Helen Mirren Hosts

Helen Mirren will host Saturday Night Live Tonight, the musical guest is Foo Fighters. Mirren is promoting the new version of Arthur, in which she co-stars with a former SNL host, Russell Brand.

While many think of her as a primarily serious actor, Mirren has always had her bawdy side, which should enable her to fit right in with the current version of SNL, Our Holy Temple of the Perpetual Double Entendre.

Any guesses as to what topics the show might address this week? Government shut-down? Glenn Beck? Will Russell Brand make a cameo appearance, and would that be a welcome thing?

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Leon Russell And Elton John Appear on “Saturday Night Live”

“Rocket Man” and the “Master of Space and Time,” uniting once again.

Elton John, Leon Russell to appear on “Saturday Night Live. ”The British pop superstar will do double duty as host and musical guest on this weekend’s “SNL,” with the Oklahoma icon joining him for the musical performances.

Elton John (British Pop Superstar) will do double duty as both host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” during this weekend. His recent duet partner and Oklahoma icon Leon Russell will join him for the program’s musical performances. “SNL” airs at 10:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC.

This Saturday’s episode will mark John’s first time back on the “SNL” stage since 1982, when he played the songs “Empty Garden” and “Ball and Chain."

According to IMDB, Uncle Leon and his then wife Mary Russell were musical guests on “SNL” back in 1976.
The singer/songwriter/pianist pair was in New York last month when John ushered Russell into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Russell (and Owasso resident Garth Brooks) will be back in NYC June 16 for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

John and Russell have made several high profile TV appearances together since releasing their collaborative album “The Union” last fall. “The Union” debuted in October at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, earned a Grammy nomination for best pop collaboration with vocals for lead single “If It Wasn’t for Bad” and sparked a dramatic career resurgence for Russell, who had fallen into relative obscurity after playing a pivotal role on the rock ‘n’ roll scene in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Russell’s top ‘70s classics have been compiled into a new CD and digital collection, “The Best of Leon Russell,” which will be released Tuesday by Capitol/EMI.

Abby Elliott

A little Wayne’s World party time excellent. It’s hard not to have a soft spot for this throwback the material was nothing new, but that’s kind of the point. I particularly enjoyed “Who’s on Firth.”

This one left my kind of cold, though I loved the touch of including Phil Hartman’s old introduction. Was this funnier 20 years ago, or was I just 10 years old? Merits further study.

I usually avoid Dana Carvey, even on talk shows, and so I expected to really dislike this. Carvey’s impressions are always more about him than his target, and his material is all twenty years past its prime. I found the monologue to be pretty innocuous – the Jon Lovitz cameo was cute, even if the pairing did seem like something of a washed-up high school reunion.

I’d have liked this better if it were written by the 1986-1993 writers.

SLEEP PRO

Perhaps the first airing of this commercial was long enough ago, or perhaps the material is strong enough to endure a second go-round, but I enjoyed this as much the 2nd time round.

I just renew my standing objection to repeats within a new show. Still, glad this repeat was one of the good ads produced this year.

CHURCH CHAT

The Church Lady got in some good Charlie Sheen jabs, the Kardashians were a good fit, and man Justin Bieber is everywhere this week.

The intervening decades haven’t made it harder for the Church Lady to criticize pop culture, that’s for sure. This worked very well.

CELEBRITY CRISIS CENTER

Another vehicle for SNL impressions – the return of Hader’s Alan Alda was welcome, Armisen’s Ice – T was point perfect, Jay Pharoah’s Eddie Murphy was okay if a bit awkward toward the end, and Dana Carvey’s Mickey Rooney is just plain played out. Still.

Exactly. The skit didn’t hold together. Love Hader’s Alda, though.

DIGITAL SHORT: THE ROOMMATE

Samberg’s goofiness always tends to elicit something of a giggle, but this one didn’t hit it out of the park for me.

Right- Digital Shorts have a high floor, but this was near that floor.

LINKIN PARK

Ooh, sparkly lights! A fun performance and a rather pretty song. I enjoyed.

I was happy when this ended, but this is not my kind of music.

UPDATE:

Some decent Egypt Update coverage this week, and Paul Brittain’s James Franco was a hoot: “I love jobs!” (I hope we get to see him again post-Oscars.) Kristen Wiig’s disco meteorologist was somewhat entertaining–it’s hard not to smile at “Wear gloves”–but she’s still short of hilarious here.

Wiig really made the disco meteorologist work, I thought. I maintain she is Carol Burnett in search of Burnett’s material.

LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY

I have not yet failed to be entertained by Wiig’s Kathy Lee impression. Dana Carvey’s Regis is alright, but the material dragged until Wiig popped into the frame.

Oh, I thought his Regis was terrific. This was a bit aimless, but worth doing, given Regis’s departure.

LITTLE MISS LITTLE GIRL PAGEANT

When I saw Kenan Thompson and Dana Carvey together, my first thought was “Oh, help me.” And indeed the pairing was painful. But seeing Vanessa Bayer just standing there in her Little Miss outfit offered a beacon of hope. The contestants saved this bit, with particular note to Samberg who is great as little Brendon. If only we could have had less Kenan and Dana, more Vanessa, Kristen, Samberg, and fine, even Abby Elliott.

This was devoid of laughs for me.

DEBRA WURTZ

Does Abby Elliott only have one “character” voice when she’s not doing Rachel Maddow? I liked the content and the idea here, but unfortunately Abby Elliott annoys me.

Also yet to see Elliott perform in a way her pedigree suggests she should.

LINKIN PARK

Linkin Park sure likes a gimmick. In this case the black and white made this song seem really quite pretentious.

It’s a free country, so people can like this if they want.

GREEN BAY BAR

A new wave 80s-glam band in a bar full of die-hard Green Bay football fans. I dig the idea, but somehow there were no laughs in the execution.