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Saturday May 16, 2026 |
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Happy Saturday—and happy SNL season finale day.
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With the deluge of Colbert news late this week, the lead-up to tonight’s Saturday Night Live Season 51 finale got short shrift in our newsletter yesterday. So we’re making it up with a special mostly-SNL bonus edition today
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| If you’re watching the show live tonight, join us at LateNighter.com immediately after the show for the Saturday Night Network’s live aftershow, where SNL experts and superfans will be breaking down the night’s best, worst, and most unexpected moments. |
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| Ferrell classics, McCartney possibilities, Joke Swap pressure, and finale-night goodbye watch—here are five SNL storylines we’ll be tracking this weekend. |
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| From Lorne’s $3,000 Beatles reunion offer to McCartney’s Season 51 finale return, we break down—episode by episode—50 years of SNL and the Fab Four in one another’s orbit. |
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| As Jon Schneider writes, the fun of Ashley Padilla’s SNL rise isn’t just watching her steal sketches—it’s wondering how high she might climb in the show’s history. |
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| Mikey Day joins SNL’s 200-episode club this weekend, but in October 2016, he was the show’s newest fresh face. We revisit his first sketch as a cast member. |
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| Allen says CBS initially wanted Comics Unleashed to move into The Late Show’s 11:35 p.m. slot on September 21—but he pushed to launch May 22, the night after Colbert’s final broadcast, because of what that date means in late-night history. |
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| Colin Jost was left wondering if he's being surveilled when an SNL pitch dismissed as "too ridiculous"—Pete Hegseth quoting Pulp Fiction—played out in real life weeks later. |
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| Sarah Sherman, Josh Johnson, and SNL alum Ego Nwodim are among the voice cast for CoComelon: The Movie, based on the animated children's YouTube series. |
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Bill Carter: CBS Didn’t Just Cancel Colbert—It Diminished Itself
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| SNL Newbies on Their Trial-by-Fire First Season |
The show’s five freshman cast members sat down with Variety to compare audition horror stories, “Update” jitters, and the sketches that helped them break through.
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| 36 Hours to Air: Inside the Scramble to Film SNL Shorts |
The New York Times tagged along with SNL’s film unit as it shot “Beastomorphs” and “Uneek Kutz” for last month’s Colman Domingo episode.
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| LateNighter’s Bill Carter to Tee Up Colbert’s Finale at NYC Paley Center Event |
| Bill and Paley Museum curator Jason Lynch will revisit the greatest late-night talk show finales, and speculate what The Late Show‘s May 21 send-off might entail—get tickets. |
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