Following one particularly barbed joke about then-president George W. While she never ran the desk solo (she was paired with both Jimmy Fallon and Amy Poehler), she still managed to carve out her own distinct place in the segment’s history thanks to her unique, and hilarious, deadpan style.įey’s jokes were often fully packed-a single sentence would have the audience laughing at three or four spots-and never shied away from the controversial. The longest-running female “Weekend Update” host, Tina Fey began the tradition of writers moving into the head anchor chair.
Episodes: 118 - Seasons: 7 - Tenure: Oct. From Jane Curtain (who took over for Chase) to the current fake news duo Colin Jost and Michael Che, we’re taking a closer look at what’s set these anchors apart and highlighting some of their funniest on-screen moments. In honor of the groundbreaking bit, Stacker has compiled a list of the 10 longest-running “Weekend Update” hosts by episode count. “Weekend Update” remains a core segment on “SNL” some 47 seasons later, though the comedian delivering the fake news report has changed a number of times.
#CHEVY CHASE DENNIS MILLER WEEKEND UPDATE TV#
The first-ever “Weekend Update,” which was a part of the first-ever “SNL” show, opened with the phrase, “And now the fake news.” For two seasons, Chase told jokes about the most outlandish and important news headlines (some real, some imagined), essentially paving the way for the various satirical news shows that dominate late-night TV today.
It was this sort of “fake news” that Chevy Chase, a member of “The Not Ready for Prime-Time Players” (the name the first “SNL” cast gave themselves), wanted to deliver on a segment he called “Weekend Update.” Rather than being a politicized term used to discredit information you don’t agree with, it simply meant made-up stories with no real basis in fact.
In 1975, when “Saturday Night Live” first hit the airwaves, the term “fake news” had a totally different connotation than it does today. Longest-running Weekend Update hosts on SNL