Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch and satirical news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast and been featured in the vast majority of episodes since. It is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance, and with some exceptions is the only sketch not to feature the episode's host.
The format of the sketch involves one or two of the players cast in the role of news anchor, presenting news headlines based on current events that are immediately followed by a gag commentary that twists the context into something humorous. The anchors also act as hosts for occasional editorials, commentaries, or other performances by other cast members or guests, either playing fictionalized versions of themselves, impressions of real-life figures, or invented characters; these guests often display eccentric behavior and baffling commentaries, with the anchors acting as straight people reacting accordingly.
In modern times, dedicated anchors are chosen among writing staff, often lead writers, in lieu of cast or featured players. Chevy Chase, the original cast member filling the role of the anchor, has said that Weekend Update paved the way for comedic news shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report,[1] and several Weekend Update hosts have gone on to host their own late-night talk shows, most notably fellow NBC properties Late Night (Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers) and The Tonight Show (Fallon). The current hosts of the segment are writing staff members and former lead writers Colin Jost and Michael Che; Jost also holds the longest tenure of any Weekend Update host.
- ^ Keller, Joel (April 16, 2007). "A delusional Chevy Chase says he created The Daily Show". AOL TV. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015.
[...] asked what he thought of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, [Chase] took credit for their success. "[I] think that, you know, I started it with my Weekend Update," he responds, implying that the ideas for both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report came directly from WU.