snl

SNL is built for a bit of turnover here and there, but that doesn’t remove the sting from losing some of its best not-ready-for-primetime-players. To wit, Season 42 has some surprising departures, including series veterans Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah.

No late-night comedians could easily resist the call of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and it looks like SNL will be getting in on the fun as well. Long before Season 42 hits NBC, Colin Jost and Michael Che will bring special editions of Weekend Update to MSNBC for both events.

Just when you thought Fred Armisen’s deleted SNL finale sketch the last of Season 41 to hold you over for summer, in swoops a bonus round of celebrity Star Wars auditions! SNL dusted off the November sketch for another round, this time including Matthew McConaughey, along with impressive impressions the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Shia LaBeouf and more.

No sketch or short from SNL's most recent episode has been talked about half as must as "Drake's Beef". In this short, the Toronto-born rapper pokes fun at himself and we all laugh.

By now you’re well-aware of the big twist on last week’s episode of Game of Thrones — thanks to tabloid reports and transparent deflections and flat-out lies from cast and crew alike, Jon Snow’s revival was probably the worst-kept secret in recent TV history. Still, fans had to sit through two of the most painful hours of the series before we finally got to what we all knew was coming. It’s okay, SNL feels your pain.

Gwen Stefani performs while 'Game of Thrones' star Peter Dinklage hosts tonight's episode of 'Saturday Night Live.'

Ariana will serve as the host and musical guest on this week's episode of 'SNL.'

Back in those optimistic days of 2015, SNL made a trumpeting announcement that Taran Killam would succeed series vet Darrell Hammond under Donald Trump’s famous hair, though the impression seemed to have been retired with the presidential candidate’s actual hosting. Hammond has resumed the role ever since, with Killam shifting into the role of Texas senator Ted Cruz, though it seems SNL had in mind to tap Jimmy Fallon’s Trump impression in December, before returning the role to Hammond.

Oh, what fortuitous timing be this. Just days before February, SNL has set its second host of the 2016 month behind Larry David, as Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon’s fellow Ghostbuster Melissa McCarthy will return to take the stage, with none other than Kanye West bringing up the rear.

When the 2016 Oscar nominations were announced nearly two weeks ago, the response to the overwhelmingly white line-up of talent proved instantly controversial. Film fans and industry veterans alike gathered around the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag to make their voices heard, especially decrying how films starring black actors and directed by black filmmakers — like Creed and Straight Outta Compton — somehow managed to only receive nominations for the white people involved in making them. With material this ripe, of course SNL was going to take a swipe at the Academy Awards this week.

Last week’s 2016 SNL premiere with Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Adam Driver proved every bit as delightful as we’d hoped, but will Ronda Rousey pack the same punch? The Furious 7 star’s first official promos have arrived, as Rousey predictably overpowers Beck Bennett and pretty much anyone in New York.

Sure, there are lots of kids and teens buying Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys, but a long, long time ago in a galaxy that is actually this one, Star Wars belonged to another group of nerds — and those nerds are not going to let today’s kids take ownership of their fandom so easily, especially when these kids don’t know that action figures should STAY. IN. THE. BOX.