Carell Kicks Off ‘SNL’ Season
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) The increasingly ubiquitous Steve Carell has been tapped to host “Saturday Night Live” when NBC’s venerable late-night show begins its 31st season next week.
Carell, star of “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” and NBC’s “The Office,” will take his first turn as host of the show on Saturday, Oct. 1. He’ll be joined by musical guest Kanye West, whose last live appearance on NBC caused some controversy. Appearing on NBC’s Hurricane Katrina benefit Sept. 2, West harshly criticized media coverage of New Orleans’ African-American community and ended his remarks by proclaiming that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
Although Carell has never appeared on the “SNL” stage before, he has contributed to the show in the past. He and fellow “Daily Show” alum Stephen Colbert provided the voices of Ace and Gary, “The Ambiguously Gay Duo,” in a series of animated shorts on the show a few years back.
“Napoleon Dynamite” and “Just Like Heaven” star Jon Heder is set to host on Oct. 8, while Catherine Zeta-Jones and Franz Ferdinand will headline the Oct. 22 show. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong takes the hosting reins Oct. 29, with his fiancee, Sheryl Crow, performing as the musical guest.
“Saturday Night Live” has also added two featured players to its cast this season, Bill Hader and Andy Samberg. Hader previously worked as a “field agent” on MTV’s “Punk’d” and performed at Second City Los Angeles. Samberg has worked on shows for web-based TV network Channel101.com and written for the MTV Movie Awards.
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