SNL Hosts Announced!

A few day ago, I made a wishlist of the Top 10 new SNL hosts I'd like to see this season.  Well the first 3 hosts have been announced, and so far I'm 0/3.  The hosts are a bit surprising, but should make for an interesting season nonetheless.  The first 3 SNL hosts for this season (all pictured in tuxedos with black bow ties) are as follows:

9/15 Seth MacFarlane (with musical guest Frank Ocean)

The SNL season premier will be hosted by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. This is an interesting choice as although he does a lot of voicework, he's really not much of an actor.  He is known for creating writing, and voicing many characters in his hit animated series Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show, as well as writing, directing, and voicing the Teddy Bear in this summer's film Ted.  But in terms of actual live-action acting, Seth has really only done a few minor roles.  While I don't consider myself a big Family Guy fan, I do acknowledged Seth is a really talented and funny guy, so I am interested to see what he'll do as host.  I know he also is a great singer, and loves doing big musical numbers, so I'd bet that he will do a big musical opening monologue.  I also wouldn't be surprised if there was a cameo by some of his Family Guy/Ted friends, like Seth Green, Mila Kunis, and/or Mark Wahlberg.  And perhaps a live-action Family Guy sketch?

9/22 Joseph Gordon-Levitt (with musical guest Mumford & Sons)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt will return to SNL to host for his second time on 9/22.  He did a good job when he first hosted in 2009, so I'm sure he'll do another good job this time around.  Last time, he had a great musical monologue where he performed "Make 'Em Laugh", and appeared in many memorable sketches, such as "The Mellow Show" where he impersonated Jason Mraz.  Perhaps "The Mellow Show" will return?  With another cameo by Dave Matthews?  Or an appearance by a different mellow guy like John Mayer? It's unlikely with Andy Samberg no longer on the show, but who knows.  Regardless, Joseph Gordon-Levitt always seems truly happy to be on stage, which makes him a lot of fun to watch.  I'm looking forward to seeing him host again.

10/6 Daniel Craig (with musical guest Muse)

After a week off, SNL will return on October 6 hosted by James Bond himself, Daniel Craig.  Craig is a very interesting choice because he seems to be a very serious guy, and I don't believe he's ever played a comedic role (aside from the mildly amusing Olympics bit, which I really didn't find all that funny).  While this does worry me a bit, as comedians usually make the best SNL hosts, I am interested to see how silly Daniel Craig is willing to get.  If he's willing to have fun and play off his serious image, then he may very well make a good host.  I suspect there will be some sort of James Bond sketch, and probably some reference to his Olympic bit with the queen.  This should be a very interesting episode.

In addition to these regular episodes of Saturday Night Live, there will also be 2 SNL Primetime Specials on Thursday 9/20 and Thursday 9/27.  These 30 minute SNL specials will focus on election coverage, as the Presidential election heats up.  So lot's of SNL coming up next month!  Still no word yet on if Jason Sudeikis will be returning to the show, or who will be joining to cast to replace Andy, Kristen, and Abby, but we'll be sure to post updates when we find out!

New Flight of the Conchords Song!

Bret? Present. Jemaine? Present. Murray? Present.  They're all back in this brand new hilarious Flight of the Conchords video.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Flight of the Conchords, (New Zealand's 4th Most Popular Folk Band), are a comedy folk duo comprised of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie who had an Emmy-nominated comedy series on HBO.  The show featured the pair playing fictionalized versions of themselves, musicians from New Zealand trying to make it big in New York City.  Each episode also featured some comedic original songs, all written by and performed by the Conchords themselves.  The show also features great supporting roles by Rhys Darby (Yes Man) as the band's manager Murray and Kristen Schaal (30 Rock) as the group's only fan.  

After 2 successful seasons on HBO, the pair decided to end the show and they went their separate ways. Jemaine starred in movies such as Dinner for Schmucks and Men in Black 3 while Bret continued songwriting, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets film.  The pair finally reunited for a tour of New Zealand this year, and they said that they might start writing new songs while on tour together.  And it looks like that's just what they did.

For the New Zealand charity "Cure Kids", the group was commissioned to write a new song to help sick children.  For the first time in 3 years, the band reunites with their old manager Murray, as they try to write a song to help the children.  Seeking inspiration, they decide to talk to some real (unscripted) children (a la the Zach Galafianakis) and the results are expectedly hilarious.  It all leads up to their first new song in 3 years:  "Feel Inside (And Other Stuff)".  Check out the video below!

The song is only available for download on iTunes in New Zealand, but to download it in America (or anywhere else in the world you) you can download it here.  All proceeds go to charity!

Wishlist for New SNL Hosts this Season

Saturday Night Live's 38th season premier (on Sept. 15) is now less than 3 weeks away, which mean it's only a matter of time before we find out if Jason Sudeikis is returning to the cast, what new members will be joining the show, and most importantly, who will be hosting the first few episodes!  While we certainly have our favorite SNL hosts who we'd love to see come back to host this season (Justin Timberlake, Jon Hamm, Zach Galifianakis, etc.), it's always exciting to see someone host the show for the first time and see if they can join the ranks of those all-time great SNL hosts.  So now, before any official hosts have been announced for the upcoming season, here is my list of the Top 10 celebrities I would like to see host Saturday Night Live for the first time this season (in no particular order):

TV Clip of the Day: Romney's New Video Blog

In an effort to connect to young voters, Mitt Romney has created his own video blog, which he edits himself!  And Jimmy Fallon just happened to get his hands on the first installment.  Check it out below!

Random TV Clip of the Day: Amy Adams on The Office

Today we woke up late and walked through Central Park to get some brunch when we happened to stumble upon the line for Shakespeare in the Park's production of the classic Sondheim musical Into the Woods.  Despite the fact that people had been lining up since 6:00am to get tickets to the free show, we were told that if we got in line now (at about 12:00), that we should still get tickets when they gave them out at 1:00.  So after an hour of waiting in line with some very chatty strangers, we got the tickets!  We're looking forward to the show tonight, which stars 3-time Academy Award nominee Amy Adams.  While Amy Adams is mostly known for her film work (Enchanted, Julie & Julia, Doubt, The Fighter, The Muppets), she actually had a recurring role on the first two seasons of The Office as  Katy, a girl who stops by Dunder Mifflin to sell purses and eventually dates Jim.  Here's a clip of Amy Adams from her first appearance on The Office as the titular character in the Season 1 finale, "Hot Girl".

Abby Elliott Leaving SNL- Best of Abby Elliott


Earlier today, Abby Elliott announced that she will be leaving the cast of Saturday Night Live after 4 seasons on the show.  While Abby struggled to make her mark on the show for a few years, she finally broke out with one of my favorite new sketches of this past season - "Bein' Quirky with Zooey Deschanel".  With Kristen Wiig not returning next season, it would have given Abby a chance to become the lead female cast member, but I guess it wasn't to be.  

So now, as we've done for Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig (and even Paul Brittain!), we'll take a look-back at some of our favorite Abby Elliott SNL sketches:

Olympic TV Show Clips

It's the Olympics!  The 2012 London Olympics are in full swing, so we thought it was a good time to look back at some of our favorite Olympic-themed TV show clips!

While most cities fight to have prestigious Olympic games held in their city, we know one city that definitely does NOT want to host the Olympics - Portland!  Check out this hilarious clip from Portlandia to see why:

Can't watch the Olympics all day because you're stuck at work?  No problem, just host your own Office Olympics, like the Dunder Mifflin gang did in this classic episode of The Office!  (Works best while you're boss is out for the day shopping for a condo...)

Over on 30 Rock, Jenna helped Kenneth complete his application to be a NBC Page at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  (The scene that follows this one, with Kenneth racing to submit his application on time, is much better, but is sadly nowhere to be found on the Internet.  So you'll just have to watch this one.)

After the amazing Olympics hosted by Beijing in 2008, many feared that London would not be prepared to host the games in 2012.  Among those was Liz Lemon's British wedding date (and the man the universe seemed to be forcing her to spend the rest of her life with), Wesley Snipes.

The Olympics continue on NBC, with the Closing Ceremony scheduled for this Sunday night.  Then it's just one short month until all our TV shows come back on the air!

Clip of the Day: William Frawley on The Lucy Show

101 years ago today, Lucille Ball was introduced to the world.  And that means it was just 1 year ago that we attended Lucy Fest 2011 for Lucy's 100th Birthday!  So in honor of Lucy's birthday, we thought we'd post a very special Clip of the Day!

After I Love Lucy ended, Lucy had another successful show on TV called The Lucy Show.  For the first 3 seasons, Lucy starred with Vivian Vance (who played Ethel on I Love Lucy) as two single mothers living together as roommates and raising their children together.  After season 3 ended, Vivian Vance left the show due to a scheduling conflict, and Lucy continued on for 3 additional seasons without her (starring alongside her always hilarious rival Mr. Mooney, played by Gale Gordon, who was introduced in season 2).

On I Love Lucy, Vivian Vance of course starred opposite William Frawley, who played her curmudgeon husband Fred.  While they played a married couple on the show, the two hated each other in real life, and after the show ended, they never spoke to each other again.  So naturally, Vivian Vance would never agree to Frawley appearing on The Lucy Show while she was there.  But, once she was out of the picture in season 4, Lucy had William Frawley make a little cameo on The Lucy Show, which turned out to be his last on-screen appearance before his death the following year.  

Ever since we finished watching the complete series I Love Lucy on DVD last year, we've been watching The Lucy Show on and off when we don't have anything else to watch.  And as it turned out, we happened to watch William Frawley's appearance on episode 6 of season 4 today, on what would have been Lucy's 101st birthday!  

So I know it's a very long and rambling introduction, but here is today's Clip of the Day, William Frawley's cameo on The Lucy Show!  Happy Birthday Lucy!