Bill Burr and Charli XCX kick off ‘SNL”s November shows
NBCUniversal
Saturday Night Livehas revealed the first hosts for November.
SNL announced that comedian and Mandalorian star Bill Burr will host the sketch show for the second time on Nov. 9, in what will be the first live show following the presidential election. Mk.gee will be the musical guest.
On Nov. 16, Charli XCX will serve as both host and musical guest — her third appearance in the latter category, but first as host.
As reported, Nov. 1’s installment of SNL will see a returning John Mulaney taking the stage at Studio 8H, with musical guest Chappell Roan.
Blumhouse, the studio behind the horror hits like The Purge franchise, M3GAN and the Insidious movies, has partnered with Peacock for Overnightmare — a real-life horrifying, interactive weekend experience.
The companies are opening the doors to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the haunted spot that inspired Stephen King‘s Overlook Hotel in his classic The Shining and the 1980 Stanley Kubrick fright fest of the same name.
Taking place Oct. 18 to Oct. 20, Overnightmare is available to book now. The spine-tingling two-night stay will put guests up in a Stanley Hotel room themed to one of four Blumhouse shockers — Insidious, The Purge, Happy Death Day and Freaky.
Also promised are “spooky spaces throughout the hotel,” as well as “nightly immersive experiences.”
The announcement says, “Come sundown, things will quite literally go bump in the night. Each evening will feature an after-dark experience as guests are pulled from their rooms for one of four personalized, fully immersive activations, inspired by each of the Blumhouse films and featuring interactive characters, narratives, and scares.”
The ad copy continues, “Experiences will be geared toward different horror levels to allow guests to face their fears no matter their terror threshold – from Freaky and Happy Death Day for those who want just a taste of the terrifying, to Insidious and The Purge for a full nightmare experience.”
There will also be two nights of exclusive screenings, including episodes of Peacock’s upcoming original thriller series Teacup, from James Wan‘s Atomic Monster studio, which hits the streamer Oct. 10.
If you’d rather be scared at home, Atomic Monster, Blumhouse and Peacock also collaborated on the screamer’s — er, streamer’s — Face Your Fears lineup of scary movies, just in time for the spooky season.
(L-R) Jermaine Clement, Jonny Brugh, Taika Waititi in ‘Shadows’ – FX/Russ Martin
While fans are sad to see the Emmy-nominated shows Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows ride off into the sunset — or in the case of the vampire mockumentary Shadows, sunrise — the executive producer on both programs, Taika Waititi, tells ABC Audio he has no trouble saying goodbye.
“It’s easy for me to let go,” Waititi tells ABC Audio with a laugh. “I don’t dwell on things.”
“I love my kids and my family, and that’s pretty much the only things … I hold on to really tightly,” he continues.
Waititi says he’s grateful for the praise both shows got, particularly how Reservation Dogs raised the profile of Indigenous stories. But as for the mockumentary show Shadows, which began as a low-budget 2014 film of the same name that he also starred in, he says the current sixth and final season is time to go.
“Shadows, in particular, you know, it’s being out for so long. I thought that was like, you know, I never thought that we’d stretch that idea out for so long. And I’m really proud of it. But it’s definitely time for that thing to die.”
Waititi’s latest project as a producer is the comedy series Interior Chinatown, now streaming on Hulu.
The new Disney+ short film An Almost Christmas Story is inspired by the true story of an owl who was found inside the Rockefeller Christmas tree in New York City. In this version, the owl can talk, and his adventure is narrated by John C. Reilly.
In taking on the role, Reilly, who also performs four songs in the short, tells ABC Audio he was inspired by the late Burl Ives‘ Snowman narrator character in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
“I thought, ‘I’ve learned so much music from Burl Ives, wouldn’t it be cool to, like, step into his shoes?'” says Reilly, who also stars in a stage production called Mister Romantic. “Or at least perform a role that was similar to what he’s done in the past.”
An Almost Christmas Story also hearkens back to the look of those classic holiday specials in its animation style, though it was made digitally instead of with traditional stop-motion. Still, Reilly wanted to get a stop-motion figure of his character made, even though he laughs he was “hoping it would look less like me.”
“I was like, ‘But will you please still make mine?'” Reilly says. “Then [director] David Lowery‘s like, ‘Yeah! Totally, we should still make yours!’ So I’m gonna have to ask Disney where that thing is.”
As for the film itself, you can expect a heartwarming tale and some adorable animals, which Reilly feels might bring some comfort amid stressful times, personal or otherwise.
“Somehow I think [the film] really does meet the moment for the way people are feeling right now in the world,” Reilly says. “So I’m happy to spread a little love and a little empathy with this.”
