Pharrell is soaking up all his remaining live performances before he joins The Voice this fall and he did his new NBC home a solid by performing his Academy Award-nominated hit, “Happy” on Saturday Night Live last night.

Backed by a children’s flash mob, the star Neptune rocked forest green edition of his infamous hat, which has since gained the public’s approval. Although the chart-topping record has been the biggest splash from his latest studio album G I R L, he used his following set to give the second single a bit of leeway. “Marilyn Monroe” featured a cleverly placed all-girl orchestra as well as his Spider-Man 2 soundtrack partner Hans Zimmer.

Artists appearing in SNL skits has become a dying trend since for most of the decade but Pharrell was a good sport and appeared in a talent show spoof with the episode’s star Anna Kendrick. Skateboard P couldn’t keep his composure given the silliness of the sketch and made it more funny than it actually was.

Check out the happiest performance on earth in the video player below and continue on through the gallery to see the rest of the Pharrell SNL highlights.

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Photo: NBC, Instagram/Pharrell, I Am Ledon, Ella Lesko

Lorne Michaels and SNL are adding a bit more color…commentary to the upcoming 40th season of the storied sketch comedy show. Michael Che–most recently of The Daily Show–will be joining Colin Jost at the trusty Weekend Update desk this year.

Via The Wrap:

Named one of Rolling Stone’s “50 Funniest People,” Buzzfeed’s “50 Hottest Men in Comedy” and Variety’s “Top 10 Comics to Watch,” Che has been a writer on “SNL,” a correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and has performed stand-up on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “Late Show with David Letterman.” His first comedy special was Comedy Central’s “The Half Hour,” which aired earlier this year.

Repertory player Cecily Strong will return as a full-time cast member. Strong is well known for her Update features and sketches, including “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation with at a Party,” which Rolling Stone hailed as an “instant classic.” The recurring character of a ditz

Che thanked Jon Stewart and the rest of The Daily Show crew for the huge stepping stone they placed in his career following the announcement.

The first episode of SNL40 airs on September 27 with Guardians of the Galaxy actor Chris Pratt and Ariana Grande as the musical guest.

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Photo: PNP/WENN.com

While Chris Rock held down the hosting duties, Prince was the musical guest on last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live.

The purple one was actually dressed in black and gold, sported an afro and wore sunglasses, with a lens for his third eye, as he performed an eight minute set. Of course he killed it.

Watch it below.

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Photo: NBC

Last week’s Saturday Night Live was an immediate success, thanks to James Franco’s versatile performances and Nicki Minaj’s Pinkprint booty. However it’s a sketch on Ferguson that didn’t make it to television audiences due to time constraints that is possible the best dose of comedic relief the nation has seen on the touchy subject yet.

Keenan Thompson and Cecily Strong both play generally chipper anchors on St. Louis’ news morning show when they’re forced with the unnerving task of playing the bubbly buffoons in the wake of the riots after officer Darren Wilson was left off the hook for killing unarmed teen Mike Brown. Which is where Franco comes in, playing the touring celebrity chef who inadvertently keeps saying all the wrong things.

Watch the SNL Ferguson skit below. It was brilliantly done and sad it couldn’t have been aired.

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Photo: Saturday Night Live

Eddie Murphy, who became a star on NBC’s long-running late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, has not returned to the set in 31 years. The actor and comedian decided to bury the hatchet and will return for SNL‘s 40th anniversary show according to a recent interview.

Murphy was a guest on NewsOne Now with host Roland Martin, and he shared tales about why he stopped releasing music and his current resurgence on the scene in that arena. Murphy shared that he longs to return to the stage as both a comic and performer, but only if he’s able to incorporate all of what he’s done in the course of his career.

Murphy mentioned his time on SNL as being instrumental in building his love of the live show aspect. Martin then asked why hasn’t Murphy returned to SNL like many other alums have and gave a straight answer.

“It just never worked out where the timing was right for me to do it,” said. Murphy. “They’re actually having a 40th anniversary, I think, in two weeks. I’m going to that, and that’ll be the first time I’ve been back since I left.”

According to the Huffington Post, Murphy shared his distaste for SNL in a 2011 Rolling Stone interview in where alum David Spade made a dig at Murphy’s movie flops. Hurt by the joke, Murphy said he made a fuss about it but has since come forward and said that he has no issue with Spade.

Watch the interview with NewsOne Now below.

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Photo: Cousart/JFXimages/WENN

Bill Cosby doesn’t have many friends these days so when someone does something nice for him, he’s sure to acknowledge them in public.

It was recently revealed that Eddie Murphy scoffed at the opportunity to portray Bill Cosby during the SNL 40 Anniversary Special with a direct reference to his ongoing sexual allegations drama. The embattled funnyman reached out to NBC News–through a spokesperson–to express his elation over Murphy skipping the skit.

“I am very appreciative of Eddie and I applaud his actions,” the ghostwriter of Cosby said.

It was fellow SNL alum Norm Macdonald’s task in convincing Murphy to do the sketch, where he was to appear on the show-stealing Jeopardy! segment but Murphy reportedly said, “He won’t kick a man while he’s down.”

A class act from a man, who, is eagerly seeking to reclaim past glory on his own end.

Devil’s Advocates: Celebrities Who Defended Bill Cosby

Now the 1980s Eddie Murphy? That guy wouldn’t have settled for a cameo of Cosby slander. He would have hosted a “Bill Cosby Jell-O Wrestling Contest” in full character.

Relive this clip from Eddie Murphy Raw down below and see why.

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Photos: NBC, WENN

Miley Cyrus will be hosting Saturday Night Live tonight (Oct. 3) and folks are expecting the former Disney princess to bring some of the same edginess she’s been displaying for the past few years. But what everyone is secretly anticipating is how Cyrus plans to respond to Nicki Minaj‘s “What’s Good?” jab during the 2015 VMAs in August.

HollywoodLife.com has learned that Cyrus intends to check Minaj, pop darling Taylor Swift, and others in a skit employing SNL actress Vanessa Bayer. Of course, it was Cyrus that started the beef with rivals Minaj and Swift. The Queens rapper aggressively addressed Cyrus’ comments while onstage during the live VMAs broadcast last month.

More from HollywoodLife.com:

Miley has already had a lot to say about Nicki and Taylor, but as it turns out, she’s not done yet! The former Disney star is planning to call out her rivals in a live skit with the help of SNL actress and Miley Cyrus impersonator, Vanessa Bayer. “Currently lined up for the show is “The Miley Cyrus Show” [skit], where Miley will address her feuds,” an insider revealed to HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “They are still writing the skit and figuring out who Miley will play, seeing as how she will not be playing herself — those duties will go to Vanessa Bayer.” While it’s still unclear how Miley will address her rivals, if there’s one thing we know to be true about the 22-year-old, it’s that she’s not afraid to say (or do) what’s on her mind.

According to an insider close to Minaj, they told HollywoodLife that she’ll be watching to see what’s said, if anything. But if the statements from the insider are true, Cyrus might want to go into hiding for a bit.

“Nicki’s tired of playing games with these kids in Hollywood and if Miley’s going to attack her on SNL, it’s going to be open season on her Hannah Montana a**,” said the source. “Nicki will be watching the show, keeping both her eyes and ears open for the shenanigans Miley’s sure to come with.”

Okay, then. Looks like SNL just became must-watch television this weekend.

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Photo: MTV

Source: NBC / Getty

The Migos’ 2018 is off to a great start, their new album Culture II is performing well, their hit single “Stir Fry” was the official single of NBA All-Star Weekend and this weekend they brought their trap raps to SNL alongside host Charles Barkley. While their biggest fans know what to expect from the trio, a lot of folks watching were left puzzled after viewing them perform “Stir Fry” and “Narcos” to the best of their ability.

In their best Michael Jackson inspired get-ups, Offset, Quavo and Takeoff confidently spit their crack cooking lyrics cleverly compared to the Chinese cooking technique in their opening performance of “Stir Fry.”

They followed up the Pharrell-produced single with “Narcos” both backed by a live band and auto-tune assisted.

They may have felt they put on a worthy performance but in the court of public opinion which is Twitter, they put on a “sh*t show.” Other critiques such as “sound weird,” “straight up terrible,” “made absolutely no sense”  and “the worst band I have heard on SNL…” were used to describe their performance.

Some folks believed at first the performance was actually an SNL skit, ouch.

Well damn, but they have to be hating right? Well everyone is entitled to their own opinion and who knows maybe it was just an off night for them. This too shall eventually pass for them. But regardless they gone get these jokes, we can’t wait to hear if Chuck will speak on this during Inside The NBA.Hit the flip to see more fallout from their performance below.

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Photo by: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Source: NBC / Getty

Sterling K. Brown, fresh off award wins for his work on NBC’s hit drama This Is Us and a role in Marvel’s blockbuster Black Panther, referenced both the show and film in skits during a hosting gig for SNL.

Brown’s opening monologue was brilliant and pokes fun at the emotional tearjerker that This Is Us is known for, with Brown cracking with emotion and barely keeping it together. Cast member Leslie Jones came out with the help out, and also got into the crying act.

But what really shot out the park as a brilliant bit was a so-called deleted scene from Black Panther that featured Brown putting on his Wakandan accent and Kenan Thompson playing a long-lost American uncle to T’Challa who didn’t seem to fit in with the royal family.

Hit the flip to see Sterling K. Brown as a superfan of the film Shrek, and the rest of his bits on the show.

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Photo: Getty

Source: SNL / SNL

It’s official—T’Challa has got the Midas touch (Infinity Gauntlet be damned!). This past Saturday (April 7) the star of the record-breaking film Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman, stopped by New York City to host Saturday Night Live and not only did he help create a comedy sketch for the ages as the Wakandan King, but his presence also helped SNL score a 4.5 Live+same day rating high for the episode (though having Cardi B on the ticket surely didn’t hurt either).

Participating as T’Challa on Black Jeopardy where the answers are to be told in the form of the most ratchetest question, T’Challa’s honorable and civilized responses to the game show’s trivia were belly aching funny.

Suggesting that the reason anyone would put their grandmother’s name on the cable bill would be to “honor her as the foundation of the family” as opposed to avoid messing up their own credit is an example of just how Wakandan and American culture hilariously differ.

After a few more morally just responses, T’Challa got the hang of the game when asked how he’d respond if “Karen Brings Her Potato Salad To Your Cookout.”

“It is noble that she would volunteer to cook for everyone and although I have never had potato salad, I sense that this white woman does not season her food. And if she does it is only with a tiny bit of salt and no paprika, and she will probably add something unnecessary like raisins. So something tells me that I should say ‘Aw hell nah, Karen! Keep your bland-ass potato salad to yourself!”

And a classic is born.

After celebrating his answer with a Coming To America reference, “In the face!” Keenan Thompson (who brilliantly helped sell the sketch with his facial expressions and reluctantly agreeing with the civilized answers given by Boseman) ended things with one last zinger for the colonizers.

“Oh, well, the sound of white people shopping nearby for real estate means that the fun is over.”

Bravo.

Check out the skit below and let us know if you loved this or nah.

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Photo: SNL

Source: Allen Berezovsky / Getty

Nicki Minaj is making up for lost time with the impending release of her still-unnamed fourth studio album, with “Chun Li” and “Barbie Tingz” smashing the Internets and sparking renewed interest. The Queens superstar took to Twitter Sunday night to announce a world tour, and also said she’ll be rolling out new music for the season finale of Saturday Night Live this weekend.

“All ima say is this tour is [row of emojis] and if u miss it, don’t be mad at Chun. Be mad at YOU! Chun gave u ALLLL the time in the world. This album so [row of prayer hand emojis] AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! I can’t take it,” Minaj tweeted Sunday evening.

She followed with, “US first. Then ALL AROUND THE WORLD. BUT THERE’S another surprise you won’t know. Bwahaaahahaaaaaa. The ones at the tour will be elevated to Team Minaj ELITE. Yes, I’m leaning towards M&G’s. Only cuz my babies been so patient. But pls don’t hold me to it. Love, #ChunLi”

As expected, the Barbz lost their minds over the news, but there was far more to go. When a fan asked about her upcoming SNL performance, she let one proverbial cat out the bag.

“I’ll perform a song you never heard b4. My fave on the album. plus my second song. You can prob guess what that’s gonna be,” Minaj replied. A fan, truly trying to get the scoop, asked Minaj what the track number of the song would be, getting the reply of “#1” which suggests the song is the intro to the new project.

We’ve posted Nicki Minaj’s emoji-laden and fun-loving tweets below, along with some reaction on the flip.

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Photo: Getty

Source: Taylor Hill / Getty

At the age of 46, Snoop Dogg is still much a relevant figure that has used Hip-Hop to propel himself to a pop culture status very few would believe over the course of his two decades and going career. Sitting down with radio icon Howard Stern, the Doggfather regaled listeners with a tale where the late Tupac “2Pac” Shakur blessed him with a bag of weed and pulled up with Madonna in tow.

Snoop was a guest on The Howard Stern Show Tuesday (May 15) to promote his Bible Of Love gospel album, but given the freewheeling nature of Stern’s show, things get talked about in frank fashion. The conversation shifted to Snoop saying he reached out to 2Pac when he was in New York to perform on the set of Saturday Night Live but was a little light on green.

The story is told in typical Snoop fashion complete with the curses, but how he revealed who ‘Pac was rolling with was pretty hilarious as he gave the hint of who the mystery woman that went along for the ride was by singing Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” hit. Stern gave Snoop a light ribbing saying that his request for weed took 2Pac away from sexy time with the pop songstress.

Check out the audio clip below.

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Photo: Getty

Source: WENN

Travis Scott is all set to take his talents to SNL as a musical guest early next month. The Astroworld rapper made the announcement via social media and if you’ve ever been to one of his shows, you know it’s about to be lit.

Kylie Jenner‘s baby daddy hit Instagram to let everyone know to tune in his upcoming appearance, posting a photo of three sticky notes—one that read “October 6th,” another with his own name on it, and the final showing Awkwafina‘s name. Other than that he didn’t say much, captioning the pic “Night to remember !!! @nbcsnl.”

Travis Scott isn’t the only musical act scheduled for the October 6 episode of SNL, as Paul Simon will also hit the stage. Be sure to tune in.

Photo: WENN

Source: NBC / Getty

Kanye West appeared to be returning to his old self after announcing a move back to his hometown of Chicago and preparing a new album for the masses. As a last-minute replacement musical act for SNL‘s 44th season opener, West turned in a performance many folks are criticizing while also rocking a MAGA hat and delivering a rant supporting President Donald Trump.

New York Post reports:

West, wearing a red “Make American Great Again” hat and the show’s cast standing behind him, launched into the screed off camera, but it was caught on video by comedian Chris Rock.

“I wanna cry right now, black man in America, supposed to keep what you’re feeling inside right now,” he sang as he paced the stage.

He continued: “The blacks want always Democrats you know it’s like the plan they did, to take the fathers out the home and put them on welfare. Does anybody know about that? That’s a Democratic plan.”

Then he turned to his support of Trump.

“There’s so many times I talk to like a white person about this and they say, ‘How could you like Trump? He’s racist.’ Well, if I was concerned about racism I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago.”

West performed a bizarre “I Love It” set with Lil Pump, and “We Got Love” with Teyana Taylor before attempting to rock “Ghost Town” when SNL producers cut his set short. According to the reports, that’s when West launched into his rant.

You can see the rant in full below.

And if you must see the performances, check them out below.

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Photo: Getty

Source: NBC / Getty

Kanye West duped the world into thinking we were getting, at the very least, Graduation Yeezy back. However, it appears that the “free-thinking” Chicago producer is hellbent on undoing whatever goodwill folks were willing to extend his way after his SNL performance.

The MAGA hat made a return just as it did earlier in the week, and West pushed a pair of new songs onto the masses that we can assume are from his upcoming Yahndi release, which didn’t drop on Saturday (Sept. 29) as promised. Ahead of the performance, West says he’s now changing his name to Ye for still unspecified reasons.

The profanity-laced “I Love It” alongside Lil Pump and “We Got Love” with Teyana Taylor were the featured songs. Oh yeah, there as also that unnecessary pro-Trump rant he dropped along with accusing SNL producers of bullying him while demanding he not wear the MAGA hat on air.

Conservatives, desperate for a win these days, are praising West for his stance but Twitter is keeping its foot on Yeezy’s neck as a result of what went down. Candace Owens went on a Twitter spree celebrating West’s cooning for Trump, joining a growing chorus of others who thought the act was brave.

Check out some of the reactions to Kanye West’s SNL performances, along with jabs at his rant, below.

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Photo: Getty

Source: Ivan Nikolov/WENN

Kanye West is in danger of being canceled forever after he went on a pro-Trump rant this past Sunday. In the clip, you can hear some folks in the audience cheering, but many others boo’ed.

On top of that foolishness, the “I Thought About Killing You” rapper also hit Twitter with a photo of his MAGA hat, declaring it a symbol of good things. What’s hilarious is, even wypipo are annoyed at this point.

Along with the photo, ‘Ye tweeted: “This represents good and America becoming whole again.  We will no longer outsource to other countries. We build factories here in America and create jobs.  We will provide jobs for all who are free from prisons as we abolish the 13th amendment. Message sent with love.”

Now you know, when Captain America curses you TF out, something is really wrong. Chris Evans retweeted ‘Ye with a message that has since gone viral. “There’s nothing more maddening than debating someone who doesn’t know history, doesn’t read books, and frames their myopia as virtue,” Evans wrote. The level of unapologetic conjecture I’ve encountered lately isn’t just frustrating, it’s retrogressive, unprecedented and absolutely terrifying.” What he basically said was “F*ck you, Yeezus.”

Apparently what Kanye West meant to say was this:

Check out all the receipts below and ‘Ye fans, let us know if you plan to ride with your fave ’til the wheels fall off or nah?

Photo: WENN

Source: NBC / Getty

This past weekend Lil Wayne was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live so it shouldn’t have surprised anyone that SNL would drop a spoof music video in which Weezy, Future, and “Booty Kings” Kenan Thompson and Chris Redd praised women shaking their rumps. What no one expected was that the song was basically a sensitivity training video about how to properly treat women in the club and life in general.

Titled “Permission” the comedic rap video features Lil Wayne and company getting lit in a club with female company while Booty Kings spit lines like, “Shake that booty (if you wanna!)/Drop that booty (it’s your choice!)/We would love to touch your booty (but we will respect your voice!).”

Hilarious.

Future and Wayne also chimed in with their respectful rhymes with Weezy talking about “Love that booty tender/never get aggressive/that booty got insurance/that booty got progressive.” Even when it’s comical rap Lil Wayne gotta be clever with it.

Check out SNL’s Lil Wayne and Future featured video below and enjoy some good clean rap.

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Photo: Getty

Source: NBC / Getty

Political satire is one of areas that the staff at Saturday Night Live excels at. Their newest sketch theorizes what if the first family were black and the results are troll gold.

Source: NBC / Getty

This past weekend the late-night variety show launched an Empire-inspired skit “Them Trumps.” The spoof parodied the POTUS and his family as African-Americans. Kenan Thompson plays the POTUS Darius Trump, Leslie Jones as Malika, Chris Redd as Darius Junior and Ego Nwodim is L’evanka.

The clip opens up with Darius Junior breaking some bad news to the officer in chief saying “Sir they know everything. They know about Russia. They know you used campaign money to cover up an affair with Magic City stripper Cinnamon Mercedes. They know about the pyramid scheme you’ve been running through your company Darius Trump Country Hams.”

Suddenly the FBI raids the White Office and Darius is apprehended. But in Lucious Lyon fashion he is soon freed boasting “there’s only one rule in America: you can’t prosecute a sitting president! It’s called checks and balances, baby.”

You can watch the skit below.

Photo: Getty

Source: The Billboard Music Awards 2017 Featuring: DJ Khaled Where: Las Vegas, Nevada, United States When: 21 May 2017 Credit: Apega/WENN.com 

DJ Khaled apparently has another one. He is scheduled to close out the 44th season of one of the most iconic comedic platforms in history.

As spotted on Deadline the We The Best mogul is slotted to be the musical guest on the final episode of Saturday Night Live’s 2019 run. Hosted by actor Paul Rudd of Ant-Man fame, DJ Khaled will take the stage at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The late night variety show made the announcement via their Twitter account.

Naturally Hip-Hop’s top pitch man shared his excitement on his own social media feeds. “They said I would never do SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE …so I’m doing SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE !! @nbcsnl Not only am I doing Saturday Night Live … I’m doing the season finale MAY 18!! #FANLUV IM UP TO SOMETHING! I got some BIG surprises!”

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They said I would never do SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE …so I’m doing SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE !! @nbcsnl Not only am I doing Saturday Night Live … I’m doing the season finale MAY 18!! #FANLUV IM UP TO SOMETHING! I got some BIG surprises! #FATHEROFASAHD coming to @nbcsnl! BE READY! #FATHEROFASAHD MAY 17 #SATURDAYNIGHTLIVE MAY 18 PON your DOME @wethebestmusic @rocnation @epicrecords Each leads to the next ! Trust me we never run out of s! @courtneycl / Jeremy I see you!

A post shared by DJ KHALED (@djkhaled) on Apr 17, 2019 at 11:06am PDT

His 11th album Father Of Asahd will be released on Friday, May 17. He hits the SNL stage the following evening on May 18. Since DJ Khaled no longer raps, thank God, it is clear he will have some high profile collaborators to perform alongside him.

Photo: Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com

The country is up in arms after Georgia, Alabama, Missouri and several other states passed new, extremely restrictive abortion laws. Several celebrities have spoken out again the legislation and over the weekend, we heard got Leslie Jones‘ stance on the issue during Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update” segment.

Opening the scene in a costume resembling those worn by enslaved childbearers in The Handmaid’s Tale, Jones said she doesn’t know how “good of a baby maker she’s going to be.” “My eggs is dusty as hell, but I’ll give it a shot!” she joked.

“This is how it starts. I’m out living my life and I see on the news a bunch of states are trying to ban abortion and tell me what I can and can’t do with my body. Next thing you know, I’m in Starbucks and they won’t take my credit card because I’m a woman — instead of the regular reason, which is I don’t have no money on it,” she envisioned.

“What made me so mad is seeing the 25 Alabama senators who voted for the abortion ban,” she said showing a photo of 25 caucasian men. “All men… this looks like the casting call for a Lipitor commercial. This look like the mugshots of everyone arrested at a massage parlor. And, if any of them had lips, I would tell them to kiss my entire *ss.”

See Jones go off in the clip up top!

Photo: Getty