So, really, who is coming back to the 47th season of Saturday Night Live? That was the most immediate, pressing question in the virtual Emmys press room tonight to Variety Sketch Show Emmy winner Lorne Michaels as many yearned to know whether Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Cecily Strong are coming back.
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“I’m not going to tell you much,” answered Michaels, “because we haven’t announced who’s hosting, but I don’t think anybody will be heart-broken.”
“I think people will be happy with what we have — that was me being evasive,” deadpanned the EP.
“I think it’s all going out next week; we’re just finalizing one thing and we count the first four shows at the same time. And there’s some new cast and they’ll be announced this week too.”
In regards to who is hosting next season, Michaels answered, “Believe me, they’re people you’ve heard of.”
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But then when asked about Jason Sudeikis Emmy win for Best Comedy Actor for Ted Lasso, Michaels revealed “He’ll be coming back soon — to SNL—I’m very happy about that as well. Which is sort of an answer to the first question, but in no particular order.”
Speaking about Norm MacDonald‘s legacy to those on the show: “I think he meant the world to people there, I could tell you from the number of people I’ve heard from, and the people who’ve gone and talked about Norm. When you work with someone for that many years and they make you laugh and you’re aware of who they are as a person and a friend, I think Norm was one of the funniest people I’ve ever known and because he’s a Canadian, I’d put him up there in the top five.”
Further expounding on MacDonald, “When he was at the show, I was always in awe of how long he could take to tell a joke and how long he would pause before he told another joke. He never pandered. He was always going to do it the way he wanted to do it, and if you waited, you were really happy you did. I call it integrity, but integrity probably has been mentioned fifty times tonight, but he had integrity.”
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