Saturday Night Live

He’s an airborne TV star

If TV had an all-time commuter award, Kenan Thompsom(shown here) might be … well, a solid second place.
The top prize goes to David Frost, who did weekly commutes from London to New York – a jet across the Atlantic, then a helicopter to his office.
But Thompson comes close: He filmed his comedy – “Kenan,” which starts its second season at 8 and 8:30 p.m. Jan. 3 on NBC – in Los Angeles, then flew to New York for each “Saturday Night Live.”
In LA, the emphasis was on COVID safety, he said. “We were to ourselves, in our own little bubble.” But it’s not really a bubble if one guy keeps flying in packed planes; Thompson needed private ones. Read more…

Jones finds sweeping success via offbeat route

This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go, you know.
The break-out talents from “Saturday Night Live” are supposed to become movie stars. They’re not supposed to host a game show where people racie frantically down grocery-store aisles.
But there is Leslie Jones (shown here), hosting and producing “Supermarket Sweep,” which debuts at 8 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 18) on ABC. That’s not the usual post-”SNL” route. “They have a formula for how everybody is supposed to make it,” Jone said in a recent Television Critics virtual session. But “I had to make everyone realize the formula doesn’t work for me.”
Nothing does. She was 47 before she ever reached “SNL,” 49 before she got her one big movie role (the “Ghostbusters” reboot), 51 when she left the show, did a stand-up comedy special … and then grabbed a show she had watched long ago. Read more…

Good news: Satire survives and thrives

This is the golden month for political satire: The final weeks of an election ripple with possibilities.
And now some of that potential has been realized: “Saturday Night Live” is off to a strong start … and Seth Meyers (shown here) had a hilarious “Closer Look” special in prime time.
This should be the time when satire thrives, but you can’t be sure. In August of 2016 — amid snowboalling interest in the election — Comedy Central suddenly canceled Larry Wilmore’s late-night show. Four years later, it looked like COVID might mute all laughter. Read more…