Titillation

When people ask me what I think are my greatest accomplishments as a critic and journalist, I freely admit: I take enormous pride in the self-control I evidenced on two different occasions when I conducted one-on-one interviews with Helen Mirren -- just me and her, all alone -- in posh hotel suites. To my great credit, I did not throw myself on the floor and start sucking her toes. I did not attempt to pour honey on her thighs and start licking it off. I was, in short, a thoroughgoing, respectful professional. Some people, it appears, are not nearly so disciplined. Can't say that I blame them.

SXSW XVII: Saturday Night and For the Sake of the Song: The Story of Anderson Fair

Neither as inside-baseballish as one might have feared nor as revelatory as one might have hoped, Saturday Night sustains interest as a semi-anthropological view of the weeklong creative frenzy that results in a single 90-minute episode of Saturday Night Live. You can read my Variety review here.

Judicious trimming could tighten the focus and maximize the audience potential of For the Sake of the Song: The Story of Anderson Fair, a labor-of-love tribute to Houston's improbably enduring venue for folk and acoustic musicians. You read my Variety review here.

"So you're a dog, right? What's that all about?"

I cackled like a besotted hyena when I saw Andy Samberg's "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" segment last night on Saturday Night Live. And I've laughed just as hard while repeatedly viewing this clip today. Don't get me wrong: I like the political stuff on SNL so far this season. But there's something almost Monty Pythonesque about the off-the-wall, WTF absurdity of this sketch. It helps, of course, that Samberg has Wahlberg nailed. But it also helps that... well, his co-stars are so delightfully deadpan.

Tina Fey strikes again

Plus, this time, she's got Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill. Cowabunga.