SNL

‘SNL’ Paid Their Respects To DMX Through Jokes And A Tribute To Close The Show

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Early Friday morning, DMX’s family put out a statement confirming what the entertainment world would hope to be false. The legendary rapper sadly passed away at 50 following a reported drug overdose and heart attack. Tributes from all over, including the music and sports world, came pouring in and as the days go on, many are still finding their own ways to honor him with the latest being Saturday Night Live.

The first mention of DMX came during the late-night show’s cold open segment. The sketch was led by Kenan Thompson, Ego Nwodim, Kate McKinnon, and Alex Moffat who altogether played four Minnesota anchors that were initially discussing the murder of George Floyd but switch the topic after a disagreement.

“We lost royalty yesterday,” McKinnon said, in reference to Prince Phillip’s death on Friday. “Yes, the rapper DMX died,” Nwodim replied which was met by an applause from he audience. McKinnon tried to correct Nwodim saying, “I was talking about the prince,” but her attempt failed as Nwodim retorted, “Girl, Prince been dead!”

DMX’s came on a pair of occasions later in the show. The first came with a photo SNL put onscreen of the rapper and his stage name following a commercial break, the image from when he himself performed on the show back in 2000 where he performed “What’s My Name” from his 1999 album, … And Then There Was X.. Lastly, after host Carey Mulligan delivered her thank yous to the audience and viewers, Chris Redd held up a handwritten sign that read “R.I.P. DMX” in black lettering.

You can watch the cold open segment as well as view a screenshot of show’s closing moments above.

Kid Cudi Honors Kurt Cobain And Chris Farley In ‘SNL’ Performances Of ‘Sad People’ And ‘Tequila Shots’

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Just a few months removed from the release of his seventh solo album, Man On The Moon III: The Chosen, Kid Cudi brought his talents to the stage of Saturday Night Live. The rapper rocked out in a pair of performances of songs from that album, but it was his wardrobe for the night that got the attention of viewers the most.

Kicking off the night with “Tequila Shots,” Cudi stepped out to the mic wearing a T-shirt that featured actor, comedian, and former SNL cast member Chris Farley, who tragically passed away in 1997 from a overdose at just the age of 33 following a lengthy struggle with drug addiction. Later on in the night, Cudi returned, this time donning an Off-White white floral dress, one that was very similar to the one Kurt Cobain famously once wore. The Nirvana frontman also struggled with drug addiction before his tragic suicide in 1994. Cudi has expressed his love and appreciation for Cobain on a number of occasions. In a past interview with GQ, he said, “I try to use [Cobain] as my muse whenever I can.”

Cudi’s decision to honor Farley and Cobain could have been influenced by DMX’s recent passing. The Yonkers rapper died on Friday after a reported drug overdose that caused a heart attack and left him hospitalized for nearly a week.

You can watch the performances in the videos above.

Lil Nas X Reacts To The ‘SNL’ Skit Featuring Him Giving God A Lap Dance

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St. Vincent was the musical guest on this past weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live, but the show began with nods to Britney Spears and Lil Nas X.

The SNL cold open skit was a talk show hosted by Spears (wonderfully portrayed by Chloe Fineman). Her first guest on the program was Lil Nas X (played by Chris Redd), who spoke about his “Satan shoes” and his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video. He explained the backlash to the video, “People are afraid of me because I’m different, but really, I’m just your typical gay, black, country-rap sneaker entrepreneur.” Then, at Spears’ suggestion, she brought out God and Nas gave him a lap dance to “even things out.”

Not long after the skit, Nas took to Twitter to share his thoughts. He tweeted a screenshot from the sketch and offered a tongue-in-cheek caption: “snl going to hell.”

Now that Nas has been parodied on SNL, he just has South Park left. He tried to will an episode of the long-running cartoon about his Satan saga into existence last week when he tweeted, “this gone be a good ass south park episode lmao.”

Watch the Saturday Night Live skit below.

Matt Gaetz Got Skunked During A Britney Spears-Focused ‘SNL’ Cold Open

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For much of its current season, Saturday Night Live has featured a politically-themed sketch in its cold open. In recent episodes, however, they’ve managed to do this using Chloe Fineman’s impression of Britney Spears. In its most recent episode, the NBC sketch comedy show brought back Oops, You Did It Again to “shine a light on the social pariahs of the week.”

The sketch started with Lil Nas X, whose “Satan Shoes” have riled up conservatives and caused Nike to step in and prevent the sales of the modified pairs. While Chris Redd doesn’t look very much like the rapper, he was absolutely down to twerk on a guy dressed up like “god” to even things out on the outrage scale.

Next up was Kate McKinnon dressed as a giant skunk, playing a “canceled” Pepe Le Pew. The sketch addresses some recent news that the Looney Toon was taken out of the new Space Jam, yet another example conservatives have given regarding cancel culture.

“Any good basketball film needs a horny skunk. My part was, I see a basketball in a blonde wig and I make love to it for 10-15 minutes before LeBron James says ‘Bro, that’s a basketball,’” Le Pew explained. “Not my finest moment, but the crew loved it.”

The star of the segment, however, was Pete Davidson playing suspected “sex pest” Matt Gaetz. Davidson, who had played New York governor Andrew Cuomo, another politician under fire, on the segment earlier in the year got to play a Family Guy-inspired Gaetz. Gaetz tries hard not to admit any wrongdoing, at one point comparing himself to Le Pew. Who wasn’t having any of it.

“No, I’m a cartoon skunk. You’re a United States congressman,” McKinnon said. “Be better.”

‘SNL’ Let Pete Davidson And Jack Harlow Explain NFTs In Another Eminem Parody

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As confusing and head-scratching as it might be from afar, NFTs continue to become more popular in the digital world. From the sports world to the music and art world, creators and consumers are taking advantage of the opportunity to respectively sell and own a digitally exclusive piece of art. For those who are still trying to grasp the new concept of NFTs, however, Saturday Night Live tapped Pete Davidson and recent musical guest Jack Harlow to give an explainer about the growing form digital cryptocurrency.

The sketch takes place in a fictional classroom where students have just finished listening to a lecture from the Secretary Of Treasury Janet Yellen, who is played by Kate McKinnon. Pete Davidson takes advantage of her presence to ask a question. Soon, the beat from Eminem’s 2000 hit, “Without Me” begins playing in the background and, just like the Detroit rapper did in the song’s music video, Davidson is seen rocking a Robin superhero costume.

He asked what an NFT is through a rapid-fire rap that, all in all, left everyone in the room confused. Despite help from Chris Redd, who was an obvious Dr. Dre lookalike, they failed to receive an answer to the question. Thankfully, Jack Harlow, who played a nosy janitor, stepped into the classroom to give a more digestible explanation of NFTs with some raps of his own.

Check out the sketch in the video above.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Maya Rudolph Brought Her Beyonce Impression To ‘Hot Ones’ In A Hilariously Throwback ‘SNL’ Sketch

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Maya Rudolph warned during her opening monologue that she would be wearing lots of wigs and doing impressions on Saturday Night Live, and thankfully for us that meant bringing back her Beyonce impression. The former cast member had hosting duties in its latest episode, and thankfully for us that meant a throwback-feeling segment about a very modern concept: Beyonce appearing on the web show Hot Ones to eat some very spicy chicken wings.

The sketch is a throwback to the era in which Rudolph thrived. It’s an absurd concept to begin with: the most famous musician in the world showing up on a show where you eat spicy wings and promote something while answering softball questions. But it’s a sketch that actually critiques not just the thing it’s parodying — an incredibly popular YouTube show — but Beyonce’s notorious attempts to control her image in the media.

Seeing Beyonce struggle with absurdly-named hot wing sauces and curse out the host, played by Mikey Day, is a departure from anything we’ve seen from the actual singer in years. At one point, Rudolph’s Beyonce is so overcome by the heat of the wings that she asked her stylist to take her wig off, put ice cubes in it and put it back on. Her “publicist” then stepped in to refuse to let that happen on camera.

The joke here is, after years of carefully cultivating her image in the public eye, Beyonce would never do anything like this. Or at least we’d never find out about it. Later, realizing just how many more wings she still needs to endure, she has her manager step in to call the whole thing off, with non-disclosure agreements all around to make sure no evidence of it ever happening.

It was great to see Rudolph play a character that’s not Kamala Harris and be free of the political news cycle that brought her back to the SNL stage at various points over the last year. And it was a strong start to an episode that reminded many viewers of the kind of sketch that was more common when Rudolph was a more permanent member of the show’s cast.

Jack Harlow Makes His ‘SNL’ Debut With Performances Of ‘Tyler Herro,’ ‘What’s Poppin’ And ‘Same Guy’

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There’s no denying the success of Jack Harlow. The Louisville spitter took the music world by storm at the beginning of 2020 thanks to the success of his “What’s Poppin” and closed out the year with the release of his debut album That’s What They Say. In between it all, he peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart, landed multiple guest features, and proved that he was here to stay in the industry. While his 2020 success is behind him, Harlow continues to deliver impressive moments and the latest example came through his debut performance on Saturday Night Live.

Harlow began the night by giving an energetic rendition of “Tyler Herro” and “What’s Poppin.” Dressed in all black under purple and blue and supported by a talented live band, the rapper’s sheer confidence was on full display on stage to start the night. Later on in the show, he returned with Maroon 5’s Adam Levine to perform “Same Guy,” another highlight from That’s What They Say. This performance came with a much lighter atmosphere as the duo sang about recognizing their bad qualities as men and expressing their desire to change and improve.

The SNL set comes after Harlow brought his talents to NPR’s Tiny Desk for a soulful performance of multiple songs from That’s What They Say. He also recently shared a video for “Route 66” off the album.

You can watch the performances in the video above.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

St. Vincent And Kid Cudi Are Booked To Perform On ‘SNL’ In April

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Every so often, Saturday Night Live unveils their next lineup of hosts and performers by sharing the names unceremoniously scribbled on Post-it Notes. The brightly-colored sticky notes have once again returned to disclose which musical acts have been booked for the first two episodes in April, revealing that St. Vincent and Kid Cudi are set to take the late-night stage. Jack Harlow is also featured in the announcement, although his upcoming appearance was revealed last month.

St. Vincent has been booked for SNL on April 3, almost exactly a month after the singer announced her anticipated album Daddy’s Home, which is slated for a May release. She’ll be appearing alongside host Daniel Kaluuya, who recently starred in the Oscar-nominated film Judas And The Black Messiah. St. Vincent’s performance will mark the second time the singer has been invited to play her music on the SNL stage since 2014.

Following St. Vincent’s episode, Kid Cudi will take the SNL stage on April 10, hosted by Carey Mulligan. Kid Cudi previously appeared on the show back in 2018 to make a cameo in a sketch with Kanye West, but April’s episode will be the rapper’s musical debut on the program.

Sharing the news on social media, St. Vincent expressed her excitement: “Saturday Night Live has been my favorite show since I was a kid and I can’t believe I get to play it AGAIN,” she wrote.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jack Harlow Will Perform On ‘SNL’ Hosted By May Rudolph This Month

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Jack Harlow is about to be all over America’s televisions in the month of March. Not only will he be participating in the NBA’s All-Star Weekend coverage, playing in a 2×2 with 2 Chainz, Lil Baby, and Quavo, but he’s also ending the month with a performance as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, March 27. The episode will be hosted by none other than SNL alum, Maya Rudolph, who currently voices the hilarious hormone monster Connie on Big Mouth, as well as Betty Hart on Fox’s Bless The Harts.

Harlow posted a heartfelt message to Twitter with a screenshot of his post-it from the announcement wall, sharing exactly what it meant to him to perform on the show. “I grew up watching SNL with my family every weekend,” he recalled. “I vividly remember seeing Kanye perform ‘Love Lockdown’ and ‘Heartless’ in 2008. Thank you for making this happen. Another dream come true.”

Harlow’s been enjoying a significant increase in limelight received since releasing his 2020 single “What’s Poppin,” leading to a No. 2 chart position, placement on the 2020 XXL Freshman Class, a whole slew of television appearances including the MTV VMAs and the BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher, and his enjoyable debut album, That’s What They All Say.

You can read Uproxx’s interview with Harlow about his upcoming game here.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Nick Jonas Anchored An ‘SNL’ Edition Of The ‘Dionne Warwick Talk Show’

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Dionne Warwick has become everyone’s favorite auntie on Twitter. The legendary singer has graced her growing social media fan base with phenomenal content that ranges from poking fun at the young generation of artists to seeking knowledge about them as well. All in all, it’s been a joy to watch Warwick work through the Twitter world and it was only a matter of time before Saturday Night Live emulated her personality on the show, something the cast did during their most recent episode.

Setting up the stage for her daily show, Ego Nwodim played the role of Warwick for the Dionne Warwick Talk Show. The sketch began with Kenan Thompson, who appeared dressed as The Weeknd in his current After Hours plastic surgery look. She asked him about his apparent plastic surgery addiction, confusing his “love” for it as the basis of his “Can’t Feel My Face” track.

Warwick quickly rushed him off stage and invited Nick Jonas, who hosted and performed on the SNL episode, to replace him. The comical questions continued as she asked Nick, who is currently a coach on The Voice, how he could be a more boring contributor to the show than fellow coach John Legend. Warwick also mixed up him with his fellow Jonas brother, Joe, before asking Nick a daring question about his manhood.

The sketch continued with an appearance from Dua Lipa, played by Melissa Villasenor, who agreed to join Warwick in egging Wendy Williams’ house. Lastly Machine Gun Kelly, played by Pete Davidson, joined to close the show, but Warwick was extremely disturbed by his look and quickly asked him to leave.

You can watch the sketch above.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.