jackie Mason, and Don Rickles.

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Related: Lukas Nelson Performs New Music Live on ‘The Howard Stern Show’

Jeff’s appeared on the final “Howard Stern Show” before Howard goes on break for the summer.

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Howard Stern is best known for his deep, wide-ranging long-form discussions with iconic figures across music, comedy, entertainment and beyond. Howard’s legendary interview, comedy and entertainment radio show, “The Howard Stern Show,” airs exclusively on SiriusXM, where Howard has produced two channels...

Memorial services generally aren’t a barrel of monkeys, but when a famous comedian passes away, your laugh mileage may vary. After Norm Macdonald passed, several prominent funny people spoke at his service, including David Spade, Conan O’Brien and Macdonald’s Weekend Update co-conspirator Jim Downey. But the funniest part of the occasion didn’t come from someone’s prepared remarks, said Spade this week on the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast.

Spade was asked to speak, and after some “I’m no good at that” posturing, he agreed to do his part. Downey spoke first at the service, Spade remembered, earning a standing ovation. Conan followed, who was met by another standing ovation. Longtime Macdonald collaborator Lori Jo Hoekstra was next — she got a third standing O. It was a tough act to follow when O’Brien introduced Spade as the next speaker. “Well,” Spade began, “I...

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If you've read Matthew Perry's memoir, "Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing," you'll know how important fame was to the young actor. Perry, who sadly passed away in 2023, wrote about how, prior to playing Chandler Bing in "Friends" and becoming a global megastar, fame seemed as though it would "change everything" for him. "I yearned for it more than any other person on the face of the planet," he wrote. "It was the only thing that would fix me. I was certain of it."

Though he would eventually get his wish and quickly find out that it wasn't quite the salve he expected, Perry spent years trying to attain fame and recognition. It didn't come quickly. The actor made his first on-screen appearance as a child in the TV series "240-Robert" back in 1979. But after moving to Los...

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Chris Farley was only 33 years old when he died of an overdose on December 18, 1997, and it all felt horribly inevitable. He'd been in and out of rehab so many times that being an incorrigible addict had become part of his comedic persona. When he returned in the fall of 1997 to host "Saturday Night Live," the series that launched him as a comedic dynamo earlier in the decade, the entire cold open made a joke out of his ability to do the show. At the time, I couldn't believe what I was watching. He was clearly unhealthy and sounded like he'd been gargling razor blades, as though his body itself was trying to reject him.

If you know Farley's story, you're aware that the people in his orbit did everything they could to get him sober. Alas, he kept finding his way back to the party.

Marc Maron, who recently announced he was “burnt out” and ending his groundbreaking Wtf podcast after more than 1,600 episodes, has interviewed the most prominent names in 21st-century comedy. But he was nervous about sitting down with one comic in particular: Norm Macdonald.

“I was genuinely concerned that I wouldn’t be able to have a conversation with him,” Maron told A.V. Club in 2013. “Just by his public personality and the times I met him, I thought, ‘I don’t know if this guy can even talk for very long.’ You know what I mean? He doesn’t seem like a talker.”

The two comics didn’t seem to have much in common. Maron had heard the rumors about Macdonald’s gambling, but knew little about sports. What would he talk to Macdonald about? “I was racking my brains,” he said, “and completely nervous.”

Play

He needn’t have worried. Macdonald “showed up,...

When Norm Macdonald passed away in 2021, the world grieved deeply. Macdonald, with his deadpan delivery and deliberately tasteless jokes, often dealt in anti-humor by telling jokes so corny and dated that people laughed at Norm's audacity more than the joke itself. Just as many people were outraged as were impressed by the depths of his tastelessness during his stint on "Saturday Night Live," whereon he would openly and repeatedly mention the crimes and alleged horrific acts committed by celebrities like O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson. Macdonald, like too many comedians of his generation, also made a series of transphobic jokes during his career, although he eventually (clumsily) apologized for them. "God bless trans people," he stated, "They should be given every right in the world, and anybody who wants to hurt them is bad."

Macdonald may have been appreciated, but he was never wholly mainstream, at least outside of standup and "SNL.

How far would you go just to rub shoulders with the stars of Saturday Night Live? For one future television star, losing her job was worth the price of admission to party with her SNL idols.

The Office star Jenna Fischer joined the Fly on the Wall podcast to tell hosts David Spade and Dana Carvey all about her once-in-a-lifetime SNL experience. It came years before the country came to know Fischer as Pam Beesley.

Fischer was working as a typist covering TV Critics Association events. One minor perk of the otherwise unglamours job was that Fischer could attend certain events once her work was done.

So when the opportunity arose to attend a Saturday Night Live party in Los Angeles, Fischer was willing to risk it all. "I started pretending like I didn't feel good because I was going to make an excuse that I was soick so that...

Does anyone else remember that badass Jason Voorhees design from Wildstorm’s 2007 comic-book sequel Freddy vs. Jason vs Ash? After getting a chainsaw to the face, Jason loses the lower third of his iconic hockey mask and ends up looking like a gnarly parody of the grim reaper throughout the remainder of the story. Not only is this an undeniably cool look for the character, but I also think that it’s an honest depiction of what Jason (and many other horror antagonists) really represent: corpse-like emissaries of Death itself.

And with Final Destination Bloodlines revisiting the idea of death as both a scheming entity and a mere fact of life (not to mention Oz Perkins’ The Monkey dealing with many of the same ideas), we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six of the scariest depictions of death in horror films. After all, artists have been...

In the year 2000, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was the biggest game show on TV. Like all popular game shows, it wouldn’t be long until they cranked out a celebrity edition of the show. In fact, it debuted that same year. For Celebrity Millionaire’s second week, the contestants were a truly eclectic group — a group that included Tyra Banks, Vivica A. Fox, Alec Baldwin, Charlie Sheen and disgraced rapper P. Diddy. There were also a host of comedians, the most memorable of which was Norm Macdonald, who was the very last to compete for his charity.

It was worth the wait, however, as Macdonald cranked out a number of hilarious zingers during his short stint on the show. Here are his 10 funniest jokes and answers…

10 “You know, if this was me I would keep going, but there’s children… Give me that $100!”

After answering the very first question correctly,...

When Friends debuted on NBC in 1994, ABC decided to change the name of its returning Ellen DeGeneres-led sitcom These Friends of Mine to simply Ellen. When Roseanne Barr went on a racist Twitter tirade in 2018, her newly rebooted show Roseanne killed off her character and became The Conners. For both shows, the name-change likely spared them from a swift and premature death.

While rare, sitcoms occasionally change their titles, and when they do, it’s usually an attempt to save the show from a looming cancellation. And yes, sometimes it works. But not always. The unfortunate losers in the name-changing game are below.

1 ‘The Norm Show’ aka ‘Norm’

Norm Macdonald’s short-lived sitcom was built around a wildly half-baked idea: Macdonald is an ex-hockey player working as a social worker for community service. Despite the fact that that’s not remotely how the law works anywhere on Earth, the...

It’s time to play Canadian Comic Blind Item, a game I didn’t realize existed until I heard a clip from the 30 Minutes on High podcast featuring comedian Che Durena. It’s yet another Norm Macdonald story from the vault, featuring a second unknown comedian who’s bound to get called out sooner rather than later.

According to Durena, one Canadian comic was not celebrating the success of Macdonald as he began to blow up on Saturday Night Live and elsewhere. The mystery comedian “was super bitter and would talk shit about Norm everywhere,” said Durena.

“We say (bleep)’s name all the time,” laughed 30 Minutes on High co-host Peter White. “It’s fine, don’t even worry about it.”

The reason the aggrieved comedian was talking so much smack? Apparently, Macdonald owed him gas money.

“What I heard was, Norm would forward (bleeped out comedian) emails from Nigerian scams and stuff.

As every Saturday Night Live season comes to an end, a handful of cast members learn they won’t be invited back for another year. For comedians who struggle to make their way into sketches, they can probably read the writing on the wall. But after one season in the mid-1990s, a number of the show’s biggest stars got the ax.

Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman and Mike Myers had already said their goodbyes, leaving the SNL spotlight focused squarely on Adam Sandler and Chris Farley. While young viewers worshipped the comics, older fans — and network executives — didn’t think the current cast was working out. Don Ohlmeyer, the NBC honcho who later pushed for the ouster of Norm Macdonald, first set his sights on Sandler and Farley, according to Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live.

“All the Baby Boomers, Don foremost among them, thought they knew...

Season 36 of The Simpsons certainly hasn’t shied away from bringing back random characters that many viewers forgot all about during the Clinton administration. For example, the White Lotus parody episode “The Yellow Lotus” featured the return of sketchy salesman Nick Callahan. And the series premiere, “Bart’s Birthday,” was chock-full of cameos from decades-old minor characters like Larry Burns, the real Seymour Skinner, that guy with the big hand and even Homer’s coyote spirit guide/Guatemalan insanity pepper hallucination.

The show continued the trend with this week’s episode “Full Heart, Empty Pool,” which found Homer and Grampa inventing a brand new sport called “Noodleball.” The game, basically pickleball with pool noodles, is played in empty swimming pools. But once it takes off, Noodleball becomes a target for angry swimmers, one of whom points out that “even the very tall need a place to swim.”

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Of course...

Dirty Work was supposed to be the movie that would propel Saturday Night Live’s Norm MacDonald to movie stardom. Sadly, it didn’t work out that way, with the film only earning a modest $10 million theatrically. One of the reasons the movie tanked was that, at the eleventh hour, the studio forced director Bob Saget (yes – That Bob Saget) to recut what had been planned as a raunchy R-rated comedy to a PG-13, much more mainstream effort. This was a big mistake as MacDonald wasn’t Adam Sandler, and this mean-spirited movie about petty revenge and scheming was never meant to be a family flick.

Even still, despite the cutdown there were still some pretty funny scenes in the movie, and when it hit VHS and cable, it became a bit of a cult hit. With both MacDonald and Saget having passed away, the good folks at Vinegar Syndrome...

Good news for cinephiles: Film archivists have been hard at work restoring a famous director’s original vision for a movie that many of us thought had been lost forever. No, it’s not Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons, or Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, or even the version of Batman Forever where Bruce Wayne stares down a giant bat puppet. We’re talking about the 1998 Norm Macdonald vehicle Dirty Work.

Directed by Bob Saget, Dirty Work tells the story of two buddies/secret brothers who start a “revenge for hire” business in order to pay for their dad’s heart surgery. The movie, as it was released, was still pretty crude. Like, it literally opens with a kid pranking a child molester with Krazy Glue.

And then there’s this scene, presented without comment:

But the original cut of the film was far more vulgar. The studio insisted on...

In 1998, “Saturday Night Live” colleagues Norm Macdonald, Frank Sebastiano, and Fred Wolf teamed up to write “Dirty Work,” a vehicle for Macdonald in which he played a prankster who put his talents to professional use by opening up a revenge-for-hire business. The comedy, directed by comedian Bob Saget, quickly came and went from theaters but found its audience on home video, where it became a beloved cult classic with famous fans like Kevin Hart, who declared it one of his favorite movies of all time on his “Comedy Gold Minds” podcast.

Yet for the filmmakers, “Dirty Work” always felt like a compromise, because commercial considerations dictated that it be released with a PG-13 rating even though it was written as an R movie. “When we wrote the movie, they told us not to worry about the rating,” Sebastiano told IndieWire. “If we had been a little more experienced, maybe we...

It seems as though most surviving former Saturday Night Live cast members were invited to attend February’s 50th anniversary celebration, even if they weren’t actually participating in the show itself. And while some ex-SNL stars bailed on the event for mysterious reasons, others were more than happy to come sit in the audience.

In the latter camp was Jay Mohr, who called his time at SNL50 the “greatest weekend of my life.” But according to Mohr, he did believe that there was a slight chance that he might be asked to fill in for a deceased star.

During a recent episode of his podcast Mohr Stories, the one-time Jerry Maguire villain told guest Will Forte that he spent the lead-up to the show fantasizing that Lorne Michaels and company would request that he impersonate the late Norm Macdonald. “(In) my delusional brain at SNL50, I’m like,...

It seems today, that all you see, is violence on TV and God in your dreams.

Despite the cheery wholesomeness of the show’s introductory sequence, Seth MacFarlane’s long-running animated comedy series Family Guy isn’t fun for the whole family, especially in those households with children younger than 14 or parents with strong religious convictions. For the last quarter-century and counting, MacFarlane and his writers have been thumbing their noses at America’s cultural conservatism while earning enemies in Christian parents’ groups across the political landscape with obscene, sacrilegious and extravagantly violent humor to make your pastor quake in his clerical robes.

Unfortunately, when God-fearing organizations like the Parents Television Council cried, “Won’t somebody please think of the children?” over the content of Family Guy, they did have some reason to be concerned. As one Family Guy fan explained on Twitter, the show exposed them to so much...

Most people know Fred Stoller as Raymond’s annoying cousin Gerard on Everybody Loves Raymond or as the obnoxious, whiny guy outside the telephone booth in Dumb and Dumber. But you’ve probably also seen the actor, writer and comedian in at least one of his many guest spots on TV shows like Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You and Dr. Katz

Stoller started as a stand-up in the 1980s — around the same time as his friend Norm Macdonald. Recently, Stoller released an audiobook about his friendship with Macdonald, who died in 2021, called My Friend Norm, in which he delves into his relationship with the late comedian and “Weekend Update” host.

Below you’ll find two excerpts from the book. In the first, Stoller gives a broad overview of his on-again-off-again, sometimes fraught friendship with Macdonald. The second kicks off the story’s main narrative when, in 2015, after getting a call...

With Wall Street in a tailspin over President Trump’s global tariff war, it’s no wonder that a few blocks north, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the writers and producers of “Saturday Night Live” might be feeling that same shock. And while one of the show’s jobs is to satirize current events, there are times when “SNL” is hindered by its need to serve as reflection of current events more than an escape from them — providing laughs on one of the few nights of the week people are supposed to be kicking back and having fun. Unfortunately, such was the case for Jon Hamm’s fourth round hosting at Studio 8H, though, as his monologue laid out, he has appeared for multiple cameos in the 15 years since his last time as headliner, including during the “SNL 50 Anniversary Special.”

Moving past the monologue, which featured a surprise cameo from Oscar-winner Kieran Culkin...

While audiences might be getting sick of sequels, remakes, and reboots, there's at least one coming to theaters this summer that we're actually looking forward to. "The Naked Gun" franchise is being revived with Liam Neeson taking on the role of Frank Debin Jr., son of Leslie Nielsen's Detective Frank Drebin from the original "Naked Gun" spoof trilogy of films that spawned from the short-lived comedy series "Police Squad!"

While reviving old comedy franchises can be rather risky, "The Naked Gun" comes with a promising filmmaker behind the camera, one who hasn't found much box office success but has consistently delivered some of the greatest comedies of the 21st century. Akiva Shaffer, one-third of the groundbreaking "Saturday Night Live" comedy group known as The Lonely Island, who ushered in the era of the "SNL Digital Short," is directing the film, having previously been at helm of "Hot Rod" (which...

For most Bob Newhart fans, his original sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show, is his crown jewel, but I’ll admit a slight preference for his 1980s show Newhart. Perhaps it’s because I grew up watching the second show on Nick at Nite or maybe it’s because broader characters — like Larry, Darryl and Darryl — seemed to make Newhart slightly angrier (and even funnier) than he was in the original.

Whatever the reason, when I revisited the series last year, I was enjoying the eight-season trip down memory lane until I realized that the show’s series finale — which is usually regarded as one of the greatest in TV history — was missing from Amazon Prime. Not only that, but several other episodes were missing, too. It turns out, YouTube is the only place where you can watch the entirety of the show.

While people might not think of YouTube as...

Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney is as perplexing as it is intermittently entertaining. Mulaney is proving himself to be the anti-Jimmy Fallon, refusing to ingratiate himself with either his audience or the citizen phoners whose ridiculed calls make up much of his show. Everybody’s Live reminds me of stories about Andy Kaufman reading a copy of The Great Gatsby to a comedy club audience. It’s hilarious that Kaufman would attempt such an audacious stunt, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have bought a ticket.

With two episodes of Everybody’s Live in the bank, I have a few questions about where Mulaney is headed…

1 Why Is the Show Live?

Everybody’s Live could get better immediately if it simply edited out the stuff that doesn’t work. But like Saturday Night Live, the show where Mulaney got his start, there’s a stubborn refusal to...

No Saturday Night Live character of recent vintage gets under my skin quite like Domingo, the gyrating Marcello Hernandez creation who cheats with Chloe Fineman when hubby Andrew Dismukes’ back is turned. The first Domingo sketch was fine but forgettable, but now he returns every few weeks to have his way with Fineman once again. Blame TikTok, since the sketch lends itself to memeable dance shorts that make up for the sketches’ inability to extend the original cuckold joke.

Redditors agree, as Domingo got multiple nominations and scores of votes in a recent r/LiveFromNewYork thread that asked the question, “What are some top examples of a joke getting stretched too thin?” But Domingo had plenty of company, mostly from SNL recurring characters that repeated the same catchphrases over and over again. Here are five of the most upvoted nominations for SNL sketches that ran a single joke into the ground…...

John Mulaney officially returned to late night this week. After debuting “Everybody’s in LA” during Netflix’s comedy festival last year, the comedian debuted the first installment of his new 12-episode show on Wednesday night.

If you enjoyed “Everybody’s in LA,” it’s safe to say that you’ll like “Everybody’s Live.” Everything from Richard Kind serving as Mulaney’s righthand man to the set and Saymo the robot are back. The show even utilizes its guests in the same way, combining celebrities with industry experts for a free-wheeling conversation. Maybe it’s because of the fourth-wall-breaking clipboard in his hands, but “Everybody’s Live” does feel like a more self-assured version of its predecessor.

Here’s what Mulaney’s new show took from its predecessor and what it will likely continue to explore in the weeks to come.

“Everybody’s Live” is fully embracing Netflix’s...

Saturday Night Live has been pushing boundaries for nearly five decades, delivering sharp, outrageous, and sometimes questionable humor that leaves audiences laughing, or gasping. From political satire to celebrity impersonations, the show thrives on skirting the edge of controversy.

And while cast members have endured awkward moments, few can claim to have been personally blindsided quite like Scarlett Johansson, thanks to her husband, Colin Jost.

Colin Jost and Michael Che on SNL Weekend Update | Credits: NBC

Jost, a master of dry wit and awkward charm, found himself delivering a joke so risqué that it made his wife momentarily consider fainting. But was it really that bad? Considering SNL’s history of eyebrow-raising humor, this was just another day at 30 Rock.

Scarlett Johansson’s stunned reaction to Colin Jost’s joke Scarlett Johansson in Lucy | Credit: Universal Pictures

During the infamous joke swap segment on Weekend Update, Colin Jost found himself...

Jack and Jill is peak Adam Sandler, outrageously goofy and packed with over-the-top humor. When it hit theaters, it didn’t exactly win over critics, but over time, it’s become one of those so-bad-it’s-good comedies that deserves a second look.

With a star-studded cast, including Al Pacino in a role no one saw coming and a hilarious Johnny Depp making a cameo wearing a Justin Bieber T-shirt, the film had all the ingredients for a wild ride.

Al Pacino and Adam Sandler in Jack and Jill. Credits: Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.

Moreover, Sandler played both Jack and his loud, overbearing twin sister, Jill. Here’s how he brought this chaotic comedy to life.

Why was Johnny Depp at a Lakers game wearing a Justin Bieber T-shirt?!

Adam Sandler‘s Jack and Jill might not have been a hit with critics, but it had it all: laughs, heart, and a shockingly star-studded lineup.

Shane Gillis returns to host Saturday Night Live on March 1, the second time the comedian has had the honor. The shared history between Gillis and SNL is well-documented, but the controversy hasn't exactly hurt Gillis' net worth.

Gillis was steadily building a following through his stand-up career and podcast appearances before Saturday Night Live cast him ahead of season 45. But the backlash from Gillis' derogatory comments on comedy podcasts put pressure on NBC to fire him, even if Lorne Michaels didn't agree.

Since then, Gillis has only become more famous and more successful. As a result, his net worth stands at an estimated $8 million in 2025 (via CelebrityNetWorth).

The Saturday Night Live scandal only raised Gillis' profile, and he responded by stringing together a series of notable podcast appearances and comedy tours. Perhaps no move was bigger than appearing on Joe Rogan's podcast and directly addressing the fallout from his SNL firing.

Director and producer Judd Apatow is working on a new Netflix documentary about the late, great comedian Norm Macdonald, and he has taken to the internet to ask for help with his research. Apatow posted a picture of Macdonald, who died from leukemia in 2021, on Instagram and called on the public to take a trip down memory lane and send any photos, videos or recollections they have of the beloved comedian to an email address that has seemingly been set up to collate the information for his latest project. He wrote in the caption:

We need your photos and videos of Norm Macdonald for a documentary we are creating for Netflix. So if you happen to have anything you think might be helpful please e mail us at NormMacdonalddoc@gmail.com. If you just know about any interviews or interesting videos you think we may not have heard about or...

A documentary on late comedian Norm Macdonald is in the works at Netflix from filmmaker Judd Apatow.

Apatow first shed light on the project via his Instagram, where he made an open call for “photos and videos of Norm Macdonald for a documentary we are creating for @netflix.”

“If you just know about any interviews or interesting videos you think we may not have heard about or be able to find ourselves— that would also be very helpful,” Apatow wrote. “Or just tell us your favorite Norm moments.” Apatow himself will direct the project, Consequence can confirm.

Macdonald passed away in September 2021 at the age of 61. Upon his death, Apatow wrote on social media, “No one was funnier than Norm Macdonald. Every time he was on television he was the funniest person on television. A massive loss.” In addition to sharing a circle of friends and collaborators, Macdonald made brief...

Adam Sandler performed a song that paid tribute to Saturday Night Live’s 50 years on the air during Sunday night’s anniversary special, but not before he was introduced by retired Hollywood veteran Jack Nicholson.

Nicholson introduced the Grown Ups actor before he began his referential track, where he highlighted infamous SNL moments, pondered when Lorne Michaels will retire and quipped about “finding out your favorite musician is antisemitic.”

Sandler kicked off his performance saying, “everyone in this room has something in common,” pointing out that “all of our lives were changed by the show” before poking fun at some lighthearted moments. He questioned who would “take over the show when Lorne retires” in his lyrics before he appeared to joke that Speedy Rosenthal, a longtime member of SNL’s music department, would be the one to take over Michaels’ spot.

The comedian and actor also seemingly threw a jab at Kanye West,...

The stars really did come out for the 50th anniversary special for Saturday Night Live. Introducing Adam Sandler, who performed an incredible SNL50 tribute song, was none other than the legendary Jack Nicholson.

When the camera cut to Nicholson, the applause rained down. The actor kept it simple, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Sandler!" From there, Sandler gave a shout-out to Jack and began his song, singing, "Everyone in this room has something in common. All of our lives were changed by the show."

Sandler is known for his songs and mashups, and this one was perfect for the occasion. He sang about the cast, funny moments (including those behind the scenes), the crew, Lorne Michaels, and paid a very heartfelt tribute to fellow SNL vet and friend, the late Chris Farley, who passed away in 1997, and Norm Macdonald, who died in 2021. You can watch the entire performance, and Jack's introduction,...

Live from New York, it’s SNL50! The celebration of the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live has been a well-deserved one. And after multi-part documentaries, awesome concerts and more, it has all culminated with a three-hour extravaganza that was filled with celebrities, sketch favorites and surprises you actually couldn’t predict.

Jack Nicholson introducing Adam Sandler at #SNL50 in a rare public appearance pic.twitter.com/pXXiexnAeh

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) February 17, 2025

One of the highlights of SNL50 was undoubtedly Adam Sandler’s tribute to the show’s history, which was introduced by the legendary Jack Nicholson, who has more or less out of the spotlight over the years.

Adam Sandler's Song: 50 Years #SNL50 pic.twitter.com/tACkE3xNiJ

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) February 17, 2025

Also on the musical front, SNL50 opened with a performance of “Homeward Bound” by Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon, while Miley Cyrus did Sinead O’Connor’s...

It’s hard to believe that Saturday Night Live is almost old enough to qualify for AARP benefits. Yet the groundbreaking sketch comedy series is indeed celebrating five decades on the air, commemorated the SNL50 special live on … Sunday night.

What started as a scrappy replacement for reruns of The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson morphed into a comedic institution, built upon youthful rebellion and an anarchic sense of humor. The brainchild of Lorne Michaels has been a breeding ground for comedic talent far too vast to list off, and some of its best known characters, sketches, and catchphrases have entered the cultural lexicon. To celebrate SNL‘s golden jubilee, here are the best moments from the 50th anniversary event.

Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter’s opening performance

Saturday Night Live is nothing if not famous for its musical performances, and in a show of its intergenerational appeal, SNL50 kicked...

The “Weekend Update” segment at the “SNL” 50th anniversary special on Sunday brought back legendary cast member Bill Murray to rank the segment’s past hosts.

Murray started by ranking “Weekend Update’s” Black hosts, which put current co-host Michael Che at number one — by virtue of the fact there has only been one Black host in the show’s history.

Murray then went through a top 10 ranking of the “regular” hosts of “Weekend Update.” Murray immediately took himself out of the running for the ranking, due to the fact he was on performance enhacing drugs. “It’s what we called an ‘8H Shaker,'” Murray said. “Quaaludes, cocaine, and Nighttime TheraFlu.”

Colin Quinn came in at number 10, followed by Kevin Nealon, Dennis Miller, and Seth Meyers. “I’m gonna put Tina and Amy just ahead of Tina and Jimmy,” Murray continued. “Jimmy, I’m sorry, and congratulations Tina. It...