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Molly Shannon backs Kenan Thompson to take over from 'genius' Lorne Michaels as 'SNL' showrunner
NBC/Theo Wargo/NBC via Getty Images
- Molly Shannon says Lorne Michaels is "irreplaceable" as "SNL" showrunner.
- But there's one current cast member she seems to think could one day take the reins β Kenan Thompson.
- Thompson is the longest-tenured cast member in the NBC show's history.
Actor Molly Shannon has backed the idea of Kenan Thompson one day taking over from longtime "Saturday Night Live" showrunner Lorne Michaels, despite calling Michaels "irreplaceable."
Asked what she thought about Thompson potentially taking the reins at the NBC show in an interview with People, Shannon, who was a cast member between 1995 and 2001, said it was "an excellent idea."
"I love this idea. He's the greatest β I adore Kenan," she said, adding that he was "so talented."
Thompson joined "SNL" in 2003 and is the longest-tenured cast member in its history, notching his 22nd season this year.
Rumors of Michaels' retirement grew as "SNL" neared its 50th anniversary earlier this year, fueling speculation over who could take over as showrunner.
For Shannon, it seems the show will never be the same, no matter who comes in.
"There's no one who could replace him. It would not be the same show," Shannon told People of Michaels, who created the sketch comedy show in 1975. "He's just a one-of-a-kind genius. Brilliant. Smart."
"It's his show, his vision," she added.
In September 2024, Michaels, 80, addressed speculation over his future, telling The Hollywood Reporter he had no "immediate" plans to retire.
"Iβ―just know that this is kind of what I do and as long as I can keep doing it, I'll keep doing it," he said at the time.
NBC/Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images
Earlier this year, Thompson hinted that fans of "SNL" could see a major shakeup when the show returns following the wrap of its 50th season.
"Especially this year where it feels like there's maybe, possibly, a lot of change next year," he told Page Six. "You want everyone to stay forever, knowing that people may be making decisions this summer."
He added that he had yet to sign a new contract for the coming season but expressed interest in returning.
"You just never know what the future holds," he said. "I don't want to be in the way of someone else."
"I don't want to be the stale old man riding the same old thing. That doesn't really happen that much at 'SNL' but there's no guarantees," he added.
Representatives for "SNL" and Thompson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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My husband asked me to change my last name to his when we got married. Years later, he apologized.
Courtesy of Tiffany Nieslanik
- After getting engaged, I joked to my husband that we should both change our last names together.
- He didn't find it funny and really wanted me to take his last name.
- A few years ago, he apologized for suggesting that I take his name over mine.
In the early days of our engagement, one of my favorite ways to tease my husband was to come up with new last names we could take when we got married.
I would joke that rather than taking his last name, we could both go through the identity change together. We could start fresh with something cool, something that was just ours.
But my future husband, whose extended family throws reunions that are essentially small festivals, didn't find it funny.
My husband wanted me to take his last name, while I was ambivalent
It wasn't that I was emotionally tied to my previous last name. Saying and spelling "Childs" for the rest of my life was just easier than "Nieslanik". Not to mention, it feels weird to think of yourself as one person with one name for so many years, only to change that. My name was a fundamental part of who I was. To change it in my mid-thirties felt strange.
Courtesy of the author
Plus, there is the bureaucratic red tape that comes with changing your name. Birth certificate, driver's license, passport, and bills. Changing your name is like updating your entire identity one tedious form at a time. At the end of the day, though, I knew how much it would mean to my husband if I took his last name. And part of that was because I had already changed my name once.
It wasn't my first last name change
My last name when I met my husband wasn't the one I was born with. Ironically, in my late teens, I'd already gone through a name change after a short-lived first marriage. My maiden name had been a mouthful that people always messed up, so adopting a simpler one was a relief. Plus, no one in my immediate family shared my last name. My mom had given me her maiden name, but she remarried and took my stepfather's last name, as did my half-brother, whom they had together. I was the only one left with a hard name no one else seemed to want.
The fact that I had changed my name before, no matter the reason, didn't sit well with my soon-to-be husband. If I had changed it before, he argued, why wouldn't I be willing to change it again? This time, for him. It felt like a personal slight, which I understood.
Beyond that, my husband comes from a large, close-knit family who do all share the same last name. Every summer, they gather in the hundreds for a family reunion and have streets named after them in towns sprinkled across the Western Slope of Colorado. As an only child, he felt we needed to carry on the name for his family branch by having me take his name.
He had a strong internal belief that members of the same family should have the same name. Although his family is relatively liberal, they shared the cultural expectation that a woman takes her husband's name when they marry. And he had some pride wrapped up in the idea that I would carry his nameβthat when people met us, they would know that we belonged together.
I don't mind that I changed my name
Since I had no strong objections, I did end up changing my name, and I never really looked back. I used a service that helped me change all my accounts, IDs, and paperwork in one (mostly) easy go, so the hassle was more minimal than expected.
Courtesy of the author
Now, more than a decade later, I see several upsides to having changed my last name. For example, it's uncommon, so I rarely get confused with anyone else. As a writer, I find that beneficial. I like having the same last name as our children, and I'm glad I didn't have to think about whose name we should give them or if we should hyphenate. And I've realized that my last name has a lot of personality. If that means I have to spell it an extra time or two, the trade-off is now worth it in my opinion.
These days, however, my husband has had a change of heart about the situation
A few years ago, my husband apologized to me for "making" me change my name. He mentioned how silly he thought his reasonings were now, that he understood having the same last name is kind of arbitrary. He pointed out that it affects literally no part of our lives together in a substantial way. My favorite realization that he mentioned was how our love is so much greater than a shared last name. Then, he asked if I'd like to change my name back.
The thought of returning to the ease of "Childs" as a last name has its appeal, but I couldn't help but laugh. I have zero desire to go through that paperwork again. Not unless he wants to revisit that original idea of picking a brand-new name together. And he's willing to file the forms himself this time.
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Bessent casts some shade over Musk's new political party
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday he imagined that Elon Musk's businesses' boards weren't so keen on the Tesla CEO's unveiling of his new "America Party."
The big picture: The world's richest man β who before his explosive fallout with President Trump said he'd do a lot less political spending moving forward β became a GOP mega-donor last year. Now, the billionaire seems intent on carving a new political path.
- Irate over Trump's recently signed "big, beautiful bill," the former DOGE leader is turning his sights away from what he described as "the two-party (some would say uniparty) system" and plans to form his own party.
Driving the news: Bessent, with whom Musk once had a heated spat in the White House, said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that "the principles of DOGE were very popular" β but Musk was not.
- Musk's massive slashes through the federal government left a bruise on his reputation and his company.
- A March NBC News poll found that 46% of voters thought creating DOGE was a good idea, while 40% said it was bad βΒ but when asked to broadly rate their feelings on DOGE, 47% had a negative view, compared to 41% who held a positive view. And 51% had a negative view of Musk himself.
What he's saying: "I believe that the boards of directors at his various companies wanted him to come back and run those companies, which he is better at than anyone," Bessent told CNN's Dana Bash.
- He continued, "I imagine that those boards of directors did not like this announcement yesterday, and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities."
Catch up quick: Musk announced on Saturday that he would launch "the America Party," which he claimed would "give you back your freedom."
- Musk said in a response that the party would caucus independently and that "legislative discussions would be had with both parties."
Yes, but: There are steps Musk must take to formally register a political party, and recent Federal Election Commission filings don't show that has yet happened.
What we're watching: The day prior, he shared a poll to his followers asking whether he should create a new political party and suggested part of his strategy would be to "laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts."
- Musk didn't specify what those specific races would be.
- He added, "Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people."
Billionaire Mark Cuban and Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly worked in for Trump during his first term, both appeared interested.
- Cuban replied to Musk's post with emojis of fireworks and fire, and wrote in a separate post: "I work with @voterchoice. They will help you get on ballots. That is their mission."
- Scaramucci retweeted Musk and wrote: "I would like to meet to discuss. My DMs are open."
Go deeper: Elon Musk floats strategy for new political party
Palmer Luckey named his latest company Erebor, a reference to 'The Lord of the Rings.' Here are the other tech companies inspired by the fantasy series.
New Line/WireImage
- Silicon Valley executives are big fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."
- Many founders have turned to the series for inspiration when naming their companies and products.
- From Erebor to Rivendell, here are all the tech industry's nods to "The Lord of the Rings."
"The Lord of the Rings," or LotR to those in the know, isn't just standard reading among those in the tech industry.
It also inspires their ventures.
Billionaire PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, for instance, has started several companies inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien series.
The fantasy trilogy, a sequel to 1937's "The Hobbit," was first published in the mid-1950s. It follows an unlikely hero, Frodo Baggins, as he and a team of allies adventure across Middle Earth to destroy a powerful ring that could bring darkness to the world if it fell into the hands of Sauron, the dark lord.
On Halloween in 2018, the Salesforce Tower, a hallmark of the San Francisco skyline, was lit to resemble the ever-watchful "Eye of Sauron."
"'Lord of the Rings' represents a group of people going out and doing something extraordinary," Quinn Reilly, a longtime fan who helped organize the Salesforce tower lighting, previously told BI. "That's not unlike the mission that most startups set out to go on."
Here is an ongoing list of Silicon Valley's top "Lord of the Rings"-inspired companies.
Erebor
Getty Images/Patrick T. Fallon
Billionaire tech founder Palmer Luckey's new digital bank for startups and cryptocurrency companies is named after the Lonely Mountain, the wealthy subterranean kingdom and Dwarven stronghold in "The Lord of the Rings."
The bank is set to be valued at $2 billion, sources told BI, and has funding from Thiel, via his Founders Fund, and Joe Lonsdale, via 8VC.
Anduril
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Another Luckey venture, the defense-tech startup Anduril, founded in 2017, is named after the legendary sword used by Aragorn, a hero in "The Lord of the Rings" story. Anduril means "Flame of the West."
The company has been at the forefront of AI-powered innovations in warfare, from drones to autonomous weapons systems.
Palantir
Palantir β founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Alex Karp β is a government-focused software giant. It takes its name from the mystical, all-powerful seeing stone in "The Lord of the Rings" series.
Mithril Capital
John Lamparski/Getty Images
Thiel launched Mithril Capital in 2012 to invest in late-stage startups. The firm, which counts Vice President JD Vance among its alumni, takes its name from a valuable and rare precious metal used to make armor and jewelry in "The Lord of the Rings." It's a symbol of wealth and status.
Durin Mining
The startup, founded by Ted Feldmann last year, builds and automates drill rigs for mineral discovery. Its name is inspired by a lineage of dwarf kings in "The Lord of the Rings." Dwarves are famous for their mining skills.
Rivendell One LLC
New Line Cinema
Rivendell, often described in the novels as a hidden sanctuary in Middle Earth, is home to the elven kingdom. It is also a trust that Thiel uses to invest and manage his Facebook shares.
Lembas LLC
Lembas, another investment vehicle Thiel founded, is a special food made by elves in "The Lord of the Rings" series. It's light and nutritious and a good snack that sustains elves as they travel across Middle Earth.
Valar Ventures
Valar Ventures, a venture capital firm cofounded by Thiel, Andrew McCormack, and James Fitzgerald, is a reference to a group of powerful beings with godlike powers revered in Middle Earth.
There's also a startup called Valar that is building gigasites for nuclear reactors.
Sauron Systems
YouTube/Warner Bros
This home security system that leverages AI is named after Sauron, the main character of "The Lord of the Rings," who seeks the powerful ring to rule all of Middle Earth. The Eye of Sauron is ever-watchful and all-seeing.