We told you recently about Saturday Night Live's first new episode after the writers strike. The show will return this Saturday with host Tina Fey and musical guest Carrie Underwood. Now comes word that Maya Rudolph won't be on the show this weekend.
Rudolph still doesn't have a contract with the show. She almost left before this season started, but decided to come back. It now looks like that was only a temporary thing until they could get a contract hammered out. Producer Lorne Michaels says "I'm going to keep calling her until she changes her number," so the show wants her back. For the time being, her slot will be filled with Upright Citizen's Brigade troupe member Casey Wilson.
In other SNL news, the show will announce later this week who exactly is going to play Barack Obama in sketches. It won't necessarily be someone who is in the current cast. Michaels is also looking outside the show for someone to play the Democratic Presidential candidate.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-20-2008 @ 3:58PM
Smiley said...
She is the WORST actor in the history of the universe. Thank God she's gone.
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2-20-2008 @ 4:20PM
Argus said...
I'm actually quite tired of her always playing the exact same characters, so I hope she doesn't come back. New blood!
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2-20-2008 @ 4:26PM
EbonyDad said...
Please find a decent cast member to play Obama. I would be insulted if they decided to go with Kenan Thompson.
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2-20-2008 @ 4:57PM
khari.hunt said...
Jerry Minor would be a great Obama and a quality addition to SNL.
2-20-2008 @ 5:55PM
Cincinnati Mike said...
khari... you mean re-hire Jerry Minor?
He's good, but he was completely wasted on his last SNL stint back in 2000.
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2-20-2008 @ 6:24PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
Won't be missed.
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2-20-2008 @ 6:41PM
Barry Wilhelm said...
Maya would have been the perfect choice to play Obama.
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2-20-2008 @ 8:23PM
sitruc said...
I was always a fan of Rudolph's mom, not so much her though. I think I had a problem with how she was used though. SNL rarely uses Black comedians well(Lorne has been accused of not allowing some cast members to be anything but silly). I know she is mixed, but I couldn't tell if she was supposed to be white or black in sketches. Before somebody says that shouldn't matter, don't forget she was Oprah in skits. When she was supposed to be a black character, it could sometimes look strange on screen. Part of SNL is the actors looking like the person they are impersonating. She can do impersonations and sing, but SNL didn't know how to use that. I looked up the cast. Have there really only been 3 black women on the show?
I know SNL is an institution, but I'd like to see it taken away from Lorne Michaels for a season. The show has always been hit or miss and we can always use hindsight and look at casts, but there is too much talent coming and going that isn't being used well. Silly can be funny, but I think too much of the show is trying to just be silly. Even the political skits which should be satirical and topical have just been silly skits instead of taking on the politics and the politicians.
//I know this comment is a mess.
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2-20-2008 @ 11:55PM
Argus said...
I agree to an extent. I don't think that Lorne Michaels should be "taken off" SNL, if it weren't for him collaborating with Tina Fey we wouldn't have 30 rock! However I think we do need to have him give up his stranglehold on power that he seems to have.
2-21-2008 @ 7:54AM
Rusty said...
Rumor has it Donald Glover, a 30 Rock writer, will be coming on as a featured player and playing Obama:
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/television/803942,obama022008.article
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2-24-2008 @ 1:15AM
Adam Fisher-Cox said...
And Fred Armisen gets the Obama role.
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2-24-2008 @ 2:58AM
mordecaibrown said...
Let's also keep in mind that Maya's boyfriend, Paul Thomas Anderson, has a professional obligation this weekend, so she likely is with him in L.A. in order to support him at the Oscars. That further explains her absence tonight; she probably wouldn't have been on anyway, contract or no contract.
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2-29-2008 @ 3:01AM
Becky said...
Here are some videos with Casey Wilson- the new cast member if you guys are interested:
http://www.ucbcomedy.com/videos/play/968
http://www.ucbcomedy.com/videos/play/1037
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2-29-2008 @ 6:02PM
Emerald said...
Um, Lorne Michaels was "taken off" SNL for several years in the early 80's. It is widely regarded by fans as the "forgotten years" or a "desolate waste land of crap". The cast was weak, most of the sketches were horrible (which is saying something by SNL standards), and the show was lucky not to have been canceled. And yes, this was right after the Belushi-Akroyd-Curtain years; but even with the handicap of following a sensational cast, it was awful. Dreadful. Horrific.
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