Seth Meyers, Nasim Pedrad + John Mulaney attend opening of Mike Birbiglia's "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend"

Nasim Pedrad, Seth Meyers and SNL writer/comedian John Mulaney were among those who attended the opening of Mike Birbiglia's new one-man show "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend". Birbiglia's show, running through May 15 at the Barrow Street Theatre in New York, has received tremendous acclaim and is a must-see for anyone in the New York area. To buy tickets, click here.
Pictures of Pedrad, Meyers + Mulaney after the jump.

Abby Elliott and Nasim Pedrad hit New York Fashion Week

Both Abby Elliott and Nasim Pedrad were among the stars that attended New York Fashion Week this week. Take a look at the two ladies workin' it after the jump.

Nasim Pedrad interview | Movieline

Check out this Q&A that featured player Nasim Pedrad did with Movieline in which she discusses her first year at SNL and her ideal host!

Nasim Pedrad To Star in Culture-Clash Comedy

Los Angeles Times is reporting that Nasim Pedrad has set up a movie withThe Switch directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon. Pedrad will write and star in the movie which looks at the differences between an All-American family and their Persian neighbours. The film is reported to have a distinctly Southern California feel. No news on other possible cast members or whether Speck/Gordon will direct or just produce, but either way, it’s kind of a big deal for Pedrad. 
Nasim Pedrad has been with SNL since the start of Season 35 and was a previously a cast member with Groundlings. 

Nasim Pedrad Developing TV Show?

Is Nasim Pedrad developing a TV show? Well, possibly. That's according to Shallon Lester, star of the upcoming MTV show "Downtown Girls". 
In an interview with The Frisky Lester reveals that she is developing a TV show with Pedrad. She says -


 "I’m developing a TV show with my friend, Nasim Pedrad. She’s on “Saturday Night Live.” We went to high school together. We’ve been writing partners for years and we wrote this script, like, a year and a half ago and now it’s finally going into development. So I could do something with that — write that [show] half the year, film [“Downtown Girls”] half the year. That would be amazing. But we’ll see, these are sort of pie-in-the-sky dreams."


Well I am very much on board with this idea and I certainly hope it comes to fruition!

Gotham Magazine Hosts Party for Kristen Wiig

Kristen Wiig is next month's Gotham magazine cover girl and last night Gotham held a party in celebration. Among the attendees were Kristen, Seth Meyers, Andy Samberg, Nasim Pedrad, Jack McBrayer, Ryan Phillippe and Colin Jost. And of course, there are photos. After the jump!

Abby Elliott, Nasim Pedrad and Jenny Slate appear at NBC Upfronts (PHOTOS)

Yes, SNL's featured ladies were out in full force at this morning's NBC Upfront Presentation which took place in NYC. Photos after the jump -

For All You New Yorkers -

There's a neat exhibition of SNL portraits from the 2000's entitled "Live From New York - A Decade of Portraits" going on in John Varvatos which is located at 315 Bowery (between Bleecker and East 2nd).

The exhibition opened this week and members of the cast and writers were present at the event. Photos included after the jump. 

Cast Photos

Does this picture make you happy? 'Cause I know any event where the SNL cast spruce up and look nice, makes me happy.
They were all pretty busy this week, making appearances at the Museum of Natural History Gala and the Barney's Window Launch.
I've assembled a nice little TinyPic photo album with a bunch of photos of the cast from the event. Enjoy!

http://tinypic.com/a/1g5rn/1

Megan Fox/U2 - Sketch-by-Sketch Review

This week saw Transformers mega-hottie Megan Fox take to the stage as SNL host and U2 take to the stage not twice, but three times as musical guests. Let's have a show rundown sketch by sketch, shall we?

Cold Open - So I know they kinda saved the best for SNL Weekend Update Thursday with the sketch about Obama being interviewed by everyone but Fox News, but was Colonel Gaddafi really that ripe for lampooning? With the exception of Fred bearing kind of a resemblance to him, I just don't get why they picked that for the cold open of the 35th season premiere. Don't remember particularly laughing at this one, might have smirked at the notion that jetlag was to blame for his speech, but that was it. Poor start.
5.5/10

Monologue - So here's something I found curious about the monologue - Megan Fox was clearly booked this week in order to promote her latest flick Jennifer's Body and yet no mention of it at all in the monologue. Way to distance yourself from a box office bomb. Anyhow, this wasn't too bad, at least it didn't resort to a Q & A (well, not really). Bobby kind of saved it with the whole schtick about the picture of her as a half-human half-horse being legit, liked the paparazzi joke. All in all not bad, but not great.
6/10

Bladavvan - Only positive thing I can say about this one was nice ending. Will Forte & Fred Armisen sharing a urinal at least made me smile.
N/A

Southern Stewardesses - I quite liked this one. Probably would have liked it better without Fox to be honest. For me, she just interrupted the good parts with Wiig, who pretty much owned the sketch. Loved the fight about Monk and the promises to find some pretzels. Spotted - new writer Hannibal Buress seated behind Andy & Abby.
7/10

Russian Mail Order Bride - Another hit/miss sketch. Anything with Armisen was pretty funny. "Svetlana cannot wink, only blink." or "Svetlana has no interests" and his lazy smile was pretty funny. Fox just kind of had to stand there & mumble Russian and the idea that the decision was so hard to make because Svetlana (the blatantly uglier bride) was cheaper wasn't all that funny. Made me laugh once or twice though.
6/10

SNL Digital Short 1 - Loved this one, dare I say it my favourite of the night. Well written & terrific job by both Forte & Fox, but particularly Will who was pretty awesome as a slightly off SWAT commander. I loved how tender yet hilarious it all was & it even had a proper ending. Think it's one of those love it or hate it sketches - count me in the love it camp.
8/10

Grady Wilson's Burning Up The Bedsheets - Decent enough. Good job by Kenan who definitely elevated the sketch. This was probably Fox's best one of the night. She let go completely and was pretty funny as a result. Favourite position?
"Its 12.00 in Switzerland. Cuckoo!"
7/10

U2 - So over U2. Being Irish, I've had enough U2 to last me a lifetime.

Weekend Update - Another highlight of the show. Solid jokes, though maybe the best were used up on Thursday. Favourite jokes -
"Colonel Gaddafi called Obama his son during his speech at the G20. Then Glenn Beck's just upped and wrote itself."
Re - Giant Babt "The mother was said to be beside herself but only because she was split in 2."
Also loved the Larry King/Michael Moore joke.
Jean K. Jean I enjoyed tremendously. Loved the Chanel belt joke. Judy Grimes stole the segment for me though. Jeez, how does she do it that fast! So funny though, I can't wait to find a transcript so I can fully appreciate the jokes in this one.
8/10

Live Lounge - It's a sketch that's been done lots of times and it didn't really feel fresh or new. My favourite part were probably the terms & conditions at the end. "If you try to cancel Live Lounge, we will tell people you use Live Lounge. Live Lounge is owned by the Russian Mafia."
5/10

Biker Chick Chit Chat- In what should have been kind of a big deal - a new cast member heading a sketch in her first week on the show - turned into a big deal for the wrong reasons. Yes, this is the one in which Jenny Slate accidentally dropped an F-Bomb. And I can't really blame her - it was a tongue teaser! There were so many fricks that I felt like I was watching a Mini-Me sketch (can I get a what-what?) But really, no amount of F-Bombs or front bums could save this one. It was one-note and the only redeeming parts of it were Megan Fox's surprisingly New Yawky accent and Kristen Wiig who made a believable biker mom-friend. Major kudos to Slate & Wiig who retained their composure after Jenny's slip-up
4.5/10

SNL Digital Short 2 - So this one was a little bizarre. It centred around Megan Fox on a date with Andy Samberg's character and her roommate Optimus Prime (who is Bobby Moynihan with an Optimus mask on). So it started off pretty funny & it quickly got weird when Optimus Prime was sitting on the sofa naked & then walked in another Transformer (Brian Austin Green) and the two of them "transformed" and dropped their shorts. Honestly, this one was just a little too odd for me.
N/A

Your Mom Talks to Megan Fox While You Finish Getting Ready - Typical end of the night sketch. Fox played herself while Wiig played your average mom who gets confused with CSI & CGI. It was fine, Wiig did a pretty good job but the only part that amused me what the anecdote about Rick Moranis.
5/10

OVERALL-
Not the best start to the season, but I didn't really expect more from a season premiere hosted by a so-so actress like Megan Fox. She didn't embarrass herself & to be honest, I fault the writers for not giving her more material that didn't make some mention to her looks. She seemed pretty game for a lot of stuff so maybe it's just getting back into the routine for the writers but I really hope they improve their game for next week with Ryan Reynolds.
Props to Will Forte, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson & Kristen Wiig who I thought did a particularly good job this week. Also, I just have to mention how much I enjoyed Nasim Pedrad's impression of Kathy Griffin on SNL Weekend Update Thursday - girl's got game!

Regarding SNLWUT (best acronym yet?) I loved Jason's impression of Glenn Beck & after this summer we need a Glenn Beck sketch pronto - hey, if you can lampoon Keith Olbermann, you can lampoon Glenn Beck.

Overall, very so-so start to season 35. Megan Fox didn't have major sketch comedy chops & I hope that Ryan Reynolds fares better next week.
5.5/10

STRAY OBSERVATIONS -

• I am loving the new opening credits. The shots of New York and the cast are all great & Abby Elliott looks like a total rockstar in hers.
• Yay, Don Pardo is still around!
• Darrell Hammond no longer a repertory player it seems! Now just a handyman called in to do odd jobs whenever necessary!
• Nice Brian Austin Green cameo in that Digital Short.
• John Mulaney is now a writing supervisor? Nice work, Mulaney!

Seth Meyers to go WU Alone

Seth Meyers has himself confirmed that he will man the WU desk alone for Season 35. Addressing the rumours that Kristen Wiig would join him as co-anchor, he said that she was "almost too valuable," saying that were she to become WU anchor she would be unable to perform her hilarious characters at WU.
He would not say much about the premature departures of Casey Wilson & Michaela Watkins saying only, "I think that the two who are leaving are going to be incredibly successful wherever they go."
On Jenny Slate & Nasim Pedrad's hirings he was very positive describing them both as "great writers as well as performers." He said turnover at 30 Rockefeller Plaza helps keep the humour fresh."It's always nice to have new people," he said. "They'll give new looks at things and see things in new ways. Any time you get new voices in, that tends to help."

And there you have it, folks!