Kotaku: saturday night live

SNL Delivers Hardcore Content to Wii

Owen Good — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 10:00:00 MST

In the annals of TV history, I think Alec Baldwin aggressively jerking off two Wiimotes and making every masturbation double entendre imaginable will be remembered as just groundbreaking as Edith Bunker's menopause.

You know why this is just good comedy writing? Because they make every frat house masturbation joke imaginable without once punning "Wii."

Ninty's gotta have mixed feelings here - this A-list TV mention for Wario Land: Shake It probably doubled overnight the exposure generated by the game's marketing campaign. However, the Wii is portrayed as something only slightly less sexualized than a Fleshlight.

Anyway, sure I laughed. You did too. The Parents Television Council can choke on it. On the Wiimote I mean. Or what it represents in this case.

Writers from The Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy Working on Machinima Experiment

Brian Crecente — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:40:00 MST

Writers from 15 televison sitcoms, including The Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy, have signed on with Machinima.com to 15 original episodic comedy pilots for the online network using video games.

The Machinima Comedy Lab pilots will air on Machinima.Com, but no date was announced for the first pilot.

"Machinima.com lets us put our work in front of an audience that already knows and loves our style of writing and is embracing new forms of digital entertainment," said Bill Oakley, an Emmy-winning writer and past showrunner of The Simpsons. "We get to do what we love the most—write and create fun content while Machinima.com handles all the production, marketing and distribution."

The Machinima Comedy Lab pilots will be created by top Hollywood writers, including:
— Chris Cluess: Mad TV, The Simpsons, Beggars and Choosers, Cheers, SCTV
— Bill Freiberger: Drawn Together, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, The Simpsons
— Eric Horsted: Boondocks, Knights of Prosperity, Futurama, Home Improvement, Coach
— Ken Keeler: Futurama, The Simpsons, Wings, The Naked Truth, The Critic, The Late Show
— Stacie Lipp: King of Queens, Roseanne, Married With Children
— Christina Lynch: Wildfire, The Dead Zone, Unhappily Ever After
— Peggy Nicoll: WordGirl, Daria
— Bill Oakley: Mission Hill, The Simpsons, Futurama
— Max Pross & Tom Gammill: The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Monk, The Critic, Saturday Night Live, The Late Show
— Mike Rowe: Family Guy, Futurama, Comedy Central Roasts, The Jaime Kennedy Experiment
— Loren Segan: Wildfire, The Dead Zone, Spyder Games
— Patric M. Verrone: Futurama, Muppets Tonight!, The Simpsons, The Critic, Pinky and the Brain
— Maiya Williams: Mad TV, The PJs, The Wayans Bros., The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

"This is the future of comedy in new media - a fast and low cost way for writers to create shows that attract an existing audience," said Patric M. Verrone, an Emmy-winning writer and president of WGA West. "We're thrilled to break ground and forge a relationship that empowers independent production and gives writers both creative freedom and financial participation."

"As an emerging entertainment network, we're dedicated to bringing aboard top creative talent," said Allen DeBevoise, Machinima.com chairman and chief executive officer. "Machinima.com provides these writers with a new, evolving medium in which to reach the highly desired 18 to 34 male audience, showcase creativity and develop episodic pilots for multiple platforms."

Niko and Vlad on Saturday Night Live

Owen Good — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:00:00 MDT

GTA on SNL? Well, if a movie did a $500 million opening week, bet your ass there'd be a skit on it the very next show. Here Niko Bellic and Vlad Glebov appear on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" to complain about the negative image the game gives to Liberty City.

Most of the gag appears to be the permanent karate-chop pose of motion-capped hands, overly expressive gesturing and out-of-place dialogue during non-cutscene encounters. The writers leave it up to the viewer to get it. So if that's mainstream enough to get laughs, holy hell, games have really come a long way.

[Thanks to Gawker's Richard Blakeley for the video.]

Update: Commenter Rotmm added this 360/PS3 comparison shot of SNL. I wonder if Gametrailers might be working on a video too.

SNL Threatened By Guitar Hero

Mike Fahey — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:40:33 MST

Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels spoke with the New York Times about the trails and tribulations of a live weekly comedy show trying to regain its footing after the Hollywood writer's strike left viewers hanging for nine weeks. He's worried about getting viewers back - not from other shows, but from video games.

"Our competition is not so much other television shows as it is Guitar Hero," he said, referring to the popular video game. The strike wiped out nine scheduled "SNL" shows, and it came at the worst possible time.

Honestly, every time I hear someone talk about Saturday Night Live I still find myself surprised the show still runs after all of these years, but Lorne needs not fear gaming. He should embrace it. Only until we have a Laser Cats video game can the healing begin.

'SNL' Is Ready to Make Up for Lost Time [The New York Times]

Saturday Night Live Pans 360 Gamers

Brian Crecente — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:29:55 MST

You know you've hit it big when Saturday Night Live mocks you in the only thing worth watching on the show anymore, the news.

Saturday Night Live [McChicken]