Producer, songwriter, DJ, and actor extraordinaire Questlove is not short of accomplishments. As the frontman and drummer of the band, The Roots, you may know Ahmir Thompson from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Night after night, his personality shines through, leading his band and cracking jokes with the host himself. Questlove has become such an industry stand-out his fans hang onto his every word- whether it be waiting for his quips with Jimmy, listening to his podcast, Questlove Supreme, or through his music.

Keep ReadingShow less
TV News

Michael Che Responds to Backlash Regarding AAVE in "SNL" Sketch

"Look, the sketch bombed. I'm used to that. I meant no offense to the 'aave' community."

Michael Che

By Evan Agostini_Invision_AP_Shutterstock

Weekend Update co-host Michael Che has evidently just now learned what AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) is.

"AAVE" was a trending topic on Twitter the other day thanks to last weekend's Saturday Night Live episode, which was pretty bad. Tensions were high even before the episode aired, as cast members spoke out against the choice to invite Elon Musk to host. The Tesla CEO, in addition to hoarding his billions and billions of dollars, has come under fire for spreading false information about the pandemic on numerous occasions.

Keep ReadingShow less
TV Features

The 7 Weirdest Moments from Elon Musk Hosting "SNL"

It wasn't as bad as we were expecting...but it was still bad.

Elon Musk Illustration, 2022

Photo illustration by Jonathan Raa_NurPhoto (Shutterstock)

On Saturday, Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live, and it honestly could have gone a lot worse.

He was a controversial choice for host, but unlike a lot of guests who should have more important things to be doing, Musk was actually in most of the sketches and played a variety of characters, from a murderous Pennsylvanian priest to a horny Icelandic producer.

Keep ReadingShow less

When Pete Davidson avoids wearing stage makeup on Saturday Night Live, it's a decision that I respect, but it concerns me.

Davidson has always rocked a sultry, exhausted, baggy-eyed look, but lately things seem to have spiraled out of control.

Keep ReadingShow less
TV

Andrew Yang's Tweets to Shane Gillis and Bowen Yang Is the Best "SNL" Skit in Years

New "SNL" cast member Shane Gillis has a history of making racist, misogynistic, and bigoted commentary as part of his "comedy." Andrew Yang gave a thoughtful reason why we should forgive him.

Andrew Yang Supporters - San Diego, CA

Photo by Janson George

Update: SNL recently announced that Shane Gillis has been fired a mere four days after being hired.

Keep ReadingShow less
Events

RECAP | The 70th Emmy Awards -  Celebrating TV's Best & Brightest

Colin Jost and Michael Che Make Pointed Cracks and Jabs All Night Long

The 70th Emmys were last night and it was basically a bunch of the same thing — self-aware jabs at the awards show itself, awkward scripted banter between presenters, and one show that seemed to win all the awards.

The introduction was pretty standard for an awards show — celebs Kristen Bell, Kate McKinnon, Tituss Burgess, Kenan Thompson, and others sang a song making fun of the bare minimum of diversity amongst shows. However, they did point us to the fact that Sandra Oh has become the first Asian woman nominated for an Emmy in the Lead Actress category — which is kind of sad.

Then, Michael Che and Colin Jost came out and basically did what they do on Saturday Night Live — take turns telling jokes, bantering, and taking chances with cracks about sexual harassment. I'm not going to lie — some of it was genuinely funny like the gag about a new show called 15 Miles Outside of Atlanta where white people call the cops on the cast of Atlanta.

The first batch of winners comes from the comedy realm — Henry Winkler won Outstanding Supporting Actor and Alex Borstein won Supporting Actress. Borstein went onstage with style, taking off her cardigan in the process, while Tracy Morgan openly stated his support for black nominees.

Amy Sherman-Palladino took home the award for both Outstanding Writing and Directing for a Comedy Series for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, beating both Donald Glover and Bill Hader in both categories. From the same show and category, Rachel Brosnahan won Lead Actress — announced by the hilarious Tiffany Haddish and her queen, Angela Bassett. Bill Hader won Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Barry, coming a long way from Saturday Night Live.

Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen then joined Jost and Che on stage in what became a horrible, horrible ongoing skit about the history of the Emmys — full of jokes that didn't land and unfunny faces from Rudolph, we surely could've done without the duo.

The next categories were of the limited series or movie — Merritt Wever and Jeff Daniels won Supporting Actress and Actor for Godless, the first presented by an ever-so-awkward Chrissy Teigen and John Legend. William Bridges and Charlie Brooker won Outstanding Writing for the "USS Callister" episode of Black Mirror.

Next, Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon come out to present Betty White, one of the more interesting parts of the show — White speaks about her tenure with television and how she still feels so loved by the industry. Even though her voice trembled a bit, White still kept her charm and even made a little inappropriate joke.

Regina King and Darren Criss won Lead Actress and Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, leading into a special short by Michael Che called "Reparation Emmys" where he goes back and gives Emmys to all the black actors and actresses who were glossed over for the award. Other than Betty White, this was another high point of the show.

Back to awards — John Mulaney and Glenn Weiss won Writing and Directing for a Variety Special, respectively.

Another very emotional and highly entertaining part of this show was the proposal of Glenn Weiss to his girlfriend. "Do you know why I don't like calling you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife," said Weiss.

Afterwards, Tina Fey came out and presented their yearly In Memoriam montage which included names such as Anthony Bourdain, Jerry van Dyke, Aretha Franklin, John McCain and more.

In the drama series categories, Peter Dinklage and Thandie Newton won Supporting Actor and Actress for Game of Thrones and Westworld, respectively. Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg won Outstanding Writing for The Americans and Stephen Daldry won Directing for The Crown. The Fab Five presented Matthew Rhys as Leading Actor and Sarah Paulson presented Claire Foy as Leading Actress for a Drama Series.

An animation of Rick and Morty presented RuPaul's Drag Race as Outstanding Reality Competition Program and Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan presented Saturday Night Live as Outstanding Variety Sketch series to no surprise. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won Outstanding Variety Talk Series and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story won Outstanding Limited Series.

Finally, the two big ones — Will Ferrell revealed that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won Outstanding Comedy Series and Kenan Thompson revealed Game of Thrones as the Outstanding Drama series.

It seems like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel took most of the awards this evening while shows like Atlanta and Black-ish suffered a bit — perhaps the theme of the night isn't diversity after all.


Amber Wang is a freelancer for Popdust and various other sites. She is also a student at NYU, a photographer and intern at the Stonewall National Monument.


POP⚡DUST | Read More ...

Buffalo Bills Player Vontae Davis Retires During a Game

Highlights of New Games and Announcements from Nintendo Direct

RECAP | 'American Horror Story: Apocalypse' Back to Scaring You with Very Real Scenarios