Happy Birthday Paul Shaffer!!

Happy Birthday to one of the original members of the SNL Band: Paul Shaffer!!



EDIT: Although it's a day early, I just want to get it posted before I completely forget.

Host and Musical Guest confirmed for 12/06/2008 episode

Host: John Malkovich
Musical Guest: T.I.

HEE-HAW!!!! Lorne finally did something right for a change, unlike 5 years ago. OTOH, Pink did a great job nevertheless.

BTW, it'll be my 31st birthday then.

IFC's 50 Greatest Commercial Parodies of All Time

IFC's 50 Greatest Commercial Parodies of All Time

However, SNL made the list several times, and I do mean several.

The return of Horatio Sanz, on a sitcom that is

“Saturday Night Live“ alum takes role on new single-camera, midseason show

Horatio Sanz has signed on to ABC’s midseason comedy "In the Motherhood," The Hollywood Reporter says.

"In the Motherhood" is based on the MindShare online series starring Chelsea Handler, Leah Remini and Jenny McCarthy. The three play mothers and girlfriends whose experiences are based on the real-life stories of American moms.

The ABC show will star Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines. Handler had been approached about reprising her role, but scheduling conflicts with her talk show on E! prevented her from joining the cast.

Sanz will play Horatio, the stay-at-home father of Mullally’s character Megan’s granddaughter. He is struggling to raise the young girl after the mother left them.

Since his departure from "Saturday Night Live" in 2006, Sanz has taken small roles in the Will Ferrell comedy "Step Brothers" and the upcoming "Hollywood & Wine." He has also performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade, a comedy group founded by fellow "SNL" alumna Amy Poehler and others.

SNL's gone a little bit country

Singer/actor Tim MacGraw will host tomorrow night's episode of Saturday Night Live. MacGraw's latest project, Four Chirstmases, starring Vince Vaughan and Reese Whitherspoon, will be out in theaters next week.

Tim McGraw says he expects to be nervous as the host of the Saturday Night Live episode airing Saturday (Nov. 22) on NBC. "So far now, it's fun," McGraw told CMT Insider this week during rehearsals in New York City. "I'm sure my nerves will get bundled up a little bit when the day comes, but the guys are great. All the cast and the people working on the show make it really as easy for you as they can, but there's a certain 'scared-ness' that comes with doing live stuff." This is his first time hosting the comedy series. "The history that's involved with Saturday Night Live is pretty special to be a part of," he said. "As an artist, it's pretty special to be on here just to sing, but to be on as host and be involved in the skits -- and a lot of skits -- is a pretty cool thing. You just gotta trust everybody and kinda do your thing." McGraw's SNL appearance coincides with the release of his new movie, Four Christmases, starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon.

Dan Aykroyd: Actor, comedian, vinter?

Dan Aykroyd: Actor, comedian, vinter?

Betcha you don't know about Seth Meyers?

He's an uber-geek extraordinaire.

Happy Birthday Lorne Michaels

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Lorne Michaels,
Happy Birthday to you.

Conan O'Brien, your cousin's starting to get on my NERVES

My sister may love your cousin, Denis Leary, but nowadays he's getting on my nerves. And he has a big mouth too when it comes to dissing autistic people such as myself.

Denis Leary confessed that he "got sucked into the vortex of Oprah" even though he sought to mock her in Why We Suck.

By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Denis Leary's Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid isn't even out yet, and already the book has caused something of an uproar.

His biting tome of tirades and rants about relationships, race and religion hits stores Tuesday (Viking, $24.95). But there's one chapter in particular that has been making waves: "Autism Shamautism," in which he rants about parents who push for a diagnosis primarily so their kids can get special treatment.

"For me, the reason for writing the chapter was because I know people who have children with autism, and I'm offended by people actually trying to seek out a low-level diagnosis for their kids because they're too lazy to deal with their kids' behavior," Leary says.

Leary, 51, is a married father of two teenagers. And over pasta at a downtown Italian restaurant, the actor/comedian (he also plays a troubled firefighter on FX's Rescue Me) explains that he's still miffed over the reports that led to autism advocates' outrage. He says the offending excerpt, first published in the New York Post, was taken out of context, leaving the impression that Leary was attacking parents of autistic children.

"If I was a person in the same shoes as a lot of the people who read it, I would be just as upset, because it looked like I was talking about the opposite. It really made me angry that that was the way it was painted," he says. "I was a comedy doctor discussing autism, not a real doctor defining autism."

In fact, Leary describes his comedy book as his acerbic, bracing stand-up act, but in print. He attacks religion, family life and pop culture, skewering cats, the Kardashian sisters and Britney Spears.

"I wrote the book because I think it's funny. My track record's pretty good. And as a comedian I've been accused of a lot of things — shocking, controversial, loud. Never stupid. I've never been called stupid. I stand by what I wrote."

Does he worry about offending people? "Oh, yeah. There's plenty of people to be offended. In my introduction, I try to warn everybody."

Initially, Leary set out to trash Oprah Winfrey in print, but the more he immersed himself in her show, the more he became a convert.

"The Oprah thing completely turned around on me. As soon as I started doing the research, I got sucked into the vortex of Oprah. I started watching episodes and reading the magazine. There's no male Oprah."

According to Leary, it's time for the Y-chromosome version of the show. "Guys would listen. It could be me and Jon Stewart. You do the joke news, you do the scores because Stewart's a complete sports junkie," Leary says. "If they can update you on things that might affect your sexual performance, I would watch that show. Or how to pick up chicks or how to make your wife happy."

Leary doesn't have pretensions of literary grandeur. His wife is writer Ann Leary, whose novel Outtakes from a Marriage was well-received this year, and her husband gives her full credit for being the real writer in the family.

"My book was inspired by money. I just wanted to see if I could do it," he says. "I told her: 'You wrote a real book. It's not the same thing as this.' She kept telling me how easy it was going to be because I didn't have to worry about plotlines."

Will he write another book? "I don't know," he says. "When I started writing, I really loved it. Sometimes I wrote (garbage), but I really loved it. … Obviously I wasn't writing a real book, and it was kind of easy.

"If this book sells, I'll have to do Why We Still Suck."

SNL hires two newcomers to the show, one of them is the offsrping of a former cast member

'SNL' hires two to replace Amy Poehler

NEW YORK (AP) -- "Saturday Night Live" was left with some big shoes to fill when Amy Poehler departed for her new role of motherhood.

'SNL' cast member Amy Poehler, right, left the show when she gave birth in October. She and former cast member Tina Fey performed political skits before the election.

As a step in that direction, two fresh recruits, Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins, will be joining the show this week as featured players, NBC announced Thursday.

Elliott comes to "SNL" via the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre -- the improv/sketch company co-founded by Poehler -- where she trained and performed in both New York and Los Angeles. She is a second-generation "SNL" cast member whose father, Chris Elliott, was a regular on the show during the 1994-95 season. (Her grandfather, Bob Elliott, was teamed for four decades with Ray Goulding in the comedy duo Bob & Ray.)

A native of Wilton, Conn., Elliott also trained with the Los Angeles-based Groundlings theater.

Watkins is a fellow Groundlings alum, where past "SNL" players including Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, Laraine Newman and current cast member Kristen Wiig got their start. Watkins was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and raised in Boston.

Poehler, a longtime "SNL" regular who is married to comedian Will Arnett, last performed on the Oct. 23 prime-time special. She gave birth to a son, Archie Arnett, just hours before she was to appear on the Oct. 25 broadcast.

No. 2 on Entertainment Weekly's Entertainer of the Year

Tina Fey

Congrats to Tina Fey!!

No. 1 goes to Tina's fellow SNL alum: Robert Downey, Jr.

BTW, if you missed out on last week's 30 Rock, here's an excerpt.

Al Franken loses Senatoral bid to incumbent Norm Coleman

Al Franken loses Senatoral bid to incumbent Norm Coleman

He's Chevy Chase and he's a Democrat

Chevy Chase talks about tomorrow's election, his alignment as a Democrat, and the history of SNL's political parodies from Ford to Palin.

BTW, tune in tonight after Deal or No Deal to watch SNL's 2008 Presidental Bash.