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      in Television

      SNL’s Cast for the 50th Season Includes Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline

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      Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline will be the show’s new faces in its landmark season.The cast for Season 50 of the NBC sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” is in place, with the up-and-coming comedians Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline joining as featured players, the network announced on Tuesday. The new season is scheduled to premiere on Sept. 28.Chloe Troast, who joined “S.N.L.” as a featured player last season, was not asked to return, she said in an Instagram post on Monday.“Unfortunately I was not asked back to ‘S.N.L.’ this season,” Troast wrote. “I wish I was going back to be with all the amazing friends I made there, it truly felt like home. But it wasn’t in the cards.”Padilla, like many “S.N.L.” alumni before her — including Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig and Phil Hartman — comes from the Los Angeles improv and sketch comedy troupe the Groundlings. She also appeared this year in a final-season episode of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and in an episode of the NBC revival of “Night Court.”Chloe Troast, pictured playing Mama Cass in 2023, will not be returning to “S.N.L.”Will Heath/NBCWakim, a Lebanese American comedian who grew up mostly in Indiana, made his late-night stand-up debut in 2022 on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” That year, he was named the New Face of Comedy at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal and has opened for the comics Roy Wood Jr., Nikki Glaser, Hasan Minhaj and Neal Brennan.Wickline is probably most recognizable from TikTok, where she has nearly a million followers and contributes regularly to “Stapleview,” a live TikTok comedy show.Also returning are the main cast members Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang. The former featured players Marcello Hernández, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker — all of whom joined “S.N.L.” for its 48th season — will move up the ranks to the main cast.In August, Punkie Johnson, who had been a part of “S.N.L.” since 2020, confirmed that she would not return for the coming season. Among the characters Johnson played was Vice President Kamala Harris. Maya Rudolph, an “S.N.L.” cast member from 2000 to 2007 who has returned to play Harris 10 times through 2021, seems poised to reprise the role as Harris vies for the White House as the Democratic candidate.Molly Kearney, the show’s first nonbinary cast member, announced in August that they would not be returning after two seasons with the program. “It was such a dream come true,” Kearney wrote in an Instagram post. “So incredibly grateful for this period in my life.” More

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      in Theater

      John Mulaney to Star in a Broadway Comedy About Love and Marriage

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      “All In: Comedy About Love,” a new play by Simon Rich, includes a celebrity cast taking on the roles of pirates, dogs and other zany characters.John Mulaney is coming back to Broadway.The comedian will star in a new play, “All In: Comedy About Love,” staged as vignettes about relationships, marriage and heartbreak and written by the humorist Simon Rich, Mulaney’s former “Saturday Night Live” collaborator.The production, set to feature a rotating group of actors, will be directed by Alex Timbers, who helmed Mulaney’s most recent Netflix special, “Baby J,” as well as his Broadway debut, the 2016 comedy “Oh, Hello on Broadway.”“It’s a weird fantasy camp of things I always wanted to do with my very good friends,” Mulaney said in a video interview.The comedian, who has two Emmy Awards for his stand-up specials “Kid Gorgeous” and “Baby J,” will lead an ensemble cast of four actors portraying pirates, the Elephant Man, dogs looking for love and other characters: Initially, Mulaney will be joined by Richard Kind (“Spin City,” “Mad About You”), Renée Elise Goldsberry (“Hamilton,” “Girls5eva”) and the “S.N.L.” alum Fred Armisen.“We jump around between eras and countries and species, but they’re all love stories,” said Rich, a former “S.N.L.” writer who is making his Broadway debut with the play, which is adapted largely from tales that have previously been published in his 10 short story collections and in The New Yorker.The idea for the show, which will also feature songs from the indie band the Magnetic Fields, came about when Timbers approached Rich about adapting some of his short stories for the stage. And once Mulaney, who first met Rich when they were writing partners on “S.N.L.” from 2008-11, was on board, the built-in rapport between the two proved irresistible, Timbers said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Movies

      ‘The Interview’: Change Can Be Beautiful. Just Ask Will Ferrell and Harper Steele.

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      How well do we know our friends? Our neighbors? Ourselves? In the new documentary “Will & Harper,” which opens in select theaters on Sept. 13 and will stream on Netflix starting Sept. 27, the superstar comedian Will Ferrell and his best friend and frequent collaborator, Harper Steele, take a New York-to-California road trip together to try to answer those questions.Listen to the Conversation with Will Ferrell and Harper SteeleThe superstar comedian and his best friend and collaborator discuss the journey that deepened their friendship.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | iHeart | NYT Audio AppHitting the highway on a quest for meaning is a classic American story, but it hasn’t been told in exactly this fashion before: Steele is a trans woman who came out to her friends, including Ferrell, two years ago. That was after years as a comedy writer, many of them at “Saturday Night Live,” where they both worked and where Steele eventually became a head writer. The two friends explained to me that the show wasn’t always the easiest environment, though they have different reasons for saying so. They also experienced some ups and downs on their cross-country drive, which gave them a chance to talk through what Steele’s transition means for their friendship and to get a clearer sense of how their fellow Americans feel about transgender identity.As you might expect, the film’s soul-searching often comes wrapped in laughs. But given the politicization of trans rights, even situations the duo set up for silly comedy can turn tense. There’s a key scene in the documentary in which Steele and Ferrell stop for what they hope is a goofy eating challenge at a rowdy Texas steakhouse. It does not wind up being goofy.That scene, and this emotionally wide-ranging film, evoked feelings in me that work by Will Ferrell hasn’t before. (And I say that as someone who will happily argue for the deeper resonance of his gloriously idiotic “Step Brothers.”) But as “Will & Harper” the movie and Will and Harper the people attest, change can very often be a good and necessary thing — a funny one too.The hard-hitting first question: How did you become friends? Ferrell: We became friends at “Saturday Night Live.” We were hired in the summer or fall of 1995, and we were all this brand-new group. No one knew each other, and one day Harper and I went to lunch. A very pivotal lunch for me. More

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      in Television

      Bob Tischler, Who Helped Revive ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Dies at 78

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      A producer of “The National Lampoon Radio Hour” and albums by the Blues Brothers, he became S.N.L.’s head writer after a dismal season early in its history.Bob Tischler, who was part of the production and writing team that helped revive “Saturday Night Live” after the groundbreaking comedy show fell into a deep creative trough in the 1980-81 season, died on July 13 at his home in Bodega Bay, Calif. He was 78.His son, Zeke, said the cause was pancreatic cancer.Mr. Tischler did not define himself as a writer when he joined “S.N.L.” He was best known for his work in audio, having produced “The National Lampoon Radio Hour” and albums by the Blues Brothers.“I produced a lot of comedy and I did writing, but I wasn’t a member of the union or anything,” Mr. Tischler told James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales for their book “Live From New York: An Uncensored History of ‘Saturday Night Live’” (2002).“S.N.L.” needed a lot of help. After five trailblazing seasons under Lorne Michaels, its first producer, it floundered under his successor, Jean Doumanian, whose only season was widely considered the show’s worst to date.The show’s “flinty irreverence gave way a year ago to cheap shocks and worn-out formulas,” the reporter Tony Schwartz wrote in a 1981 New York Times article.Dick Ebersol, who replaced Ms. Doumanian as producer, hired Mr. Tischler as a supervisory producer in the spring of 1981 at the suggestion of the dark and temperamental Michael O’Donoghue, a veteran of the original “S.N.L.” whom Mr. Ebersol had brought back as head writer, and who had known Mr. Tischler from the Lampoon radio show. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      Steve Martin Is Out. Who Will Play Walz and Vance on ‘S.N.L.’?

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      Steve Martin is out, and the roles of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump seem settled. But the internet has been busy dream-casting the rest of the “S.N.L.” election ticket.The approach of another presidential election brings with it many questions: In what direction is the United States headed? Who will be our next president and vice president? And, most crucially, who will play them on “Saturday Night Live”?Election-season comedy sketches are an “S.N.L.” staple, providing cast members with opportunities to gain visibility for their impersonations of prominent politicians and — increasingly — for the show to tap into its network of celebrity guests, friends and spouses to play these roles. When new political figures come to national attention, we can’t help but indulge our inner Lorne Michaels and imagine who we’d cast to imitate them.The show’s plans were likely scrambled last month when President Biden announced that he would stand down as the Democratic presidential nominee. That paved the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of the ticket, and for Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota to join as her running mate. On the Republican side, former President Donald J. Trump offered his vice-presidential slot to Senator JD Vance of Ohio.These are all characters likely to appear on “S.N.L.,” whose 50th season will begin on Sept. 28. And while the show hasn’t officially announced who it intends to cast in these key roles (and NBC declined to comment for this article), there is plenty of history and wild internet speculation to sift through. Let’s take a look at where these races currently stand.Kamala HarrisHarris’s increased prominence in the campaign should lead to the same on “S.N.L.”Doug Mills/The New York TimesRudolph has already won Emmy Awards for playing Harris on the show.Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe front-runnerNecessity is the mother of invention, and now that “S.N.L.” needs a Harris impersonator to play a prominent role this fall, Maya Rudolph is clearly the mother to call on. An “S.N.L.” cast member from 2000 to 2007, Rudolph began playing Harris in guest appearances during the Democratic primaries in 2019, racking up some highly GIF-able moments and winning two Emmy Awards along the way. Rudolph appeared as Harris 10 times through 2021, and the woman herself, in social media posts, appeared to approve of the portrayal. “S.N.L.” has not confirmed that Rudolph will play Harris, but Deadline has reported that production on her Apple TV+ series, “Loot,” has been pushed back to make room for her return to the show — as everyone and their mother seems to be clamoring for.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      Punkie Johnson Announces She Is Leaving ‘Saturday Night Live’

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      Johnson told a stand-up audience she was leaving “Saturday Night Live” before confirming her departure in an Instagram video the next day.Punkie Johnson, a performer on the NBC sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” since 2020, announced on Thursday that she will not return this fall for the show’s 50th season.Johnson, who played characters on “S.N.L.” including Vice President Kamala Harris and the women’s basketball star Angel Reese, first said she was leaving during a stand-up comedy set on Wednesday at Union Hall in Brooklyn.She posted a video on her Instagram account the next day, confirming her decision to leave the show. She said that she was not leaving on bad terms, however, as some audience members had understood some of her onstage comments to imply.Johnson had told the Union Hall audience that “S.N.L.” staff wanted her to change her hair and to stop working out so much and looking “buff.” She had also mentioned a heated argument with a talent producer, adding that being on the show had been stressing her out and that she was happier since having decided to leave.An NBC employee confirmed that Johnson was leaving the show but did not respond to questions about Johnson’s onstage comments about the circumstances of her departure.In her Instagram video, Johnson said she had woken up to text messages and phone calls about the comments.“I’m like, it was a comedy show!” she said. “I was just having fun! It’s no bad blood; it’s no bridges burnt; it’s no hard feelings.”Born and raised in New Orleans, Johnson, 39, moved to Los Angeles to start her comedy career and worked as a server at the Comedy Store before she was made a paid regular onstage. Johnson joined “S.N.L.” for the show’s 46th season as a featured player and was promoted to the regular cast in 2022.Johnson was also the first openly lesbian Black cast member of “S.N.L.” (An earlier Black lesbian cast member, Danitra Vance, was not publicly out while on the show in the 1980s.)Johnson’s other screen roles have included the HBO series “Love Life” and “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” the Netflix series “Space Force” and the fight-club buddy comedy movie “Bottoms.”She is so far the only “S.N.L” cast member who has announced a departure ahead of the new season, which begins on Sept. 28.Genevieve Ko More

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      in Movies

      If A.I. Is Coming for Comedy Writers, Simon Rich Is Ready

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      The author of humorous short stories finds emotional connections in tales that engage with tech. But he’s more interested in the ties between humans.The author Simon Rich believes it’s only a matter of time before artificial intelligence will be able to outwrite any human. Specifically, four years. So, what’s the twist?That’s what you wait for in a Simon Rich story, one of pop culture’s most consistently funny genres, with a foundation built like a classic joke: a tight premise developed in clear language, some misdirection, and then a pivot, delivered as quickly as possible.Rich, whose 10th collection of short stories, “Glory Days,” was released this week, said his dark view of the future was informed by a longtime friendship with an A.I. scientist, who recently showed him a chatbot the public hasn’t seen. It’s more raw, unpredictable, creative.“Even though I don’t know anything about A.I. really, I’ve been processing it emotionally for several years longer than everyone,” he told me in his Los Angeles home office one afternoon in May.He considered the implications of artificial intelligence displacing human creativity in “I Am Code,” a book he helped edit last year that featured A.I.-crafted poetry. The theme is also deeply woven into his new collection, his most mature effort yet, which includes some regular obsessions like “Back to the Future”-style encounters between generations, dystopia and the inner life of video game characters.“The whole book is basically about different types of obsolescence,” he said of “Glory Days,” whose other organizing theme is early midlife crisis. There’s a story about Super Mario turning 40 (Rich just did, too) and a spiky rant from the perspective of New York City itself. It’s about “the great migration when an entire generation discovers they are too old to live in New York,” he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Movies

      Judy Belushi Pisano, Who Defended Her Husband’s Legacy, Dies at 73

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      She was married to John Belushi until his fatal drug overdose in 1982. She went on to celebrate his comic talent in books and a documentary.Judy Belushi Pisano, who after the death of her husband, the actor and comedian John Belushi, from a drug overdose in 1982 became a fierce defender of his legacy, died on July 5 at her home on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts. She was 73.Her son, Luke Pisano, said the cause was endometrial cancer.Mr. Belushi, a member of the original cast of “Saturday Night Live” and a star of hit films like “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and “The Blues Brothers,” was among the best-known comic actors in the world when he was found dead in a Hollywood hotel.Though it took weeks to determine the cause — from a mix of heroin and cocaine — the public immediately seized on Mr. Belushi’s death as a cautionary tale of excess in an era defined by it.His reputation as a hard-partying drug addict was further underlined by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in his book “Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi” (1984), which Ms. Pisano had initially authorized but later came to regret.“The book is both unfair and inaccurate,” she told The Philadelphia Daily News in 1984. “To me the biggest lie is that it claims to be a portrait of John but it’s not. It’s only about drugs.”Ms. Pisano at the 2004 ceremony posthumously honoring John Belushi with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Vince Bucci/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More