Rosie O'Donnell Was Born to Play Steve Bannon on 'SNL'

I haven't seen an actor campaign this hard for a role since Sean Young didn't get to play Catwoman -- do the alt-right thing, Lorne Michaels! 

From the Makers of 'Angel in Denim: The Kim Davis Story'

ICYMI: "Saturday Night Live" proves once again that it needs to ditch the live part! Read HERE.

Inside the 'Saturday Night Live' Exhibit

I have very ambivalent feelings about "Saturday Night Live." My older brother Bill introduced Terence and me to it back in its earliest days, and I quickly fell in love with Gilda Radner and many of the show's famous sketches, such as the Coneheads, Chevy Chase on "Weekend Update" and the Cheezborger! Cheezborger! Cheezborger! guy. Over the years, though, my fascination seems to have dipped even below the Average Joe's love-hate relationship with the show, as I never really took to the many soon-to-be-superstar cast members that came after, like Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, et al. (Give me Jane Curtain on "Kate and Allie" any day.) Still, my friend Geoffrey's write-up from the 40th-anniversary retrospective exhibition now on display at Rockefeller Center did look awfully fun, and not just because it seems to focus on a lot of the show's earliest days. Read HERE.

Oh, Cheri

Cheri Oteri can do no wrong in my book. Nadeen, Collette Reardon and the Spartans' own Arianna were classic SNL characters. But when she went on Andy Cohen's "Watch What Happens Live" last week to explain why she wasn't more involved in the "Saturday Night Live" 40th anniversary special, I'm hearing she wasn't being entirely truthful in saying it was merely a "scheduling conflict." While her tenuous relationship with her old show has been rumored for years -- word was she was excluded from the SNL "Women of Comedy" special a couple of years ago because Lorne Michaels hates her -- a well-placed source confirms that she was initially not invited to the 40-year festivities. At the 11th hour -- after she started to freak out and make noise and call people -- she finally reached out to fellow cheerleader Will Ferrell pleading with him to please "DO SOMETHING." Apparently that didn't even work, but then Tina Fey -- who apparently isn't a fan of Oteri's either -- finally spoke up to the powers that be and said, "I mean c'mon, guys -- you're not even going to INVITE her?" In the end, Oteri was allowed to attend but was not asked to perform or even appear. Obviously I've never had the (dis?)pleasure to work with Oteri, so I haven't a clue if her difficult reputation is deserved or not. But given how integral she was to the show's success during her tenure, I definitely agree with Fey that she deserved to at least be included. 

'Saturday Night Live' Turns 40 ... Again

Thanks to everyone who informed me they are reairing the "Saturday Night Live" 40th anniversary special tonight, even if Matt Rettendmund's review has me thinking I'm probably gonna skip it (again) and flip through my old Gilda Radner People magazine (again).

Read HERE.

Sweeney Rob?

Some nice reporting by my friend Greg Hernandez about the exclusion of openly gay ex-"Saturday Night Live" writer and cast member Terry Sweeney from the show's 40th anniversary special:

Sirius XM Radio talk show host Frank DeCaro was among those outraged by what he considered a slight.  

"Leaving Terry Sweeney -- the only openly gay male cast member in the forty-year history of Saturday Night Live -- out of the anniversary special doesn't sit well with me," DeCaro wrote in a Facebook post. "His Nancy Reagan impression could easily have been included in the political clip montage."

Read HERE.

Threw Me for a Loopner

Forgot to set my DVR for the SNL 40th anniversary special and am not convinced it's worth trying to watch now on Hulu with all its annoying ads. I did, however, happen to see the In Memoriam segment while having a drink at the Ninth Avenue Saloon and only realized I had involuntarily broken into applause when Gilda Radner's face came on the screen after people in the place starting staring at me. I've written about my love for her HERE and HERE -- when I was 12, I burst into tears when news came over the radio that Gilda got married yet I'm still not sure why -- and teared up again reading Bill Murray's account of the last time he saw her HERE. If there's a god then how do you explain the way-too-soon cancellation of "The Judy Miller Show"?

RIP: 'SNL' Vet Jan Hooks Is Dead at 57

TMZ says the "Saturday Night Live" veteran died today in New York City after battling throat cancer. This makes me very, very, very sad. Loved her Kathie Lee Gifford and many other characters, but this is the role I'll remember her most for. Sad day for comedy.

"Do we have any Mexican-Americans with us today? Well buenos dias!" 

Why couldn't it have been Victoria Jackson?

In the foreground, from left, are Jan Hooks as Diana Ross, Tim Meadows as Lenny Kravitz and Adam Sandler as Axl Rose during the "Musicians for Free-Range Chickens" skit in April 1991

Song of the Day: 'Waiting for Mary' by Pere Ubu

It never fails that when I spend a little time on YouTube, I come across some fab Debbie Harry stuff I never knew existed, like Deb singing backup on a Pere Ubu song on "Saturday Night Live" circa 1989. Boy did she look fabulous -- way better than when her "comeback" album, "Rockbird," came out three years earlier. (And she almost has some moves here!)

Wheelan With Idiots

I'm the most critical person of "Saturday Night Live," but even I had to admit that cast newcomer Brooks Wheelan was pretty great. So what did they do? They fired him. What the fuck? Read HERE.

Jane, You Ignorant Slut

My brother thinks it's hard to argue with Vulture's "Complete Ranking of Saturday Night Live ‘Weekend Update’ Anchors," and I tend to agree. (Anyone else miss Norm Macdonald?!) Read HERE.

Jostess With the Mostess

Just to be clear, we all wanna f**k Colin Jost, right?

Live From New York, It's Debbie Harry!

One of the many fun things I did over the holiday break was come across the rare episode of "Saturday Night Live" Debbie Harry hosted on Valentine's Day 1981, during the season's tumultuous sixth season when the entire original cast, the writers and Lorne Michaels jumped ship and associate producer Jean Doumanian was assigned the task of recreating the hit show from scratch. Harry, at the peak of her success with "Call Me" and "The Tide Is High" having recently topped the charts and "Rapture" on its way to No. 1 the weekend she was hosting, was one of the show's first hosts/musical guests -- her acting skills having been recently put on display in the indie film noir "Union City." After an extraordinarily brief and rather goofy opening monologue -- where she introduces us to her "parents" and gets Cupid (played by newly added cast member Eddie Murphy) to shoot his arrow at a heckler calling her "Blondie," Deb holds her own in a handful of poorly written sketches, ranging from playing a lesbian living with her lover in Soho who gets a surprise visit from her clueless aunt and uncle, a sexy blonde who brings out the animal in her date, a beauty school student (opposite Gail Matthius' legendary --to my friend Mark and me, anyway -- Valley girl Vicki) and a "Girl From Joisey" (opposite Joe Piscopo's Guy From Joisey).

What's most memorable about the episode, however, is Debbie's music performances.

Always one to go against the grain -- in acts that have frequently left her fans shaking their heads -- Debbie eschews all of her hits, opting instead for out-of-left-field covers of Teddy Pendergrass' "Love TKO" and Devo's "Come Back, Jonee."

While it must have frustrated fans and producers alike, not to mention her handlers -- how do you NOT do your song that's rapidly rising on the charts when you're hosting "Saturday Night Live??? -- what a treat it is some 30 years later to see a luminous Harry command the stage, in a way that I do not recall ever seeing her do so before or ever since. Her voice has never sounded more confident than it does on "Love TKO" -- perhaps foreshadowing her collaboration with Chic on "Koo Koo" later that year? -- and later she (now dressed as a couture cowgirl) and a Klaus Nomish Chris Stein look like they might have mated moments after performing the spasmodic "Come Back, Jonee," and Lady Gaga popped out nine months later.

Abridged versions of the episode are available on Hulu and Netflix -- always missing the songs and rather inexplicably some of the skits -- but Videodrome Discotheque has all of what you're missing right here. Enjoy!

DEBORAH HARRY Hosts SNL (Valentine's Day 1981) (Full Show) from VD Party Films on Vimeo.

With Cupid (Eddie Murphy)

She's from Joisey!

As Susan the Soho lesbian with lover Liz

Introducing special musical guests Funky Four Plus One More, the first rap group to ever appear on "SNL." Harry was a fan and brought them on, with some members accompanying her on "Love TKO"

As the cool girl Tina with Vicki the Valley girl

Promo photo

Signing off. That's Denny Dillon on Deb's right, who I think was grossly underrated (remember "What's It All About, Leo?"!!!). When Jean Doumanian got axed later that season, Dick Ebersol took over and fired the entire cast, save Murphy and Piscopo. The 4' 11" actress Dillon later found success as Toby Pedalbee, the abusive yet loyal assistant on HBO's "Dream On."