SNL

"Saturday Night Live" is gearing up for its epic 50th anniversary, and it's shaping up to be a spectacular episode ... 'cause a bunch of superstars were spotted rolling in for rehearsals.

The guest list is insane -- we’re talking Wyclef Jean, Nick Carter ... and Cher herself!

The whole Backstreet Boys crew showed up Wednesday night in NYC, with Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough bringing that Larger Than Life energy to the party. Check out the gallery with last night's arrivals!

O.J. Simpson really killed it with the ladies ... with former "Saturday Night Live" star Laraine Newman revealing The Juice was a "good kisser."

Laraine did some kissing and telling Tuesday night on 'Watch What Happens Live' ... telling host Andy Cohen about her fond memories of O.J.

A bunch of 'SNL' alums -- Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Cheri Oteri and Cecily Strong -- were being asked if athletes made good 'SNL' hosts when Andy asked the women if they were on the NBC sketch comedy show back in the day when O.J. hosted.

Timothée Chalamet hasn't won a single award for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in, "A Complete Unknown," but, turns out, he's kinda used to losing, at this point ... and has no problem poking fun at himself over it.

The actor hosted 'SNL' for the third time last night -- with girlfriend Kylie Jenner nowhere in sight -- and, during his monologue, he acknowledged all the acclaim and nominations he's gotten for the Dylan biopic, but he doesn't seem hopeful about taking home any hardware.

Timothée kicked off the bit by pointing out he just keeps losing at award shows and it's getting harder each time to smile and act like he's chill about it.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's gonna need a rewrite on his smash hit musical "Hamilton" if President Trump gets his way ... or, at least, that's the 'SNL' take on the first week of his 2nd term.

The every-award-winning play and filmmaker made a guest appearance for the 'SNL' cold open, but just 30 seconds into his bit, he gets cut off by Trump -- played by James Austin Johnson. Lin-Manuel sings, "In America we will never have a king," perfectly teeing up Trump's line ... "Never say never. I'm in my king era."

'SNL's Trump says he's building a new America just like the founding fathers did -- "very whitely," and touts the death of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives.

Comedian Luenell is keeping it real about Dave Chappelle's 'SNL' monologue, where he called for compassion as America embarks on a new chapter with President Trump in charge.

Luenell didn’t hold back when speaking to TMZ at LAX ... saying while she understands Chappelle’s plea for compassion for Trump’s administration, it’s useless 'cause compassion isn’t something they’ve ever shown.

Check out the clip, 'cause Luenell dives deeper into why she's not feeling any optimism for Trump's presidency, and calling it straight-up insulting that his inauguration fell on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Dave Chappelle returned to host "Saturday Night Live" this week, delivering a monologue tackling everything from Diddy’s legal troubles to his message to President-elect Donald Trump.

The comedian pulled no punches on the show this week first addressing the ongoing legal drama surrounding Sean "Diddy" Combs. Chappelle noted he's never seen anything quite like what Diddy is currently going through saying, "I’ve been in a lot of trouble in my day, but this guy Puffy --  buddy, this guy is in an enormous amount of trouble. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this."

Chappelle’s poked fun at himself, recalling how friends of his have questioned his absence from Diddy’s infamous "freak-off" parties with Chapelle saying, "I thought about it for a minute and I said, oh my God -- I’m ugly. That was a tough way to find out. Can you imagine reading the newspaper and finding out everyone in Hollywood had an orgy behind your back? None of y’all called me?"

Chris Rock took aim at Luigi Mangione on "Saturday Night Live" this week, cracking a stinging joke that compared the alleged CEO shooter's looks to actor Jonah Hill.

The comedian walked out onstage for his cold open while hosting 'SNL' and dove right into the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, saying he felt bad for the man's family.

Chris then remarked about how everyone in the country is fixated on Mangione's good looks before hitting the punchline ... "If he looked like Jonah Hill, no one would care. They’d already given him the chair already — he’d be dead."

Pete Davidson is over being best known for his high-profile relationships ... revealing he hopes to be seen for his work moving forward.

The comedian made the plea in a new interview with W Magazine, where he reflected on his hardships over the years ... including his various well-documented breakups.

As he put it ... he "got hit on the face with the Hollywood shovel," but assured fans that he was in a better place mentally after taking somewhat of a step back from the limelight.

The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was one of the biggest stories of the week ... so, it wasn't surprising when "Saturday Night Live" addressed the situation first thing on 'Weekend Update.'

Check it out ... longtime 'Weekend Update' co-anchor Colin Jost weighed in on the shooting at the very top of the sketch show's segment ... as he roasted New York City officials for the ongoing manhunt and called out the country's thirsty reaction to the suspected shooter's looks.

As Jost put it ... there were two distinct reactions when images of the alleged assassin surfaced this week -- "Yeah, well healthcare stinks" and "Girl, that shooter hot."

Before this cute kid in his baggy t-shirt was writing scripts and acting on the big screen, he was just hitting the beautiful outdoors of Canada and looking up to late-night hosts and comedians like Conan O'Brien and David Letterman ...

After attending New York University, he linked up with with fellow comedian and actor Matt Rogers for their pop culture podcast. You may also recognize him from "Saturday Night Live" -- where he started as a writer and was brought on-screen for his comedic edge!

Need one more clue? Pfannee in "Wicked!"

Pete Davidson and Colin Jost's decommissioned Staten Island Ferry is going Hollywood ... 'cause their boat is featured in an upcoming horror movie about Steamboat Willie.

Production sources tell TMZ ... "Screamboat" was filmed entirely on Pete and Colin's bright orange ferry.

The indie horror movie takes the OG Mickey Mouse character and drops him in a gory film -- Steamboat Willie is now in the public domain so this is all kosher -- and our sources tell us so much fake blood was used during filming they had to hire a special cleaning crew for Pete and Colin's Staten Island Ferry.

Dana Carvey's "Saturday Night Live" impression of Elon Musk upset the tech mogul ... and, even the comedian has to admit he doesn't really sounds like the guy.

Here's the deal ... Dana and David Spade were chatting about an old 'SNL' memory on a recent episode of their "Superfly" podcast -- with Dana telling a story about how a hair dryer basically turned into a blowtorch and burned his locks.

Spade cracks a joke about Elon thinking a blow dryer turned flamethrower is a good idea ... and, DC does his impression -- immediately followed by saying he "can't do Elon Musk very well, but I can do something that sounds not like anything."

Joe Exotic isn't offended one bit by Bowen Yang's impersonation of him on "Saturday Night Live" ... in fact, he's hoping to use the exposure to his advantage.

The "Tiger King" star tells TMZ ... he's given Bowen's impression his stamp of approval, praising the comedian for his accurate take. Not only does Joe think 'SNL' nailed his look -- applauding the mullet and the mustache -- he feels Bowen came very close to matching his voice.

He notes Bowen did a much better job at impersonating him than John Cameron Mitchell did in Peacock's "Joe vs Carole."

Charli XCX is taking the Big Apple by storm ... putting on a surprise performance Monday after her appearance on "Saturday Night Live" over the weekend.

The pop star popped up onstage in Times Square last evening just 30 minutes after the H&M clothing company announced that Charli would be putting on a gig. Charli did the show to promote her new holiday fashion line for H&M.

She cranked out several of her hits in front of a packed crowd, including “360,” “365,” and “Apple.”

Peanut the Squirrel was on the minds of lots of folks Saturday night, from fighters to comedians.

The rodent that was suspiciously seized and killed by NY authorities earlier this month was part of a UFC victory speech by one Jim Miller, who told Joe Rogan, "I've got one thing to say first: we need justice for Peanut. It's not just the squirrel, it's all the kids that went hungry that night, and all the other things that the money and resources could've been put to."

Miller wasn't done ... he invoked DOGE, the Dept. of Government Efficiency, which Trump wants Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead. Elon and Vivek were there as Miller said, "Hopefully that DOGE cleans things up at the State level."

"Saturday Night Live" star Chloe Fineman says Elon Musk was the worst guest host she ever came across ... because he made her cry.

Chloe outed herself as the cast member Elon brought to tears on 'SNL' during his 2021 appearance in a since deleted social media post ... and we tackled the topic on "TMZ Live."

Elon's since come out and defended his actions ... and this story is generating a lot of hot takes in our office.

Check your local listings for when TMZ is on in your area or catch up on past episodes!