WATCH + LAUGH Micheal Keaton hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, and it led to one of the show’s best opening monologues in years. SNL cast members Taran Killam and Bobby Moynihan giddily flanked the movie star and musically asked the question that was in the hearts of all kids who grew up on Keaton’s films from the ’80s: “Will you play Batman/Beetlejuice with us, Michael Keaton?” Soak in the sonic nerdiness.
LISTEN All right, the National pretty much makes anti-pick-me-up music, but fans of the indie rock mopers felt a break to their solemness when the band shared “Sunshine on My Back” last week. The typically melancholy track, which features background vocals from Sharon Van Etten, was an unused tune from the band’s recording session for its most recent album, Trouble Will Find Me. The song can be purchased as a single or comes with a purchase or rental of the documentary Mistaken for Strangers, which chronicles the relationship between the the National’s lead singer Matt Berninger and his slacker brother, Tom.
FUNNY GOODBYES After 18 years as one of Conan O’Brien’s top writers, Brian Stack made his final appearance on Conan last week. Anyone who has watched the three incarnations of O’Brien’s show over the years knows the huge impact Stack had on the programs’ brilliant comedic stupidity. Conan honored his departure with a supercut featuring some of his most hilarious characters (including one that probably shouldn’t have legally been performed live after O’Brien’s messy breakup with NBC).
Laugh + Learn At the start of last night’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver gave notice that it would be an extended episode, but wouldn’t say exactly why. Turns out he managed to pull off a rather large interview get. The prior week he’d flown to Russia to interview the man behind the 2013 National Security Agency leak, Edward Snowden. It was all part of the show’s segment on domestic surveillance. Long story short, because it’s such a complex issue that many Americans ignore (if you haven’t yet seen it, you should really steal someone’s HBO Go password and watch this year’s Academy Award–winning documentary Citizenfour), Oliver had Snowden explain the government overreach in terms of nude photos. Basically, if you’ve ever sexted, the U.S. government has your nude photos. The surveillance segment isn’t brief, but it’s superbly executed and worth the time investment.
PURE BLISS Let’s end by setting a goal. As you go about your week, try to achieve the same level of absolute joy that this young Warriors fan (who absolutely rules) experienced after Stephen Curry hit a crucial late three-pointer en route to a home win. Good luck with that.
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