A somewhat iconic sketch from a less iconic generation of Saturday Night Live has now been paid tribute by Ben & Jerry’s, creator and purveyor of somewhat odd ice cream flavors that all end up being some kind of vanilla with some kind of fudge in it. The sketch, featuring Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon as two NPR radio hosts, and Alec Baldwin as the ice cream’s titular Pete Schweddy, sees the two radio hosts talking softly, attempting to make the catch phrase “good times” a hilarious beacon of comedy, and interviewing Pete Schweddy, who shows off his Christmas balls, a holiday dessert. As one may expect, the rest of the sketch is a bunch of ball-related puns, which propelled it straight into a limited edition flavor of ice cream over a decade later. Perhaps a little risqué for Ben & Jerry’s, or perhaps servicing a large fanbase of people who dig Schweddy Balls.

The limited edition flavor features a slightly rum flavored vanilla ice cream and contains fudge covered rum and malt balls. The wording is a little odd, but one can assume the malt balls are rum and malt flavored, rather than the ice cream containing fudge covered rum. Head on past the break to relive 1998 and watch somewhat iconic sketch.

Oftentimes, when a public figure has been maligned in the press, they try to redeem themselves by showing that they have a sense of humor about themselves, that they’re not the self-absorbed wanker we think they are. Saturday Night Live is usually a choice venue for redemption because most likely, the cast and writers have already had their shot, but they’re a bunch of comedy nerds who don’t really want to cause a stir with people they come into direct contact with (who are also billionaires). Sometimes, these public figures come on the show and fail. But Mark Zuckerberg? Success.

Sometimes, you have an annoying morning. Your credit card maxes out on a train ticket, your computer crashes twice before noon, you forget your lunch and have to buy one, right after being reminded that you have no money to spare at the moment.

And then, you see this. Bill Murray. And pretty much all the things he has done to make you (aka “me”) happy. With the exception of Garfield, but the man needs to work. I will not begrudge him Garfield. But the Shakespeare-reciting bum in the Saturday Night Live short “Perchance to Dream” (precursor to today’s Digital Shorts) would have been nice, not to mention his turn in Jim Jarmusch‘s Broken Flowers. To say nothing of Bob! What about Bob?? But these will suffice. Thank you, Bill Murray, and thank you, Bill Murray Infographic.

(Flavorwire via The Daily What)

There never was a better argument for not allowing your kids to stay up and watch SNL.

Cookie Monster, who has recently put in a Betty White-esque bid to host Saturday Night Live, got treated to an early Christmas present by host Jeff Bridges: an appearance on the show.  So, if you ever wanted to see the Dude sing “Silver Bells” with a muppet, hit the jump.

The part of us that says yes to anything with a Muppet in it is very excited about this, the rest of us are very skeptical as to whether this would even work.  Cookie Monster can’t very well work blue.

Uh, no pun intended.

On the other hand, it be a homecoming of sorts for the Muppets: Jim Henson had a puppet sketch series in the first season of SNL that was the very beginnings of The Muppet Show.  Well, if you’re less conflicted than we are, check out the Facebook page for Cookie Monster’s campaign.  Otherwise, you’re free to go about your day-to-day.  We know you were waiting for our permission.  You’re welcome.

(via Neatorama.)

It’s hard to believe, but Bill Murray is 60 years old today. Murray was born in Wilmette, Illinois on September 21st, 1950; in 1976, he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for the show’s second season. After starring in Meatballs in 1979, Murray went on to star in a series of successful comedies in the ’80s, including Caddyshack, Stripes (above), and Ghostbusters.

He then went on to reinvent himself with his starring role in Rushmore in 1998, re-reinvent  himself with his starring role in Lost in Translation in 2003, kick ass in Jim Jarmusch films, accidentally star in Garfield because he thought it was a Coen Brothers movie, chill in his mansion in the middle of the zombie apocalypse in Zombieland, and hilariously passive-aggressively trash Ghostbusters 3 every chance he gets nowadays. In short, he is still a giant of comedy and a monument to reinvented relevance, and for this, we salute him.

Betty White’s highly anticipated stint as the host of Saturday Night Live aired last night, and the lovely young lady had some thanks for the community that put here there: Facebook.

But I really have to thank Facebook. When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host Saturday Night Live I didn’t know what Facebook was. And now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time.

I would never say the people on it are losers. But that’s only because I’m polite.

It’s uh, much more funny and endearing when she says it. Video from the folks at Mediaite after the jump.

In case you were on the fence after the 2008 election about the Internet’s ability to effect real world change, the trajectory of former Golden Girl Betty White should be enough to sway you. Becoming something of a web celebrity (which included a successful Facebook campaign to have the 88-year-old host Saturday Night Live) has done wonders for White’s career, including turning what was supposed to be a cameo on a new sitcom, Hot in Cleveland, into a serial character’s role.

We’ve previously reported that the Facebooking hordes successfully petitioned SNL to get Betty White to host. Mow, we’ve got a date: May 8th, the night before Mother’s Day.

USA Today is reporting that Betty White will be hosting the May 8 broadcast of Saturday Night Live after refusing the spot for years. White, whose legendary status has persisted to a younger generation through her role in The Proposal, playing beer pong with Jimmy Fallon, and, yes, those Golden Girls reruns on Lifetime, became the center of a Facebook campaign to get her to host after the debut of her new Snickers ad during the Super Bowl. And Lorne Michaels couldn’t sound happier about it:

Back in 2005, the first viral video hit that put Saturday Night Live‘s Digital Shorts on the map was “Lazy Sunday,” which touted the virtues of the Chronic(…les of Narnia).

With former SNL cast member Chris Parnell a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the taped short was performed live for the first time last night: