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Sam Smith helped usher Saturday Night Live into 2023 with a pair of dramatic performances from their upcoming album.
For their third appearance as musical guest on the iconic NBC sketch comedy show, the U.K. singer-songwriter unleashed unforgettable live performances of chart-topper “Unholy” and the title track from their soon-to-be-released fourth album, Gloria, which is scheduled to arrive on Jan. 27 through Capitol.
Following an introduction from SNL host Aubrey Plaza, Smith opened with their smash hit “Unholy,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2022. Donning an extravagant fluffy pink dress, Smith belted out the opening lines of the song before sneaking in Kim Petras, who is featured on the track, to assist with her verse.
Petras wasn’t the only unexpected guest during Smith’s SNL appearance. For their second performance, the singer surprised with a guest appearance from Oscar-nominated actress Sharon Stone, who lounged on a gold-covered couch while Smith delivered their recently dropped single “Gloria.” Surrounded by a group of darkly robed singers, Smith — who was draped in a gold sequin blazer — beautifully crooned the track while Stone slowly rose from her reclined position and gazed off into the distance.
Gloria, the followup to 2020’s Love Goes, features the previously-released singles “Love Me More,” “Gimme” and the Petras-assisted hit “Unholy,” which is nominated for best song at the 2023 Brit Awards.
Smith’s three studio albums all crashed the top five on the Billboard 200, with 2017’s The Thrill of It All hitting No. 1.
Watch Smith’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast will also stream on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans on demand access to previous SNL episodes as well.
Saturday Night Live has a jam-packed lineup this weekend, with Aubrey Plaza making her hosting debut and Sam Smith taking the stage as musical guest.
To gear up for the big night, the superstar duo joined SNL favorite Kenan Thompson for a new promo clip. “We love you in The White Lotus,” Thompson tells Plaza, before Smith chimes in, “Emily the Criminal is brilliant.”
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However, Thompson then mixes up Plaza for Jenna Ortega when he says, “You were great in Wednesday.”
When the actress reveals that she wasn’t in the popular Netflix series, Thompson asks her to “at least” do the viral Wednesday-inspired dance trend. “No,” Plaza simply replies, with her characteristic deadpan tone.
Smith posted the video to Instagram, along with the caption, “Saturday [yellow heart emoji].” They will be serving as musical guest on the iconic sketch comedy show for the third time, just a week before their highly anticipated new album Gloria drops on January 27. The LP comes on the heels of the singer’s Hot 100 chart topping collaboration with Kim Petras, “Unholy.”
Saturday Night Live airs every Saturday live on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT. For those without cable, the broadcast will also stream on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans on demand access to previous SNL episodes as well.
Watch the promo below.
It’s Aubrey Plaza is finally making her debut on Saturday Night Live, and she wants to make sure she’s perfect.
In a new promo for this weekend’s episode of the long-running comedy sketch show, the White Lotus star appeared alongside SNL cast member Chloe Fineman to reveal that she’s more than ready to grace the stage at studio 8H.
“I’m excited,” Plaza tells Fineman in the promo. “And oh my God, I love your impressions. Drew Barrymore is my favorite.”
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Plaza then launches into a dramatic impression of Marcia Gay Harden in the 2000 film Pollock, which did not impress the SNL star. Trying to be polite, Fineman asked Plaza if she could do an impression that’s “a little more fun.”
At the suggestion, the 38-year-old begins crying on cue and slapping herself in the face in an impersonation of Annette Bening in American Beauty, which startles Fineman. “Why are you like this?” she asks Plaza, who replies, “Because I’m insane, and I’ve been waiting to do this show since I was 12 years old,” before leaning in for a kiss. A janitor at the studio spots the two women making out, but ignores it and continues to do his job.
Saturday will mark Plaza’s hosting debut on SNL, but not for a lack of trying — she previously was an intern on the show and revealed during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she did a “preliminary first-round showcase,” but didn’t make it to an audition with creator-producer Lorne Michaels.
Sam Smith will be Saturday’s musical guest. Watch the new promo in the video above.
Saturday Night Live is launching into the new year with a stacked lineup.
The iconic NBC sketch comedy show announced its January slate of hosts and performers on Thursday (Jan. 5), with The White Lotus star Aubrey Plaza making her SNL hosting debut on January 21. Meanwhile, Sam Smith will take the stage for their third time as musical guest, just a week before their highly anticipated new album Gloria drops on January 27. The LP comes on the heels of the singer’s Hot 100 chart topping collaboration with Kim Petras, “Unholy.”
On the January 28 episode, Michael B. Jordan will host SNL for the first time, and Lil Baby will make his first appearance as musical guest. Upon its release in October, the rapper’s It’s Only Me album topped the Billboard 200 with all 23 tracks appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, making it one of the year’s most dominant streaming releases.
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Saturday Night Live is entering 2023 after an impressive 2022, in which the series won an Emmy Award for outstanding variety sketch series. SNL is the most Emmy-nominated show in television history and currently holds 93 Emmy wins.
Saturday Night Live airs every Saturday live on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT. For those without cable, the broadcast will also stream on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans on demand access to previous SNL episodes as well.
Austin Butler is ready to make his big debut. Not as Elvis (he did that already, starring in a biopic about the rock ‘n’ roll icon this past summer), but as a first-time Saturday Night Live host.
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On Wednesday (Dec. 14), the long-running comedy show shared the first teaser for Butler’s episode, which held a small hint of what fans can expect.
The 35-second clip kicked off with Butler heading toward the show’s famous stage, breathing an excited sigh and saying “Here we go” before surveying the space. As he walks up to the stage, a soft breeze blows through his golden blond hair and a twinkle hits his eye — but the illusion is broken when a stage hand interrupts his fantasy.
“In this sketch you’ll be the Christmas goblin,” the stage hand informs the actor. A hideous mask with a big red Santa hat on top is placed on his face by a separate stage hand, but Butler remains cool and collected. “Let’s do this,” he says, mask on his face and hands on his hips.
Butler’s hosting gig marks his first time on the show, but Saturday’s musical guest Lizzo is a veteran at this point after two previous SNL performances. Lizzo made her debut in December 2019, when she performed a holiday-themed version of “Good as Hell,” and she returned last season in April, when she both hosted and performed “About Damn Time” and “Special.”
Butler and Lizzo’s SNL episode airs Saturday, Dec. 1, on NBC. Watch Butler’s SNL teaser in the video above.
Steve Martin and Martin Short brought their A-game to their joint Saturday Night Live opening monologue, reading each other eulogies and surprising viewers with an appearance from their Only Murders in the Building co-star Selena Gomez.
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Before diving into each other’s eulogies, the comedians took a second to reminisce about their past SNL hosting gigs, with the Dec. 10 episode being Martin’s 16th time hosting the show and Short’s third.
“You see, we are like Harry and Meghan,” Short said, referring to Netflix’s new docuseries from the couple. “No one’s rooting for us, but you’ll tune in to watch anyway.” Martin then went on to joke about how working with Short for him is like watching the World Cup: He just can’t get into it.
When Short told Martin he adores working with him and wishes they could do it forever, Martin said Short can’t because he won’t live forever.
“It’s sad because you won’t be able to hear the wonderful things I’m going to say at your memorial,” Martin told Short. “So, I thought why wait? So, what I did was I wrote up your eulogy so you can hear it now.” Short quipped back that he did the same.
“I will always be haunted by Marty’s last words: Tesla autopilot engage,” Martin said in his eulogy for Short.
“I learned so much from Steve,” Short said. “For example, he taught me that you don’t need to restrict the urinal to just number one.”
Throughout the opening monologue, the co-stars and touring partners threw playful shade at each other.
“Even at the end, Marty had a wonderful girlfriend smart, beautiful and so realistic,” Martin said. “He was always sexually active — as long as there were batteries in the house. He was taken away from us too soon, but sadly, not before he played Jack Frost in Santa Clause 3.”
Watch the opening monologue below:
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
NBC announced Saturday (Dec. 10) that Lizzo will step in for previously announced performers Yeah Yeah Yeahs on next weekend’s Saturday Night Live as the final musical guest of 2022. When she joins host Austin Butler on the Dec. 17 episode, it will mark the third time the pop-rap star has performed on the show.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced on their socials that they had to cancel because guitarist Nick Zinner is still recovering after contracting pneumonia last month. In addition to SNL, the band also pulled out of KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas festival in Los Angeles on Saturday.
“As many of our fans know Nick has had pneumonia over the past month and it’s been an up and down recovery process,” the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ statement reads. “The band’s top priority is supporting Nick through a full recovery, as a result we had to pull out from our engagements of KROQ’s Acoustic Christmas and Saturday Night Live.
“YYYs have enjoyed the incredible highs of being supported on KROQ and the huge honor of being chosen to close out SNL’s 2022, we are deeply thankful and expectedly heartbroken we cannot rise to these occasions,” the statement continues. “It’s been a tough week, and it’s been a tough year on the health front for us alongside so many artists who are committed to connecting with audiences amidst a pandemic. We send our love to our fans and supporters, thank you for your understanding and well wishes, it means the world to us. Wishing you a healthy and happy rest of 2022, we’re looking forward to a strong return in 2023. Much love, Karen, Nick, and Brian.”
Find the Twitter announcements below.
Only legends in the building! Saturday Night Live released the teaser for its upcoming episode on Friday (Dec. 9), starring Steve Martin and Martin Short.
In the clip, the two hosts team up with veteran cast member Cecily Strong and musical guest Brandi Carlile. “You know, Brandi, if you’re looking for some backup singers, we’re actually pretty good,” Martin promised before he and his Only Murders in the Building co-star broke out into a doo-wop freestyle with some help from Strong.
Carlile’s reaction? “I’m good,” she politely asserts before rolling her eyes and walking off camera. (For her part, Strong tells the two hosts, “We nailed it,” to which they both vigorously agree.)
In the next bit, Strong quips, “Wow, double the hosts,” and Short replies, “Ah, but triple the threats!” and Martin jumps in to explain, “Because Marty here can sing, act and dance!”
“And Steve currently has flu, RSV and COVID,” Short fires off without missing a beat. “That’s right, they call it an EGOT,” his five-time Grammy-winning pal adds, though it’s actually Strong who gets the last punchline as she jokes, “As in, ‘e got ’em all!”
The episode, which airs Saturday on NBC, will mark Martin’s 16th time hosting the late-night sketch show and Short’s fourth — though the latter also worked as a cast member on the series for a single season back in the mid-’80s.
Watch Martin and Short audition for Carlile ahead of their joint hosting gig below.
It’s a Saturday Night Live reunion on the upcoming That’s My Jam holiday special, with four former castmates joining their fellow alum, host Jimmy Fallon, for a Christmas music showdown.
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In an exclusive clip ahead of the special’s Monday premiere on NBC, Ana Gasteyer – an SNL castmember from 1996-2002 – puts a swinging, festive twist on Taylor Swift‘s “Blank Space.” When Gasteyer pulls the golden mic, she gets the Musical Genre Challenge category, and she’s asked to transform Swift’s seven-week Billboard Hot 100-topping 2014 hit into a Holiday Jazz standard.
Anyone who watched Gasteyer on SNL knows she has pipes — especially her skits alongside Will Ferrell as singing married couple The Culps — and she really sells this Postmodern Jukebox-style cover, throwing in some scatting for good measure.
Gasteyer is joined on That’s My Jam by three other Saturday Night Live alumni — one of whom she overlapped with, Rachel Dratch (1999-2006), and two who came after her, Fred Armisen (2002-13) and Melissa Villaseñor (2016-22). Gasteyer is clearly comfortable in the holiday music space, having released her own Christmas album, cheekily titled Sugar & Booze, back in 2019. Next up, she can be seen in season 2 of American Auto, which returns to NBC on Jan. 24.
Following the holiday special, That’s My Jam is coming back for a second season next year, premiering March 7. You can catch this Taylor Swift cover and more merry musical shenanigans when That’s My Jam Holiday Edition premieres Monday at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
Bowen Yang just can’t get it straight in this week’s Saturday Night Live promo featuring SZA and host Keke Palmer. “Hi, I’m Keke Palmer and I’m hosting Saturday Night Live this week with musical guest SZA,” Nope star Palmer says in the first video bit.
“And I’m Brown Yang and we’re gonna have such a… did i just say ‘Brown Yang?’,” an embarrassed Yang asks this week’s guests as they laugh nervously. “I can’t even read my own name. Sorry Guys! I am Bowen Young and we’re gonna… oh my God. Brown Yung! What’s happening right now?,” a melting down Yang stammers.
“Are you okay Bowen?,” a concerned Palmer asks. He assures her he’s totally fine and repeats his first name as evidence, before inexplicably calling himself “Cohen Yang” and then insisting that he’s Bravo star Andy Cohen and then, once again Brown Yung. “I’m worried about you Bowen,” SZA says before he refers to her as “Scissors” and says he’s going to take a long nap before tomorrow night’s (Dec. 3) show.
In a second promo, a recovered Yang promises that the episode is going to be epic, clapping out every syllable, a tactic Palmer then employs to ask where the bathroom is. In an earlier video, Palmer revealed that she’s an “octuple threat,” busting out her singing, acting and dancing chops before adding that she’s also a beekeeper, painter, magician and fitted sheet folder; she’s also admittedly bad at math.
The clip dropped a day after SZA shared the cover art for her upcoming S.O.S. album, which does not yet have an official release date. Donning a football jersey with S.O.S stitched on the sleeve, SZA sits on the edge of a diving board planted over a large body of water in the image.
Earlier this month, SZA released her newest single, “Shirt,” which debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Along with doling out another high-charting single, SZA recently covered Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players issue. In the cover story, she questioned her longevity in music and where she sees her career going forward.
Watch this week’s SNL promo below.
