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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.
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George Jones and Tammy Wynette’s tumultuous love story is explored in the new miniseries George & Tammy, premiering on Showtime on Saturday (Dec. 4).
Jessica Chastain stars as Wynette and Michael Shannon as Jones in the limited series, which is based on the book, The Three of Us: Growing Up With Tammy and George.
Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon Talk Playing Tammy Wynette and George Jones, Bouncy Castles…
12/02/2022
The lovebirds first met at a Nashville recording studio in 1968 and wed the following year. They went on to welcome a daughter before divorcing in 1975.
“Stand By Your Man,” Wynette’s breakout hit, was released the year she met Jones. Audiences will get to hear Chastain and Shannon sing the former couple’s songs in the series.
“I had so much anxiety and stress about trying to sound like her, but that’s an impossible thing to do,” the Oscar-winning actress shared in a recent interview with Billboard. “She had a once-in-a-lifetime gift.”
Read on for ways to watch and stream George & Tammy online.
How to Watch George & Tammy for Free
George & Tammy will premiere at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime and the Paramount Network.
If you have cable, satellite, T-Mobile or another live TV provider, refer to your channel guide to navigate to Showtime or the Paramount Network. You’ll need a provider log-in to watch or stream George & Tammy at Showtime.com or on the app.
Not subscribed to Showtime? No cable necessary! Join today and get the first 30-days free. After your free trial ends, the subscription will cost $3.99 a month for the first six months but you can cancel anytime.
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You can also stream free for a week when you add Showtime to your Hulu account or subscribe through Prime Video and pay just $1.99/month for two months.
The limited deal ends Dec. 4 and applies to Showtime, Paramount+, EPIX, STARZ, AMC+, Hallmark Movies Now, Noggin, Lifetime Movies Club, MotorTrends, PBS Kids, BBC Select, PBS Masterpiece, BritBox and other Prime Video channels. Showtime is available on Fubo TV, DirectTV Stream and Sling as well.
To expand your streaming network, bundle Showtime and Paramount+ for just $11.99 a month (free trial included). Streaming from outside of the country? Use ExpressVPN to watch Showtime and more.
Showtime is home to award-wining and cult-favorite movies, documentaries, championship boxing and exclusive series such as The L Word Generation Q, Let the Right One In, The Affair, Ziwe, and The Chi.
Watch the trailer for George & Tammy 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.
They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky, the Little Monster family! “Bloody Mary,” one of Lady Gaga‘s 2011 Born This Way deep cuts, has resurfaced and gone viral in the past few days thanks to a new TikTok trend of folks using it to recreate Wednesday Addams’ standout dance scene from Netflix’s new series Wednesday starring Jenna Ortega in the title role. And now, even Mother Monster has taken notice.
“Slay Wednesday!” Gaga tweeted Thursday (Dec. 1). “You’re welcome at Haus of Gaga anytime (and bring Thing with you, we love paws around here 😉).”
The “Rain On Me” singer’s tweet was actually a response to a cute message posted on Wednesday Addams’ official Twitter account, expressing the fictional character’s approval of the “Bloody Mary” trend. “I see you doing my dance moves to @LadyGaga’s Bloody Mary,” it read. “I understand she is followed by little monsters. I approve.”
The latest of several onscreen adaptations of Charles Addams original Addams Family cartoon, Wednesday is executive produced and largely directed by Tim Burton. Clips showcasing Ortega’s instantly lovable portrayal of the gothy teenage character quickly started circulating online after the series dropped Nov. 23, particularly a scene in which she shows off her peculiar style of boogying at a school dance.
Ortega actually choreographed the dance herself, later revealing on Twitter that she’d taken inspiration from several artists as well as old videos of goths getting down at dance clubs in the 1980s. Though the dance sequence in Wednesday was actually set to “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps, TikTok users started making fan edits with the scene using Gaga’s “Bloody Mary.”
Thanks to Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Fosse’s Rich Man’s Frug, Lisa Loring, Lene Lovich, Denis Lavant, and archival footage of goths dancing in clubs in the 80’s. Helped me out on this one. https://t.co/zlxlv1JUW4— Jenna Ortega (@jennaortega) November 25, 2022
From there, another trend started to snowball: Users began posting videos of themselves trying out Wednesday’s quirky moves using “Bloody Mary,” some of them dressing up in black and doing their hair to match Ortega’s school dance look in Wednesday.
Check out some of the “Bloody Mary” Wednesday TikToks below:
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.
The first trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marks the end of an era for Marvel.
The film is the final adventure of this iteration of the cosmic team, and it is also a final Marvel bow for James Gunn, who has departed the MCU to take a job as a top executive at DC Studios, where he co-runs its film, TV and animation efforts.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, and introduces the character Adam Warlock, played by Will Poulter.
The first Guardians of the Galaxy was a game-changer for Marvel, which had already made $1 billion brands out of so-called “B-level” characters such as Iron Man. But 2014’s Guardians took that formula to new heights, turning obscure characters into a global brand. The film, which earned $773.3 million internationally, ushered in an era in which quirky filmmakers such as Gunn put their own stamps on Marvel properties. A sequel followed in 2017, with the third eyed for 2020 before Gunn was fired from the property over old, offensive tweets before eventually being reinstated.
The Guardians, and the voice Gunn established, have been important to Marvel in between Vols. 2 and 3. The characters appeared in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, released last month on Disney+.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuts May 5, 2023. The new trailer is soundtracked by the 1996 top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit “In the Meantime,” by (appropriate to the intergalactic films) Spacehog.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Fox’s The Masked Singer just wrapped its eighth season, so Billboard is going back through every winning artist who unmasked themselves for the grand reveal.
Hosted by Nick Cannon, the singing competition series premiered on Fox in 2019 as a way for celebrity contestants to perform anonymously in head-to-toe costumes while clues about their real identity are given throughout the competition before they’re unmasked one by one.
Judges-turned-detectives Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke have used clue after clue to get closer to uncovering who’s hiding behind each mask, but the final reveals always leave their jaws on the floor.
Below is a complete list of which mystery musician unmasked themselves to reveal the winner at the end of each season.
Hello, Dolly! Kelly Clarkson had country music royalty on The Kelly Clarkson Show Thursday morning (Dec. 1), with Dolly Parton stopping by to help sing a duet of her 1981 smash “9 to 5” and reminisce on the first time she ever heard Whitney Houston‘s iconic cover of “I Will Always Love You.”
Clarkson kicked off the “9 to 5” performance by singing its first few lines as a solo, before surprising her audience with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, who strutted on stage in her trademark blonde updo and sky-high heels. The two exchanged smiles and harmonies back and forth as members of the crowd clapped excitedly to the famous beat.
The two vocalists had teased their duet a day prior in a sneak peak video, and a few months before that, they teamed up to record a studio version of the track for the documentary Still Working 9 to 5.
Following their performance, the pair sat down on The Kelly Clarkson Show couch to chat, at which point the “Stronger” singer asked Dolly to recall the first time she’d heard Whitney Houston’s infamous cover of her 1974 classic “I Will Always Love You.” Houston had recorded the track to serve as the theme for Mick Jackson’s 1992 film The Bodyguard, in which the “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” musician also starred.
“When they were doing the Bodyguard movie, they had chosen another song for the theme song,” Dolly explained. “Someone came out with that very song right when they were about to put the movie out.”
In a rush to find another great theme song to replace the scrapped original, Dolly says the film’s producers requested permission to use “I Will Always Love You.” “They called me to see if they could use it and I said yes,” she continued. “And I didn’t hear anything else about it. I didn’t know if they had done it.”
The “Jolene” singer went on to tell a shocked Clarkson that this had been the last she’d heard about the song’s use — until much later, when she heard the opening bars to her own song playing on the car radio. But it wasn’t her voice singing. It was The Voice.
“I was just driving along, and I had the radio on,” Dolly recalled. “It’s one of those things, it was like a dog hearing a whistle. ‘What is that?’ That’s the first time — they hadn’t sent it to me or nothing. When it went into, ‘And I …,’ I just freaked out.”
“I had to pull over to the side, because I honestly thought I was going to wreck,” she added. “It was the most overwhelming feeling, and you know how great that was.”
Watch Dolly Parton and Kelly Clarkson sing “9 to 5” and discuss Whitney Houston below:
It’s the time of year for giving, and The Masked Singer doing just that.
As season eight of Fox’s quirky singing contest wraps, with Harp declared the champion, The Masked Singer announces a special Christmas extravaganza.
The Masked Singer Christmas Sing-A-Long will air next week with new holiday-themed performances by Harp, Bride, The Lambs and Snowstorm, fun behind-the-scenes bloopers and celebrity shout-outs from across all seasons.
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The season proper of The Masked Singer came to its climax this Wednesday night (Nov. 30), with front-runner Harp declared the victor.
The two-hour finale saw the judge’s favorite lock horns with the three-headed threat The Lambs. Despite finding perfect harmony on Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman,” the trio (Wilson Phillips) couldn’t handle the former Glee star and Broadway veteran Amber Riley, who performed Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory” and John Mayer’s “Gravity.”
Speaking with Billboard on her win, Riley remarked, “It felt fitting because I am a queen anyway! [Laughs] Just kidding! It felt great because it was so cool. We’re Americans, so we don’t have kings and queens. If you want to give me a crown, I’ll take it!”
This year, some big changes were introduced to the reality show’s format.
For the first time, each episode featured a completely new round of masked celebs with only one contestant moving forward by the end of the hour. Plus, the audience voted in-studio for their favorite performance of the night, and the singer with the lowest tally was then unmasked in the middle of the show before taking his or her place in the new Masked Singer VIP section to watch the rest of the episode.
The long list of celebrity participants included William ShatnerJerry Springer, George Foreman, Chris Jericho, Linda Blair, Gloria Gaynor, George Clinton, Ray Parker Jr. and Eric Idle.
The Masked Singer Christmas Sing-A-Long special will air next Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 8pm ET.
It was a wild ride on season 8 of The Masked Singer, which once again served up its patented mix of non-singing celebs (William Shatner, Jeff Dunham, Mario Cantone, Daymond John, Jerry Springer, Le’Veon Bell, George Foreman, Chris Jericho, Adam Carolla, Linda Blair, Nikki Glaser), veteran pop and R&B singers (Chris Kirkpatrick, Montell Jordan, Gloria Gaynor, Kat Graham, George Clinton and Ray Parker Jr.), as well as some actors who’ve been known to carry a tune (Eric Idle, Brady Bunch trio Christopher Knight, Barry Williams and Mike Lookinland and Joey Lawrence).
But in the end, when all the masks came off, it was seasonlong front-runner Harp who plucked her way to the winner’s circle with a commanding run that began on this season’s first episode when she turned P!nk’s “Perfect” into a soaring R&B ballad that blew the judges away. On episode 2, she soared with Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing,” then cruised through the Golden Girls theme song “Thank You for Being a Friend” and easily bounced along to Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” last week.
She showed her versatility by going toe-to-toe with Panther in a battle over Steppenwolf’s road dog classic “Born to be Wild,” easily bested Fortune Teller in the “Everywhere You Look” battle, and absolutely shut it down on finale night with Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory” and a moving version of John Mayer’s “Gravity.”
As is always the case, judge Ken Jeong was wrong all along, absolutely confident that the woman under the golden dome was Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, giving off super-confident vibes while describing all the reasons he definitely nailed it this time. Fellow judge Robin Thicke was certain it was another triple threat, Jeong’s former Community castmate Yvette Nicole Brown, while Nicole Scherzinger was the one who knew what was up.
Wednesday night’s epic two-hour finale found judge’s favorite Harp facing off against three-headed threat The Lambs, who were in perfect harmony on Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman.” But in the end, the three doe-eyed ladies (Wilson Phillips) were not woman enough to beat former Glee star and Broadway veteran Amber Riley.
Billboard caught up with Riley before the final reveal and spoke to her about how it felt to cruise to victory, what it was like to constantly lie to everyone she loves for months, and when we can expect new music from her.
You came out strong with your P!nk cover, and it felt like you were the front-runner all season. Did you feel pretty good about your chances after that first performance?
I felt great about my performance because it was a song that I really love and I decided every time I go out I was going to leave it all on the floor. I honestly didn’t hear anyone else singing so I didn’t know where I stood. I was just as surprised as anyone when I made it through every round.
Who figured out it was you right away?
Oh my gosh, I’ve been lying my face off for the past couple of weeks. My family has been listening to me sing since I was two-years-old and my sister is calling me like, “I know it’s you little girl!” And I was like, “Huh? I have no idea what you’re talking about!” I had to lie to everyone’s face and it’s been torture.
How did it feel to be crowned first Masked Singer queen?
It felt fitting because I am a queen anyway! [Laughs] Just kidding! It felt great because it was so cool. We’re Americans, so we don’t have kings and queens. If you want to give me a crown, I’ll take it!
I’ve seen a lot of complex costumes on the show, but that giant instrument on your back seemed pretty physically limiting. You said there was no chance you could shake your booty so the vocals had to be super on-point.
[Laughs] Honestly, the costume department is incredible. They are imagineers. It wasn’t as difficult as it looked because they put it on wheels. With every step I took they asked me if it felt comfortable. Even for the moment when I had to get out [of the costume] they imagined a way for me to easily be removed from it… it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
You mentioned that there’s something freeing about being masked as well as feeling like you were not always appreciated by the industry. What were you able to do in disguise that you can’t as Amber?
I think I’m always myself, but it was a way for people to just listen to my voice and have no preconceived notions of who I am or my gifts. That was cool to me. I’ve been in the industry for a pretty long time and I’m sure people think they know who I am, but knowing that they got to hear me with new ears and see me with new eyes when I was revealed was exciting.
You’ve been on a hit show [Glee], won an Olivier for playing Effie in Dreamgirls on the West End, and you won Dancing With the Stars back in 2013, but watching you cry through your mask really made it seem like this was a big, cathartic moment for you.
I’ve been in this industry a really long time and just like anyone else I’ve dealt with rejection and second-guessed my gifts. I’ve gone through it when it’s 90% rejection and 10% go for it. Being able to hear my peers and people I admire, especially Nicole [Scherzinger], encourage me and [praise] my gifts brought me to tears. As we try to pretend we are an island, we do need to hear people encourage us. I needed that and it was inspiring to me.
Was it inspiring enough to work on the follow-up to your 2020 Riley album?
Yes! I’ve been working on it the whole year. I went into the studio with an ignited fire and the music coming out of it and the confidence I have now has been absolutely incredible. I didn’t know that was going to happen doing this show.
How did it feel when Jenny [McCarthy-Wahlberg] said your Gaga was the best performance ever on the show?
I couldn’t even believe that. I watched LeAnn Rimes’ season, and she floored me every single week, so hearing that was big.
What’s coming up for you next? It sounds like you’ll be on our screens a lot over the next few months.
I’ve got the Black Beauty Effect [available now on the Black Experience on Xfinity channel], which is an amazing docuseries I got to be part of that is talking about black women in the beauty industry and how we disrupted the status quo. It’s about finding ourselves and making a mark in beauty, makeup and hair in Hollywood. It’s a story of triumph and it’s very inspiring to hear from women behind the scenes. I’m also going to be on Celebrity Name That Tune [premiering Jan. 11 on Fox], which I got to do with my little brother [fellow Glee alum] Chris Colfer. Me and Chris are super competitive, so it was really fun to do that with him.
