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".  :

Big SNL Changes!

This past week was filled with lots of big news for the upcoming season of Saturday Night Live. First, we got the news of 2 new SNL cast members!

The first new cast member is Jenny Slate. According to her bio, Jenny had a one-woman show called "Dead Millionaire" at the Upright Citizen's Brigade theater in NY (which was founded by Amy Poehler) and she was also part of the comedy team "Gabe & Jenny". I've never heard of any of these things, however, I do recognize Jenny from her role in the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon fake reality show, 7th Floor West (a parody of The Hills)! If you've seen the show (which really is quite great!) then you know that Jenny plays a character named Jenny, who eventually becomes Jimmy's assistant. She was great in 7th Floor West, so I'm sure she'll be great on SNL! Here's an episode of 7th Floor West that features Jenny:


To see the rest of the episodes (which include lots more of Jenny) head to http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/7th-floor-west/.

The second new cast member is Nasim Pedrad, who I have never heard of and I've never seen any of her work. Apparently she had also had a one-woman show called "Me, Myself, and Iran" and she's done improv with the Groundlings (the legendary improv troupe which produced past SNL stars such as Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, and many many more). Nasim is also the first Iranian cast member, so it's definitely great that the cast is showing a little more diversity. Can't wait to see what she'll bring to SNL!

While I was happy to hear the news of these new cast members, the following day I was devastated to learn that 2 SNL cast members will not be returning this season.

The first SNL departure is Casey Wilson. Casey joined the cast in the middle of the 2007/2008 season, and while she never really broke out with any huge characters, I still enjoyed her work. Some of my favorite Casey Wilson memories include her Rachel Ray impression, her low voiced character from the Cougar Den sketch, and her handicap stripper character. However I think my favorite Casey Wilson memory was her Jennifer Aniston impression as a guest host of The View. I've never seen anyone do a Jennifer Aniston impression, so it was really interesting to see what Casey picked up on to do her spot-on impression. Casey, we'll miss you, and we wish you the best of luck. Here she is as Jennifer Aniston on the SNL parody of The View:



The other person who will be leaving SNL is Michaela Watkins. Michaela joined SNL in the middle of this past season, so she hasn't been in that many episodes, but she was really starting to make her mark. Among her most memorable SNL sketches include her teen blogger who runs the site "Bitch Pleeze", her impression of Ariana Huffington, and my favorite, her impression of Hota Kotb opposite Kristen Wiig's Kathy Lee hosting the Today Show. It seems too soon for Michaela, so it's especially sad to see her go. Again, we wish you the best. Here's Michaela as Hota on SNL's parody of the 11:00 hour of The Today Show:



That's all the cast news for now. There are still rumors going around about a few other members of the cast (such as Darrell Hammond, who is apparently in negations to return for his 15th season, longer than any other cast member in the history of the show). We'll try to keep you posted as we learn more.

By the way, SNL returns on Saturday September 26 with a show hosted by Megan Fox and musical guests U2! So be sure to tune into that. And if you can't wait that long, on Thursday September 17, less than 2 weeks away, SNL Weekend Update Thursdays will start airing on NBC from 8:00-8:30 (leading into Parks & Recreation, The Office, and the new comedy Community) so that should be a really great night of comedy!

In other SNL-related news, Amy Poehler will be getting her own "SNL Best of" DVD! If you've been following this blog for a while, then you know that as soon as Amy Poehler left SNL, I said I hoped they'd release a DVD of her best sketches, to immortalize her time on SNL in my DVD collection forever, and they listened! SNL-The Best of Amy Poehler will be released on October 20th, so be sure to get it!