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:

TV Star Web Series Round Up

As a continuation to our previous Web Series post, here are some more summer Web Series featuring some of our favorite TV stars:

We've previously posted the first 3 episodes of John Lutz's (30 Rock) hilarious web series "The Front Desk".  Now here's episodes 4-6 featuring Miriam Tolan (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), Fred Armisen (SNL, Portlandia), and Scott Adsit (30 Rock):

We also previously posted the first 3 episodes of Abby Eliliott's (SNL) web series "The Assistant", so now here's episodes 4 and 5!

Also, sitcom legend Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld) has a new web series called "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee", where he and his famous comedian friends talk about random stuff in the car on their way to get coffee.  It doesn't start until Thursday, but here's a promo:

And lastly, while not quite a web "series", here's a fun College Humor parody trailer for a Dora the Explorer movie starring Modern Family's Ariel Winter (who plays Phil and Clair's middle child Alex):

SNL Web Series: More "Front Desk" plus Abby Elliott Series!

I know it's been a little while since out last post, but we've had a crazy couple of weeks.  But have no fear, we're back, and have lots to catch up on!

First, as we posted earlier this month, 30 Rock star and former SNL writer John Lutz has a new web series called The Front Desk.  At the time, only the first episode featuring Bill Hader was available, but now episodes 2 and 3 are up with guests Paula Pell (Pete's wife of 30 Rock and Ron's mother "Tammy 0" on Parks & Rec) and comedian J.B. Smoove (former SNL writer)!  Enjoy!

And if that wasn't enough SNL goodiness for you, SNL cast member Abby Elliott also has a new web series!  Here's the first 2 episodes of her new online show, The Assistant, featuring Abby in dual roles:

And here's some highlights from the show, including clips from upcoming episodes!

We'll try to do a better job of staying on top of these and post them as they're released!  Stay tuned for more...

UPDATED

Episode 3 of The Assistant was just released!

Watch What Happens Live with the Featured Ladies of SNL

Here at We Like TV, we're big fans of Saturday Night Live.  And while it's always fun to see the crazy characters and impressions that that the cast members portray on the show, one of my favorite things has always been seeing the cast members as themselves on various talk shows.  And while it's pretty common to see cast members such as Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, and Bill Hader on talk shows, it's pretty rare to see the featured cast, who only recently joined SNL.  Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (which is executive produced by SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, and is hosted by a former SNL cast member) will often have SNL cast members of past and present on his show, but even he rarely has the featured cast come on.  (We even used to have a recurring post documenting the SNL cast members who have appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.)  

So when I read that featured SNL cast members Vanessa Bayer, Nasim Pedrad, and recently promoted to repertory cast member Abby Elliot (although she appears on SNL so infrequently, she seems like a featured cast member) would be appearing together on the talk show Watch What Happens Live, I was very excited.  I had never really watched Watch What Happens Live, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  The show is hosted by Andy Cohen (executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise and host of the Real Housewives Reunion Specials) and airs live (on the east coast) from Sunday through Thursday at 11:00pm on Bravo.  Andy Cohen also hosted the opening sketch of the "Women of  SNL" special that aired last season, a parody of the Real Housewives Reunion Specials, where SNL's most popular female cast members of past and present (including Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and many others) appeared as the housewives. (Note that Vanessa, Nasim, and Abby did not appear).

Watch What Happens Live is very different from most other talk shows.  There was no studio audience, no house band, no monologue, and the guests were there for the full length of the show.  Rather than allow the guests to tell long amusing stories (as is often done on talk shows), he engaged his guests in a series of little games, asking them questions about their time on SNL and having them reprise many of their most popular SNL impressions.  I was a little annoyed that Andy Cohen would sometimes shamelessly promote  his own shows by asking the guests about the Housewives or other Bravo shows, but overall it was a very fun show, and I enjoyed seeing Vanessa, Nasim, and Abby out of character (usually) and talking honestly as themselves.  Check out some clips of the show below:

And then as a bonus, check out these web-exclusive clips as part of the "After Show".  :

2 New SNL Cast Members!

After Amy Poehler left SNL a few weeks ago to have her baby, there were only 2 female cast members left on SNL (Kristin Wiig and Casey Wilson). While many speculated that a new female cast member would be hired to replace Amy, it was just announced that Lorne Michaels hired not 1, but 2 new female SNL cast members!

The first new member is Michaela Watkins, who comes from the improv comedy troupe The Groundlings, the same place where Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, Kristin Wiig, Will Forte, Lisa Kudrow, and Conan O'Brien got their start, so she's certainly in good company! Michaela has also been seen in her recurring role on the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine. Here is a clip of her on Old Christine:

The second cast member is Abby Elliot, who is the daughter of former SNL member Chris Elliot, who more famously played Amy's creepy brother Peter on Everybody Loves Raymond. He was very funny on the show, so hopefully she got his funny genes! Abby has done many shows at the Upright Citizen Brigade theater in Los Angeles, and is the voice of "hipster girl" on King of the Hill. Here is a collection of some characters and impressions that she does, which I imagine was her SNL audition tape:
(my favorite is Drew Barrymore at the end)

So, looks like 2 talented people! I can't wait to see how they do on SNL this Saturday night! Paul Rudd is hosting, so it's sure to be great! What do you think of the new cast members? Comment!