His impersonations of Jay Z, Barack Obama, Denzel Washington, and many others brought in laughs during his time on Saturday Night Live or in his comedy routines, but Jay Pharoah shared a story that was anything but funny. People have been coming forward with tales of their frightening run-ins with police, and Jay recently shared a video to his Instagram page where he detailed a run-in with the Los Angeles Police Department while exercising in Ventura, California.

Kevin Winter / Staff / Getty Images

"Coincidentally, when the footage dropped for Ahmaud Arbery, a week prior to that I was actually in Ventura. I was exercising. As I'm walking across the street, Corbin and Ventura, I see an officer to the left of me. I'm not thinking anything of it because I'm a law-abiding citizen. Also, keep in mind I got my headphones on. I'm in my zone right now." Then, out of nowhere. Jay Pharoah said when he looked again, the officer was coming toward him with his gun drawn.

"I see him say 'Get on the ground, put your hands up like you're an airplane,' Jay remembered. "As he's looking at me I'm thinking that he's making a mistake so I'm looking passed where he's looking." He thought to himself it's about to be a bad day for whoever the cop was after, not knowing it was him. "Four officers got their guns blazing, they tell me to get on the ground, spread my arms out. They put me in cuffs, the officers took his knee, put it on my neck, it wasn't as long as George Floyd, but I know how that feels."

When he asked why he was being held down on the ground, he was told that he "fits the description of a black man in this area with gray sweatpants on and a gray shirt." Jay Pharoah told them to Google him in order for them to see that they made a big mistake. "They come back and they say, 'We're sorry. We just got a call in that it's not you." He said he'd never been in handcuffs before but it was an experience he never wanted to have again. Listen to Jay Pharoah share his harrowing tale in full below.

View this post on Instagram

Proud to have collabed w/ so many influencers on this one, @theonlycarey thank you for allowing me to express my situation w/ temperance. #blacklivesmatter #BlackFilter #jaypharoah #blackandproud

A post shared by Jay Pharoah (@jaypharoah) on Jun 12, 2020 at 7:19am PDT

Pete Davidson says he plans to be on Saturday Night Live for as long as the show will have him. Conflicting with previous statements from earlier this year, Davidson told Entertainment Tonight that he wants to stay on the show.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

“I will be there as long as they allow me to be,” Davidson said. “I think I’m very lucky to be on that show and I’m really lucky to have Lorne Michaels as, you know, not only a mentor and a boss, but a friend. I’ll be there as long as they allow it.”

Earlier this year, the comedian told Charlamagne tha God that he doesn’t enjoy being on the show, and is treated like a joke by the rest of the staff: “I should be done with that show because they make fun of me on it. I’m like, cold open, political punchlines,” he said. “… I have a weird feeling in that building, where I don’t know whose team they’re playing for — if I’m the joke or I’m in on the joke. I really wanted last year to be my last year, but I’m still around … Maybe I just shouldn’t be there. They think I’m fucking dumb. Like, I’m literally painted out to be this big, dumb idiot.”

Davidson is set to star in the upcoming film The King of Staten Island, which releases on June 12.

[Via]

Dr. Fauci got his wish. Earlier in the month, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases joked that he wanted actor Brad Pitt to play him on SNL, and that’s what exactly happened this weekend.

For this Saturday’s in-home edition of SNL, Brad Pitt served as a guest where he played Dr. Anthony Fauci. In a grey wig and wire-frame glasses, Pitt (as Fauci) fact checked all of Trump’s ridiculous statements he has said to the American people about the coronavirus, including his most recent remarks about suggesting we try to get “light inside the body” or pursue some way of injecting disinfectant. “When I hear things like ‘the virus can be cured if everyone takes the Tide Pod challenge,’ I’ll be there to say, ‘Please don’t.’”

Pitt also mocked Trump’s promise early on in the coronavirus pandemic that “everybody gets a test” and that those tests are “beautiful.” “I don’t know if I would call the tests beautiful, unless your idea of beauty is having a cotton swab tickle your brain,” Pitt says in the clip. “Also, when he said, ‘everyone can get a test,’ he meant almost no one.”

Pitt then delivered a message to the real Dr. Fauci and all the first responders in America, thanking them for all their hard work. Check out the hilarious, yet true clip (below).

Despite not having access to the studio, Saturday Night Live still aired last night, it just did it in a non-traditional manner from home. Tom Hanks appeared from the kitchen to perform the opening monologue, where he commented on his COVID-19 diagnosis.

Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

"Why me as host?" he begins. "Well, for one, I have been the celebrity canary in the coal mine for the coronavirus."

Hanks was diagnosed in March with COVID-19 while in Australia.

"Ever since being diagnosed I have been more like America's dad than ever before since no one wants to be around me very long and I make people uncomfortable," Hanks says.

"It's good to be here, but it's also weird to be here hosting 'Saturday Night Live' from home," he says. "It is a strange time to try and be funny, but trying to be funny is 'SNL's' whole thing, so what the heck, let's give it a shot."

He goes on to crack jokes about social distancing, Australian accents and more.

The entire episode features a handful of guest appearances including Larry David, Fred Armisen, Alec Baldwin and more. Pete Davidson even does a parody of Drake's "Toosie Slide," which you can check out here.

It looks like Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is adjusting to the transition of taping the sketch comedy show from home quite well. The comedian joined his fellow SNL cast members over video chat on Saturday to perform their first episode since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. hard. Each cast member, along with celebrity guest and recently-recovered coronavirus patient, Tom Hanks, hopped on their computers in their respective homes to participate in some hilarious sketches together.

 Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for New York Magazine

As for Pete, he opted to go solo for a pre-taped sketch filmed in his mom's basement in Staten Island where he lives, parodying Drake's viral "Toosie Slide" music video/dance tutorial, which was filmed in the rapper's slightly more affluent home in Toronto.

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci has seen viral fame since being thrust into the spotlight as the man updating the United States on the COVID-19 outbreak. CNN asked Fauci what the odds are that he makes an appearance on Saturday Night Live and who should play him.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

"I have no idea," he laughs. "I hope not." The interviewer offers up Brad Pitt and Ben Stiller as options to play him. "Brad Pitt, of course," he remarks.

SNL has been off the air for the last month during the Coronavirus pandemic but is set to return on April 11. The show is using the hashtag "#SNLAtHome" to promote the premiere.

"The virus kind of decides whether it’s favorable to open or not. I would want to see us clearly and strongly going in the right direction," Fauci says in the interview.

Fauci went on to note that Easter is not an excuse to cut down on the social distancing guidelines: "Even though we’re in a holiday season, now is no time to back off."

As of April 11, there have been 525,816 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the United States and over 20,000 deaths nationwide.

Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg’s hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch, “Dick In A Box,” almost never made it to air after the FCC intervened. The singer sat down with Hot Ones host Sean Evans on Thursday for the finale of the Youtube series’ eleventh season. The two of them dug into some spicy wings and discussed JT’s long career, which has included five hosting gigs on SNL. JT has been a fan favourite SNL host due to his natural charm and charisma, as well as his impeccable comedic timing and good chemistry with some of the sketch show’s cast members, particularly Andy Samberg. Justin and Andy, along with the comedian’s Lonely Island group, appeared in several musical sketches together on SNL, but one that definitely stands out is the absurdly ridiculous, “Dick In A Box.” During his visit to the Hot Ones table (likely filmed prior to the coronavirus pandemic), Justin shared a never-before-told story about the making of “Dick In A Box,” and one particular obstacle they faced.

JT reveals that it was SNL creator Lorne Micheals’ idea for Justin and Andy to do a pre-recorded sketch together, and he notes that they “hit it off immediately.” They decided to play two friends stuck in another era, donning silk suits, Herringbone chains, and carefully coiffed facial hair. An SNL writer came up with the idea to pull the popcorn prank seen in the sketch, which Justin thought was “super creepy.” However, they came to realize that the move was “super appropriate for two guys who are are super misled about what’s appropriate.” From that point on, the concept was born.

Theo Wargo/WireImage/Getty Images

However, after filming the video “all day” on Friday until 3:00am on Saturday morning, they were confronted by the FCC about their use of obscene language. “They said, “You can’t say ‘dick’ on the air,'” Justin explained. “And we were like, ‘Oh, right.'” Thankfully, they worked it out with the FCC, and they were able to air the sketch after bleeping out all 16 uses of the word “dick” in the song. “The irony of that,” Justin said, “is that bleeped-out version I think is the funnier version.” Catch his full Hot Ones interview below:

As the spread of Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc and derail plans across the globe, it was announced that the forthcoming James Bond film, No Time To Die, is having its release postponed from April to November 2020. Public health concerns could likely lead to theatres being temporarily closed in multiple countries, which would seriously harm box office numbers and disappoint Bond fanatics. Obviously, the movie’s star, Daniel Craig, had to address this turn of events during his Saturday Night Live monologue. 

Craig told the audience how the film’s producers were kind enough to allow him to air a new preview of No Time To Die during SNL. The sneak peak takes place in a casino, where James Bond enters and immediately starts fancying a fine lady. While this is usually the part in a Bond movie where the female love interest swoons over the secret agent, in this parody, he lacks any charisma. His smoothness, his propriety and his composure are totally absent. He’s a messy and unlucky gambler at a chaotic Craps table. 

Also on SNL last night, The Weeknd premiered a new song titled “Scared To Live” off his upcoming album After Hours. He also performed the previously-released single, “Blinding Lights”. 

The Weeknd gave Saturday Night Live viewers a taste of some new music when he performed his never-before-heard song, “Scared To Live,” alongside composer Oneohtrix Point Never. After performing his hit, “Blinding Lights,” off his highly anticipated upcoming album, After Hours, dropping March 20th, The Weeknd took the stage at Studio 8H in his signature red outfit once again to debut a new song.

“Scared To Live” falls right in line with the revamped sound of The Weeknd’s current musical era. The track actually samples the original score from the the Safdie Brothers’ critically acclaimed film, Uncut Gems, which The Weeknd himself starred in. The whole soundtrack for the film was composed by the highly talented musician Daniel Lopatin, better known by his recording alias Oneohtrix Point Never, who joined The Weeknd onstage for his performance. The Weeknd also interpolated Elton John’s “Your Song” on “Scared To Live,” which will presumably be featured on After Hours as well.

On Wednesday, The Weeknd premiered a short film for the album’s title track. After dropping the album, he’ll be hitting the road for the After Hours tour, kicking off in Vancouver on June 11th.

After Pete Davidson revealed during his Netflix comedy special, Alive From New York, that he was “forced” to apologize to politician Dan Crenshaw for mocking him on Saturday Night Live, the Texas congressman has insisted that Pete just “can’t stop thinking about” him. Pete acknowledged the incident during his special, explaining that he “made fun of this guy with an eye patch and then, like, I kind of got forced to apologize.” The apology took place on the Weekend Update segment of SNL, in which Pete brought Crenshaw out in order to say sorry to him face to face. During the Netflix special, Pete also noted that the whole ordeal unintentionally made the lawmaker more famous. Crenshaw has since been made aware that Pete regrets making the apology and that he never really wanted to do it in the first place.

During an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Crenshaw was asked by host Brian Kilmeade about Pete’s comments in the special. “I can’t get out of Pete Davidson’s head. He’s been thinking about me a lot for the last year. I’m not sure his jokes always land, but it is what it is.”

“It’s a little sad,” the Republican lawmaker went on to say about the situation. “We had a really good moment, you know, at that time in 2018. America liked it. The left and right liked it. So, you know, we don’t really want to ruin that.” During the apology segment on SNL, Pete and Crenshaw paid tribute to Pete’s late father, a firefighter who died in 9/11. “The Pete Davidson I remember,” Crenshaw continues, “he went out to buy some cigarettes while we were rehearsing and he came back because he had found this lighter that said ‘Never Forget’ on it and he gave that to me as a gesture. He said this was kind of cool that this happened to come up as he was buying cigarettes.”

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

“I think he meant well at the time,” he concluded. “You can never tell with comedians. Who knows how much he had to drink beforehand. I don’t know, we don’t have to take it too seriously…To be fair, if we took everything that comedians said on a Netflix special seriously, man our country would be in a world of hurt,” he noted. “I would like to remember the guy that I saw in person and hung out with that night.”