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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.
Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell and orange soda reunited for the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live in a sketch that sees Keke Palmer and the two comedians caught in a soapy love triangle storyline with a pregnancy twist.
Thompson and Mitchell, who became teen stars thanks to their work on All That and later their beloved titular roles in the 1996 Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan and Kel, appeared on the Dec. 3 episode as part of a sketch reimaging the show decades after it went off the air. Dubbed Kenan and Kelly, SNL host Keke Palmer is the one who pitched the faux series, which offers an aged-up dramatic spin on the comedic shenanigans the original kids show was known for.
The sketch opens with Palmer selling Thompson on the reboot that will see her replace Kel as “Kelly” in the title card. That’s right before the SNL cast member reveals that what he thought was going to be a “Jordan Peele-produced streaming series” was nothing of the sort.
“I had already sold the show before I even met Kenan,” Palmer hilariously reveals in a confessional. “I told the producers we wrote it together.”
Returning to the original series’ ridiculous antics, Palmer puts her own spin on the world of the popular ’90s sitcom — including swapping out Kel’s famous catchphrase “Aw, here it goes!” with “Oh, here comes the bus!” But she also adds darker, more dramatically soapy elements, including a store shooting and pregnancy storyline.
“Keke was gunning for an Emmy Award so she wanted gritty, dramatic moments in it,” Thompson says in his own confessional. “I thought, ‘That won’t work.’ And I was right.”
After Palmer — who incorporated her newly announced pregnancy into her character’s storyline — delivers over-the-top monologues about being pregnant with Thompson’s child and having a distraught, fatherless childhood, Kel seemingly arrives to reunite with his old screen partner but is overcome by his love for orange soda.
“Well, we just started and I think we have a tone issue, but people seem excited about it, I guess,” Thomspon remarks before fellow SNL cast member Devon Walker offers a spot-on impression of Mitchell’s character — braided wig and all.
The skit ends on a dramatic and comedic high note, with Kel getting shot while attempting to stop a store robbery and Palmer revealing the baby is actually his, not Kenan’s.
“The show is not good, but Jordan Peele called us,” Thomspon says before Mitchell adds, “He wants us to do a sequel to Nope.”
The reunion is the latest from the former onscreen duo, who also reunited at this year’s Emmys, appeared onstage at the 2019 NHL awards together and starred in a Good Burger skit on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015.
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
SZA is looking for a “big boy” this holiday season.
In addition to serving as the Saturday Night Live musical guest on Dec. 3, the TDE singer-songwriter also appeared in a pre-recorded musical sketch about a group of single women looking for love during the cold winter months.
“It’s cuffing season, now we got a reason/ To get a big boy, I need a big boy,” SZA sings amid a snowy background and a group of stout male dances sporting Santa hats and pajamas.
Elsewhere in the clip, SNL host Keke Palmer — who announced her pregnancy during the opening monologue — raps about finding a man with “polar bear arms” who can “bring in my groceries in just one trip.”
SZA was also the musical guest during the Dec. 3 episode, where the singer performed two songs from her upcoming album, S.O.S. She opened with her latest single “Shirt,” which debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November, and closed with the debut of the new track “Blind.” She also revealed during the episode that S.O.S will drop on Dec. 9.
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.
“I feel like music, in this capacity, I don’t see longevity,” SZA admitted. “I like to create, I like to write, I like to sing, and I like to share. But I don’t know if chasing after superstardom or whatever I’m supposed to be doing right now is sustainable for me or for anybody. I’mma take a good swing at it, and I’mma give ’em my absolute best.”
Watch the “Big Boys” musical sketch below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes as well.
If you’ve ever dated Drake, met him at a party, talked on Instagram, or even made flirty eye contact with him at a restaurant, you may be entitled to financial compensation.
In a hilarious sketch form the Dec. 3 episode of Saturday Night Live, the Toronto rapper is asked to pay up by the women he’s written about in his profitable songs.
“For too long, we have witnessed Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham write hit after hit about women who have wronged him,” SNL cast member Chloe Fineman’s character says on behalf of thousands of women. “Only to earn millions of dollars.”
SNL host Keke Palmer chimes in to announce that the women have officially unionized as the “United Tingz of Aubrey” in an effort to stand up and fight for their rights.
The angry group includes Courtney (played by Ego Nwodim), who left Drake a voicemail about a car payment and ended up as an interlude on the rapper’s album. Next, Palmer explained how Drizzy’s “In My Feelings” — which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 weeks in 2018 — destroyed her life.
“That ‘Kiki do you love me?’ song ruined my damn life,” Palmer shouts angrily. “That man had the whole internet asking if I was the Kiki. Well, yes I an the Keke, just not that Kiki. It was my name first. Stop acting like we smashed and give me my damn $6 million.”
Watch the “Drake PSA” sketch below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes as well.
Keke Palmer hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time on Dec. 3, where she wasted no time in making her hosting gig one to remember.
The actress addressed online rumors that she was pregnant and announced that she is, indeed, expecting. A rep for Palmer confirmed the pregnancy to The Hollywood Reporter.
“People have been in my comments, saying, ‘Keke’s having a baby,’ ‘Keke’s pregnant,’ and I want to set the record straight,” Palmer said in her opening monologue. “I am!”
She went on to joke that she hates when people spread rumors about anyone, but it’s even worse when they’re right.
“I was trying so hard to keep it on the down-low ’cause I got a lot of stuff going on,” she said. “You know, people kept coming up to me, ‘Congratulations,’ and I’m like, ‘Shh, can y’all stop? I got a liquor sponsorship on the line.’”
She continued, saying that it’s been the “biggest blessing,” she’s “so excited,” and she wants to be a mom.
“Even though some people feel a little weird about me having a baby ’cause I was a child actor, I just wanna say, look, I’m 29. I’m grown. OK, I have sex. I own a home,” Palmer said, jokingly adding, “I stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.”
She concluded that she’s the same person she’s always been, and she’s proud of that.
“When I first got into comedy, and I dreamed of standing on this stage, I asked myself, ‘Keke, who will you be? Will you be like Maya Rudolph? Eddie Murphy? A Kristen Wiig-Type?’ And now I can tell you exactly who I am: Baby, I’m Keke Palmer.”
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
SZA brought a couple surprises to her appearance Saturday Night Live on Dec. 3.
In addition to revealing the release date of her sophomore album, S.O.S, the TDE singer-songwriter also debuted a new song from the upcoming set.
For her first song during the Keke Palmer-hosted episode, SZA performed her recent single “Shirt,” which debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this month. Toward the end of the moody song, where she performed against a starry background while flanked by two dancers, SZA cleverly snuck in some imagery announcing the Dec. 9 release date of her long-awaited second album, S.O.S.
Days earlier, SZA unveiled the project’s surreal cover art, which features the artist donning a sports jersey while sitting on the edge of a diving board planted over a large body of water. S.O.S follows her 2017 debut, Ctrl, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
For her second SNL performance, SZA gave another sneak peak of her upcoming album by debuting the new song “Blind.” This time around, the singer opted for a full backing band with strings, while delicately singing the beautiful track amid splashing waves and a hazy lighthouse. This marked SZA’s second SNL appearance following her debut in 2017 in support of Ctrl.
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.
“I feel like music, in this capacity, I don’t see longevity,” SZA admitted. “I like to create, I like to write, I like to sing, and I like to share. But I don’t know if chasing after superstardom or whatever I’m supposed to be doing right now is sustainable for me or for anybody. I’mma take a good swing at it, and I’mma give ’em my absolute best.”
Watch SZA’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes as well.
Ahead of the premiere of Saturday Night Live season 48, the late night comedy show lost eight of its castmembers, the biggest cast overhaul in a generation.
At the end of season 47 in May, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney and Pete Davidson signed off of the sketch series for the last time. Their departures were followed by Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and Aristotle Athari in the summer and, finally, Chris Redd in September.
A few weeks before season 48 premiered in October, SNL shored up its ensemble with four new castmembers, who would join the show as featured players for the 2022-23 season: Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker.
According to standout Bowen Yang, having the new castmembers around has been “so seamless.”
“They’re just such a burst of fresh energy and also something familiar in terms of how quickly they’ve become part of it,” Yang told The Hollywood Reporter. “I look around, and I see Marcello, I see Michael, I see Devon, I see Molly, and I’m like, ‘Oh, these are my new friends.’ I feel they’ve been here forever.” He added that they’ve each also had great moments in the first few shows of the season.
Kenan Thompson echoed that sentiment, explaining that by the second half of the season, the four of them will already have a great deal of experience. “It’s a lot, and I’m glad that they have each other to kind of come into the storm with,” he told THR. “They’ve been navigating pretty good together.”
Mikey Day, who’s been on SNL since 2013, thinks the new castmembers are “really cool” but admitted it has been an adjustment, sharing that it’s different but also exciting.
“I definitely miss my friends and seeing them every week, but all our new castmembers are really cool,” Day told THR. “[It] feels like you bond very quickly on that show. In the summer, you’re like, ‘We’re gonna have new kids. Will it be the same?’ But then, a few days in, you’re like, ‘Oh OK, it’s this show again.’ So you know, it’s fun. Every season, you just keep going. You just get in the grind of it, and everything kind of starts to feel like the show.”
As for the new members, joining SNL has been an emotional experience in which they’ve already learned a lot. Walker noted that probably once a week he gets “misty” thinking about the fact that he made it onto the show. He’s also been given a helpful piece of advice, which is that there’s always another episode, so it’s not worth taking anything to heart.
“The words I’ve been living by are to be patient and to work,” Hernandez told THR. “And I love Kenan and Colin [Jost] for being there and being the veterans that talk to you and give you good advice. So yeah, I’m grateful.”
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
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.
SNL‘s December schedule will kick off with SZA as musical guest and Keke Palmer as host on Dec. 3.
“first december show!” the Saturday Night Live Instagram announced on Sunday (Nov. 13), following this weekend’s episode with Dave Chappelle and Black Star.
“Can’t believe this is happening lmao . I plan on acting a f—ing fool . See you soon New York,” SZA shared on her own account on Sunday.
Palmer wrote on Instagram, “I can’t wait!! The stage awaits @nbcsnl.”
SZA recently shared a teaser trailer for “PSA,” just two weeks after she released her new single “Shirt.” Last month she revealed that her long-awaited sophomore album is coming “any day” now.
See the SNL lineup announcement below.