TVSquad

Radner. Louis-Dreyfus. Poehler. Fey. Shannon.

Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Update anchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor.

But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also a David Gary Kroeger, A. Whitney Brown, and Charles Rocket for every Melanie Hutsell, too). (And for the record, no, you shouldn't recognize those names.)

"Baracknophobia": The irrational fear of hope is spreading, even among Barack Obama's own people. Obama campaign staffers sent away two women with head scarves because they didn't want to remind people at the photo op about the rumors of Obama being Muslim. Not as bad as the baby-punching, I must say, and at least he apologized.

"Guantanamo Baywatch": The Supreme Court ruled that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay can contest their detention before a judge. Some folks aren't too happy about this, what with their poor Mexican topiary managers having fewer rights and all. The managers are Mexican, by the way, not the topiaries. Senior Imprisoned Correspondent, Gitmo, stopped by to share his thoughts. Man, Jon Stewart is really no good with puppets. Every voice he does sounds like South Park's Jennifer "Taco-Flavored Kisses" Lopez.

One of the most famous Saturday Night Live alums is returning to the show for a "best of" special. Mike Myers will host an evening of his best work in a primetime special. The comedian will introduce his most memorable sketches in front of a live studio audience. Some current SNL cast members will join him: Fred Armisen, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Kenan Thompson and Kristen Wiig.

Mike Myers can also be seen in The Love Guru this summer. The film, which also stars Jessica Alba, introduces us to yet another Myers' character, the Guru Pitka.

I loved Myers' characters from Saturday Night Live. I'm sure we'll see Wayne Campbell, Dieter, Linda Richman (my personal favorite), and young Simon who likes to do drawings. Are you looking forward to a particular character or skit?

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Mike Myers will air on June 15 at 9 p.m. on NBC.

As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with numbers 20-11, we here at TV Squad are also looking at television comedy, but with a slightly skewed difference. Last week, we took a look at the Saturday Night Live cast members from 1975-1985 that made it to the big time. This week, we focus on the SNL casts from 1986 to 2006.

Aside from the first season of Lorne Michaels' return to the show he created and the 1994-95 season, this period was a very successful one for SNL, introducing a slew of characters and sketches that fans of the show still talk about today. It also produced a good number of Not Ready for Prime-Time Players who went on to bigger things in television and the movies (and some theater as well). Sometimes those bigger things were movies or television shows based on characters developed on SNL.

On May 6 at 9:00 p.m., NBC will air Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation. The special, as evidenced in the title, will look at the late night mainstay and the actors who called the show "home" during the '90s. Having gone to high school and college throughout the '90s, this is the era that sticks in my memory the most, when folks like Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Norm MacDonald, Phil Hartman, David Spade, Chris Farley and Dana Carvey were just funny guys no one had ever heard of before.

The special will include interviews with former cast members, insight from repeat hosts Alec Baldwin and John Goodman, plus interviews with writers Tim Herlihy and Adam McKay, who went on to successful careers as film writers. If you're a fan of Saturday Night Live, it's probably worth checking out, but especially if you happen to be around my age and these episodes were the ones you quoted and discussed with your friends the next day in school.

Something isn't right in Sorkinland. In last Monday's episode, Matt Albie and Andy Mackinaw are feeling nostalgic. In a scene early in the show Andy asks Matt if he remembers his first office . . . the one that was so small that you could write on both walls if you reached your arms out with pencils in your hands. Matt mentioned that was his second office, and that his first was actually the floor in the middle of the hallway.

Now, the reason methinks something is afoot is because I just finished reading Gasping For Airtime, the excellent Jay Mohr autobiography that chronicles his two year stint on Saturday Night Live in the mid-1990's. In this book he talks about the dressing room that he had during his second season on the show. . . the one that was so small that he could take a pencil in each hand, stretch his arms out, and write on the walls. He also mentioned a conversation he had with SNL alum Mike Myers about his first office. It turns out that it was on the floor in the middle of the hallway.

Hmmm.

Joining the ranks of Frosty, Rankin-Bass' Rudolph and Charlie Brown's lonely Christmas tree is everyone's favorite ogre Shrek.

DreamWorks Animation SKG will be producing an original half-hour holiday special for ABC. The special Shrek the Halls will feature the voices of the entire original cast - Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas.

We won't be seeing holiday-themed Shrek on the air until 2007. Why? Well, animation done right takes time, but so does building a lasting franchise. According to DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg, the events of Shrek the Halls will pick up after the events of the yet-to-be-released third Shrek film.

I'm sure the Shrek special will be great, but can anyone really top a dentist elf, unhappy Yeti and misfit reindeer? Shrek is so postmodern in its sensibility that I'm sure it will be incorporating references to all the classic holiday specials anyway. It's the dawning of a hyper-referential pop culture Christmas.

The Boston Phoenix has another list (they've been doing this a lot lately), and this one lists what they think are the best and worst movie performances from Saturday Night Live cast members. While it's great to have Bill Murray number one, it's for Ghostbusters?! What about Lost In Translation? Or Stripes? Or Rushmore? How about Groundhog Day? (Same thing with Janeane Garofalo - they pick Wet Hot American Summer?)

Among the best: Eddie Murphy in Bevery Hills Cop, Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer, and Harry Shearer in This Is Spinal Tap. Among the worst: Eddie Murphy in The Adventures Of Pluto Nash, Adam Sandler in The Waterboy, and Jimmy Fallon in Fever Pitch.

OK, SNL fans, who's missing from this list?

Which of these things is not like the other: Al Pacino, Don Cheadle, Robert Downey, Jr., Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, and... Tim Allen? Bravo is touting all of these actors' upcoming appearances with James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio (a title that is screaming for an apostrophe!). Hanks will be the first actor to make a second appearance in the Studio, while Dustin Hoffman will be the Studio's 200th celebrity guest. No air dates are set, but the network says they'll appear this spring.

While most of the names are impressive, they might also be a bit boring. My favorite guest was Mike Myers, who did all sorts of voices and had some fun at Lipton's expense.

Who would you like to see Inside the Actors Studio?

Remember the good ol' days of Saturday Night Live? You can. On your video iPod, or just on your computer. This week, iTunes released all sorts of video clips that span the last 30 years of Saturday Night Live. You can purchase individual sketches, including The Hanukkah Song, Wake Up and Smile, Schwetty Balls, Motivational Speaker, plus a few oldies-but-goodies like Word Association with Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor, and King Tut with Steve Martin. There are also all sorts of commercial parodies such as Colon Blow, Oops I Crapped My Pants, and Mom Jeans (what? no Clear Gravy?). You really have to love those sketches, though, because they each cost $2. The collection is by no means complete, but it looks as though SNL is just getting started. For instance, I didn't see any of the Wayne's World or Church Lady sketches available for individual purchase. However, those are included on the "Best Of" compilations that are also available for download, for $10.