‘SNL’ Updates Its Weekend Update

Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers are all about good chemistry. The new anchor duo at NBC’s Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, making their debut this weekend (11:30 p.m. live ET/delayed PT), point out that they’re both from New England. Both got their starts as comedians in Chicago. And they’ve already played a team in a popular SNL sketch: Dan and Sally Needler, “the couple that should be divorced.”

“Seth and I have a very familial, dare I say fraternal, relationship,” Poehler says in a joint interview at SNL’s offices. “We have a very similar sensibility.”

Meyers also “writes great jokes,” she adds, “and I’m really looking forward to saying them and getting credit.”

Meyers has other plans. After Poehler snatched the Update anchor slot from him two years ago in an audition face-off, “My vengeance was to get it with her and torpedo her.”

Wisecracks aside, how they gel may be crucial to determining the health of the late-night staple, which begins its 32nd season. Behind the desk, they follow such storied anchors as Chevy Chase, Dennis Miller and Norm MacDonald.

And under the surface, SNL is weathering its biggest shake-up in years. Producer Lorne Michaels, stuck with what he called “massive” budget cuts, trimmed three cast members: Eight-year veterans Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, and Finesse Mitchell, who joined in 2003.

Two others â€” Rachel Dratch and head writer and Update anchor Tina Fey â€” left to work on 30 Rock, Fey’s NBC sitcom, due Oct. 11. It’s about the goings-on backstage at a show suspiciously like SNL.

SNL had its worst ratings yet last season, averaging 6.5 million viewers, a 6% drop from 2004-05. And amid the cutbacks, a new director was named.

“There’s a ton of transition going on,” says Poehler, 35. Though she says she’ll miss her co-stars, “we’re kind of excited about the idea of a slimmer (cast),” she adds brightly. “Skinny is in right now.” source

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‘SNL’ Updates Its Weekend Update

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