Author: Hillary Busis (1-10 of 874)

May 18 2013 06:00 PM ET

Ben Affleck hosts tonight's 'Saturday Night Live' finale: Talk about it here!

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Image Credit: Dana Edelson/NBC

There are so many talking points for SNL‘s 38th season finale that I hardly know where to begin! Maybe it’ll help to organize them as a list:

1. Tonight marks Ben Affleck’s fifth time hosting Saturday Night Live, which grants him membership to SNL‘s storied Five-Timers Club. Usually, a moment like this would occasion a big, cameo-stuffed sketch featuring veteran hosts like Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. But SNL just gave us a cameo-stuffed Five Timer’s Club sketch when Justin Timberlake hosted in March — and it’s way too soon to repeat that same conceit. So how will the show acknowledge Affleck’s milestone? Maybe Timberlake will show up to induct him?

2. As you may already know, Stefon’s very first SNL appearance wasn’t a Weekend Update visit. It was this little-remembered sketch from the last time Affleck hosted the show in 2008, which casts Bill Hader and the host as brothers pitching a movie together. (According to the clip, Stefon’s last name is Zolesky — who knew?) This has to mean that Stefon and Affleck’s David are going to appear together again tonight, right?

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May 17 2013 03:29 PM ET

'Saturday Night Live': A full directory of Stefon's favorite clubs. (This post has EVERYTHING.)

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Image Credit: NBC

Here’s what we know about tweaky club kid Stefon Zolesky, by far Bill Hader’s most popular SNL character: He used to write for Smash. His dad is David Bowie. His brother is Ben Affleck (a.k.a. “David”). He lives in a trash can near the Radio Shack on 23rd St. and 7th Ave. He’s in love with Seth Meyers. And he’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of New York’s hottest clubs, from Scampi (“illegally parked behind the Statue of Liberty”) to SPICY (“the creation of club owner/rabbi Jew Diamond Phillips”) to Selfieee! (“based on the novel Push by Sapphire”).

But just like Booooooooof’s round-the-clock puke party, all good things must come to an end. And since this Saturday marks Hader’s last show as an SNL cast member, it may also be the last time we see Stefon horrify and amuse Seth — and himself — by rattling off facts about his favorite city hot spots.

So before he goes, let’s celebrate Stefon’s legacy by remembering all 31 of the crazy, improbable, disgusting, hilarious clubs he’s described over the past four seasons. And don’t worry — if the list makes you feel a bit misty, just reach down and grab yourself a human tissue. (It’s that thing of where a jacked midget wears a white shirt, and you blow your nose on it.)

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May 17 2013 10:21 AM ET

Adam Sandler's sage advice to Jay Leno: 'Go to Fox!' -- VIDEO

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NBC’s coming late-night shakeup affects three-fourths of the the network’s post-11:30 p.m. programming. (Enjoy stability while it lasts, Last Call with Carson Daly.) Saturday Night Live has to find a new Weekend Update anchor… because Seth Meyers is moving to host Late Night… because Jimmy Fallon is moving to host The Tonight Show… because Jay Leno is getting forced out, just three years after NBC reinstated him as Tonight‘s host. Phew!

So while everyone else at the network is movin’ on up, what should Jay’s next move be?

His pal Adam Sandler — who stopped by last night to talk Grown Ups 2 The Streets — has a few ideas. Namely: “Don’t you think he should just take it easy, enjoy, breathe… maybe go to Fox, do a show at 11:00?” he asked Tonight‘s audience, to cheers and applause. Leno laughed off the suggestion genially, as is his wont — but you’ve got to wonder if he might consider it seriously come 2014.

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May 17 2013 09:58 AM ET

Kanye West is super psyched to be on 'SNL' this week -- VIDEO

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Kanye West, certified Good Sport, has a notoriously robust sense of humor — so it’s no surprise to see how giddily excited he is about his upcoming stint on Saturday Night Live. (He’s the season finale’s musical guest; Ben Affleck is its host.) Just look at the goofy grin on ‘Ye’s face, or his amiable, up-for-anything body language!

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May 17 2013 09:37 AM ET

'The Office' series finale: When did you start crying?

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Image Credit: NBC

For anyone who’s stuck with The Office through thick and thin, fat years and lean years, the slow disintegration of Jan Levenson’s sanity and stern rule of Charles Miner and the misguided creepiness of Robert California — or even those who tuned in after a long break just to see how everything turned out — last night’s 75-minute-long finale was pretty much perfect.

Basically everybody got what they wanted: Dwight and Angela wed in appropriately weird Schrute fashion. Andy revealed that he’d moved back to Ithaca to work at his beloved alma mater (Cornell — ever heard of it?). Nellie stumbled into motherhood in the most random way possible. Erin found her parents, played adorably by Joan Cusack and Ed Begley Jr. Oscar worked on a campaign for state senate, while Kevin discovered that bartending suited him much better than accounting. Ryan and Kelly returned to Scranton separately, only to run off together (and, most likely, immediately break up again offscreen). Jim and Pam decided to move to Austin, where Jim will rejoin Athlead — sorry, Athleap — and Pam will, I don’t know, eat tacos or something.

And then there’s Michael Scott, whose “surprise” appearance wasn’t really much of a surprise. Even so, though, it was pretty great — especially when we learned that he had at least two kids and two phones, because “he’s just so happy to have a family plan.” Excuse me, but I think there’s something in my eye. (That’s what she said.)

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May 16 2013 09:45 AM ET

Diddy goes to 'Downton Abbey'... in Funny or Die short -- VIDEO

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Ah, this explains everything. When Sean “Diddy” Combs announced yesterday that he was joining the cast of Downton Abbey as a series regular, he was actually promoting a new Funny or Die short that digitally adds the hip-hop mogul to existing Downton footage. (You can insert him anywhere!)

The jokes are predictable — Diddy keeps calling the show Downtown Abbey; at one point, he fights off Thomas’s advances; there’s a decent amount of swearing — but funny all the same. And you’ve got to admire the chutzpah of a guy who never misses an opportunity for product placement, even in a spoof video.

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May 15 2013 05:43 PM ET

Wait, is Diddy actually joining the cast of 'Downton Abbey'?

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Exhibit A: A message the rapper/producer/sometime actor tweeted this evening, after promising a “big announcement” for his followers: READ FULL STORY »

May 15 2013 01:05 PM ET

Can Clarissa explain why her Kickstarter failed?

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Image Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Teenage witch Sabrina Spellman can solve almost any problem with good, old-fashioned pluck and a wave of her magic pointer finger… but she can’t make millions of dollars appear out of thin air.

On Monday, Melissa Joan Hart — the ’90s star best known for playing both Sabrina and sassy Clarissa Darling on two eponymous sitcoms — officially ended her attempt to fund a movie called Darci’s Walk of Shame via Kickstarter. Hart wanted to raise $2 million over the course of about a month; by the end of the campaign, she had rustled up only $51,605 from 315 backers.

Yipes. It’s one thing to fall short of a fundraising goal — but it’s quite another to raise just 2.5 percent of that goal. Given the smashing success of the Veronica Mars movie and Zach Braff’s Garden State followup — two other nostalgia-fueled projects that quickly raised and exceeded their own $2 million goals on Kickstarter — why did Darci’s Walk of Shame fail so spectacularly?

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May 15 2013 10:31 AM ET

'Saturday Night Live': This week's Ben Affleck-hosted finale will be 'Argo'-rific -- VIDEO

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Hey — you still like Argo jokes, right? Because if these promos are any indication, they’ll make up about 80 percent of the material on this week’s Saturday Night Live — or at least host Ben Affleck’s monologue.

Honestly, though, I’m totally fine with that — so long as the bulk of them are delivered by departing cast member/national treasure Bill Hader, who gets a rare co-starring role in Affleck’s promos. Think the Oscar-winner resents that he’s essentially billed second for Saturday’s show?

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May 15 2013 10:17 AM ET

Sit back, grab a hanky, and prepare to say goodbye to 'The Office' -- VIDEO

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In just about 36 hours, The Office — the sitcom that made a star out of Steve Carell, brought mockumentaries and cringe humor to mainstream American TV, and largely defined NBC’s post-Friends identity — will close for good.

Naturally, this is a fairly emotional time for the series’s loyal longtime fans… but we’ve got nothing on Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, and executive producer/Cousin Mose Michael Schur, who let the anecdotes fly and the waterworks flow in this moving, 10-minute-long goodbye video. Also, the guy who played Roy is in there. Remember Roy? READ FULL STORY »

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