Last week, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine reached a fever pitch when the former launched a “full-scale invasion” into the neighboring country. President Vladimir Putin might have believed that invading the nation would be an easy feat, but that has not been the case, as Russian soldiers have been met with strong resistance. Ukraine has made it clear that they won’t go out without a fight and the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leading the charge on that front, having chosen to fight with his people instead of escaping.
The support for Ukraine has been strong. One example was on full display during last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live. Rather than their usual comedic cold open, the cast and crew of SNL welcomed the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka Of New York to begin the show. Following an introduction by SNL cast members Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong, the choir sang “Prayer for Ukraine.” The chorus also performed in front of a table with candles that spelled out “Kyiv,” Ukraine’s capital.
The somber cold open was reminiscent of the first SNL episode, which also featured little in the way of humor, following the September 11 terrorist attacks back in 2001.
Doja Cat is one of the most entertaining personalities in music, so naturally, fans and friends would love to see more of her outside of singles and albums. She’s a hoot on social media, but some have wondered how she’d fare on the Saturday Night Live stage as a host. It turns out that’s something Doja has given some thought to, and the prospect both excited and intimidates her.
In a new Billboard interview, Doja was asked if she’d want an SNL hosting gig and she replied, “I like the idea of doing that because I love, obviously, to tell jokes. But it’s a little nerve-racking because it’s something friends have suggested to me, [doing] stand-up or comedy. That would kind of be my first gig. Just the thought of that terrifies me a little bit.”
Speaking of SNL, one of the show’s icons is somebody Doja would like to meet, as she said, “I really want to meet Tracee Ellis Ross — and at the same time, I’m terrified because, to me, she’s the boss at the end of the game of life that I’m living. Her and Maya Rudolph.”
She also discussed her relationship with social media, saying, “People are always like, ‘What’s your Finsta,’ and I don’t want one. I don’t like the idea of having to juggle social media, which already sucks as it is. Not to say it hasn’t helped me so f*cking much, but the way I feel about Instagram is: I go on, look at pictures of makeup and fashion and cats, and that’s pretty much it. I’ve unfollowed everyone who is a person that I know.”
Hip-hop fans got a pleasant surprise over the weekend when Freddie Gibbs popped up in a Saturday Night Live sketch, one that didn’t make the broadcast but was still shared on the SNL YouTube page.
The skit is a music video for a song called “All On Me” by an up-and-coming rapper named Lil T (played by Chris Redd), who just got signed to a record deal and is celebrating by spending loads of money in the club alongside his entourage, played by Kenan Thompson and host Ariana DeBose. Lil T is taken aback when he sees the massive tab he’s run up, though, so he starts being more frugal. Partway into the song, Gibbs pops up, rapping, “OK, Lil T, you up in the big leagues / See you spending big G’s like your boy Freddie G / Young’uns making money is something I like to see / Send him one big bottle of Ace, it’s on me.” Then, in accordance with the “club code,” Redd sends Gibbs something back: a bottle of Diet Coke. After chastising Redd for that move, Gibbs continues, “Old dude’s just being cheap / Shots for everybody and they all on T.”
Gibbs shared a clip of the skit and wrote on Twitter, “Man shout out my dog Chris Redd for putting me on this SNL sh*t. Live from New York!!!”
Man shout out my dog Chris Redd for putting me on this SNL shit. Live from New York!!! pic.twitter.com/eJoLQxyMQQ
Roddy Ricch is fresh off the release of his second album, Live Life Fast, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. So, it’s only right that he is also Saturday Night Live‘s first musical guest of 2022, helping to kick off the remainder of the season when the show returns on January 15. The show will be hosted by Ariana DeBose, who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Anita in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story.
While Roddy is only weeks removed from the release of his latest album, it doesn’t look like he wants to rest on his laurels at all. He’s already begun promising that a new mixtape, Feed The Streets 3, will be released sometime this year as well. However, that may not come soon; he’s still promoting Live Life Fast, for which he’s released only a handful of singles, including “Late At Night,” which dropped last summer, and “25 Million,” which followed up the release of the album. Roddy’s known for slow-playing his rollouts — the video for “The Box” didn’t come out until weeks after it had dominated the charts — so fans will have plenty of opportunities to revisit the new album before the mixtape drops… including, of course, his performance on next week’s SNL.
(Editor’s note: This piece was originally published in 2018 but we’re republishing it today because it’s, well, that time of year. Enjoy.)
“You grow up Jewish and you can’t help it, it’s a big part of your life being the person who’s not celebrating Christmas,” TV Funhouse creator and former Saturday Night Live writer Robert Smigel told us recently. (Smigel, by the way, is also the mad genius behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.)
The accuracy of this remark is not lost on me as someone who was raised half-Jewish and half-Catholic and kept on the outside looking in at Christmas revelry during part of my childhood (before my parents eventually relented and started celebrating both — which is its own weird thing). That’s why Smigel’s “Christmastime For The Jews” means so much. Born on the December 17, 2005 episode of Saturday Night Live and inspired by a love of claymation Christmas specials, Wall of Sound music, and the desire to merge them with Jewish and pop culture references that swing from clever to delightfully absurd, this lovingly crafted sketch/song exists as something Jews (and half-Jews) can call our very own.
The weight of what “Christmastime For The Jews” means to people who share an annual laugh, let the song dance around in their head for a few days, and feel utterly seen by its timeless jokes about the Jewish experience is not lost on the people who created it. Partly because they feel it too and partly because, as you’ll see, an immense amount of time, effort, and heart went into making it and getting it as close to perfect as possible. And since you’re reading this, you likely love the sketch and feel like they got pretty close. In the off chance you’ve not seen it, or just want to relive it again, here it is below.
To better appreciate the story of “Christmastime For The Jews,” you have to go back to Smigel’s past tinkerings with the themes that came to life in the sketch. Here’s the short(ish) version: In 1987, Smigel wrote a sketch called “The Assimilated Jew’s Christmas” that was, by his account, a much earlier (and direct) attempt at speaking to the dearth of Jewish holiday standards, at least in contrast to those orbiting Christmas. Smigel acknowledges that the sketch didn’t quite “hit” in the same way that others like “Hanukkah Harry,” Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song,” and “Christmastime For The Jews” did among SNL‘s best-remembered contributions to Jewish holiday pop culture (which are basically the only contributions to Jewish holiday pop culture over the last 30 years). It features Al Franken as Henry Kissinger selling an album of Jewish Christmas songs that were “acceptable for Jewish people to hear, because all Jews love Christmas carols,” says Smigel. “Christmas carols are so much better than Hanukkah songs,” he (accurately) adds before offering a reminder that many great Christmas carols were actually written by Jews.
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“The Assimilated Jew’s Christmas” and “Christmastime For The Jews” were far from Smigel’s only attempts at holiday parody. “I did two that involved a Charlie Brown Christmas, which is my favorite half-hour of television ever, probably,” he says. “I did a big one after 9/11 that was a Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer parody.”
Smigel also has an affinity for crafting what he calls “silly musical stuff” that goes back to the late ’80s, as well. He authored a jingle for the first “Mister Short-Term Memory” sketch in 1988. More jingles followed before they became so common on the show that Smigel says they were mocked by The Simpsons.
Smigel left SNL in the early ’90s to work as head writer for Conan O’Brien during his foray into late-night before joining TheDana Carvey Show, where he debuted “The Ambiguously Gay Duo.” Cartoons had also been an interest of Smigel’s going back to his time on SNL with “Cluckin Chicken” (where he worked, for the first time, with animator and eventual TV Funhouse cohort J.J. Sedelmaier). He was eager to continue playing in that space, conjuring up ideas for “Fun With Real Audio” and “The X-Presidents” before pitching SNL producer Lorne Michaels on an idea for a unique path back to the show after The Dana Carvey Show got canceled. That idea eventually became the TV Funhouse so many of us came to know and love.
“I was aware of how much fun I was having reaching back into what made me laugh as a child,” says Smigel. “It felt very pure and very exciting.”
Which brings us back around to “Christmastime for the Jews.” The stories we collected about its creation, from Smigel and the creative team involved — contributing writers Julie Klausner (Difficult People), Eric Drysdale (Full Frontal With Samantha Bee), Scott Jacobson (Bob’s Burgers), musical director Steven Gold, director David Brooks, producer Samantha Scharff, and legendary singer Darlene Love — shed some light on the mixture of insanity, brilliance, stubbornness, and catharsis that ran through the entire three-week production in addition to the irony of launching the same night that internet-culture game changer “Lazy Sunday” launched.
Last night, for the second time in her career, Billie Eilish brought her talents to Saturday Night Live. The last time she appeared, back in 2019, she defied gravity with a performance of “Bad Guy.” This time around, the singer signed on as both musical guest and host. In one sketch, the singer and cast member Heidi Gardner joined forces to update the story of Jesus’ birth.
The sketch was entitled “Hip-Hop Nativity,” and it found the two recruiting a group of actors to play many of the characters from the biblical story. They taught them how to twerk, strut, and pole dance. The actors initially raises issues over the biblical update, but they eventually went along with it. The closing bit also jokingly revealed that Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda will direct a full-length film version of Billie and Gardner’s updated nativity story.
In addition to the “Hip-Hop Nativity” skit, Billie also performed “Happier Than Ever” and “Male Fantasy” on SNL. The former made for an epic performance while the latter was a bit darker and relaxed.
In non-Eilish SNL news, the episode also featured Kate McKinnon returning as Dr. Fauci while Weekend Update skewered Jussie Smollett and the torching of the Fox News Christmas tree.
You can watch Billie’s Hip-Hop Nativity sketch in the video above.
Ed Sheeran stopped by Saturday Night Live for a pair of performances on the late-night show, to celebrate the release of his fourth album =. After he tested positive for coronavirus, many worried that would be unable to perform. Luckily, that was not the case, as he delivered performances of “Shivers” and “Overpass Graffiti.” He also appeared in a sketch for SNL’s edition of The Dionne Warwick Talk Show, with Ego Nwodim as the legendary singer.
The sketch began with Chloe Fineman, who played Miley Cyrus, sitting across from Nwodim. Kieran Culkin, who appeared as Jason Mraz and hosted the episode, and Pete Davidson, who appeared as Post Malone, also sat down on the talk show. But Nwodim’s Warwick seemed to be bored by the guests and said, “I’m sick and tired of interviewing people who aren’t icons.” She then welcomed the real Dionne Warwick onto the show.
“Let me ask you something,” Nwodim says after Warwick takes a seat. “Dionne, why are you perfect?” The 80-year-old singer replied, “My darling, I’m not perfect. I’m just very, very good.” The duo then sang a duet of Warwick’s 1966 track “What The World Needs Now Is Love.”
Warwick thanked SNL for inviting her to the show afterward.
“I had fun at @nbcsnl,” she tweeted. “Thank you to @eggy_boom (ME [laughing emoji]), @Punkiejohnson (as @BrittaniWarrick), and to the writers, cast, and crew. I had a wonderful time with you all.”
So far, it’s been a big day in Saturday Night Live musical guest news. This morning, Ed Sheeran revealed that he will be able to perform on the show as planned following his positive COVID test. Now, not only has SNL confirmed the news, but they’ve also revealed their next two musical guests after Sheeran: Taylor Swift and Saweetie.
Swift will guest on the November 13 episode hosted by Jonathan Majors, while Saweetie will perform on the Simu Liu-hosted episode on November 20.
This will be Saweetie’s first time on the program. As for Swift, she’s an SNL veteran. Her first stint as musical guest came in 2009, and her upcoming performance will be her fourth. In her second 2009 episode, Swift had the rare honor of serving most as host and musical guest.
The music world is currently enjoying Young Thug’s second album Punk as the rapper released it on Friday. He first announced the project two years ago, which came less than a week after he released his debut So Much Fun. After previewing songs at Miami’s Rolling Loud festival and during his NPR Tiny Desk, the rapper released Punk with just a slight delay. To further promote the project, Young Thug brought his talents to Saturday Night Live for a pair of electric performances.
Thug started the night with a brief performance of “Tick Tock,” the promotional single the rapper released prior to Punk. It came with the presence of a live band that featured Travis Barker on drums who ended it with an energetic drum solo. Later on in the night, Thug returned to the stage to perform “Love You More” with Gunna as well as Nate Ruess from the bands Fun and The Format. Travis Barker was also on drums for this performance while Ruess covered the song’s hook and Gunna delivered a verse of his own.
Altogether, Punk presents 20 songs and additional appearances from Drake, Future, J. Cole, Travis Scott, Gunna, Doja Cat, T-Shyne, Bslime, Post Malone, ASAP Rocky, Lil Double 0, and Jeff Bashker.
You can watch the performances in the videos above.
Punk is out now via 300 Entertainment/Atlantic Records. Get it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
This past weekend’s Kim Kardashian-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live was eventful. A major part of that was due to references to Kardashian’s famous connections, like when she joked about her Kanye West divorce in the opening monologue. The sketch in which she played her sister Kourtney in a judge TV show called The People’s Kourt was a goldmine for cultural references and connections, even outside of Kardashian’s realm.
For example, there was a scene where Pete Davidson impersonated his good friend (and recent SNL musical guest) Machine Gun Kelly. In the sketch, Davidson and Chloe Fineman (playing Megan Fox) poke fun at Kelly and Fox’s frequent and intense PDA with a tongue-entwining kissing display.
Naturally, Kelly caught wind of the sketch and started plotting his revenge. In a tweet tagging Saturday Night Live, Kelly re-shared a clip of Davidson’s impression and wrote, “i think it’s time for me to come on the show as Pete.”
Meanwhile, a month ago, Davidson revisited a moment from Kelly’s aforementioned SNL appearance, when he and Kelly fell off the stage together during the episode’s closing credits. Davidson explained to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that Kelly tried to pick him up, which, due to an injury Kelly was going with, didn’t exactly work out.
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