Saturday night viewers of NBC didn't get a new episode of Saturday Night Live, but 150 audience members at the UCB Theater did! Live and un-aired, the show was to help raise money for crew members affected by the strike. Amy Poehler, who organized the event, made this statement:
"The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater is a second home to a lot of these performers and writers. We are doing this to raise spirits, raise awareness, and raise money for our hard working production crews who will be having a hard holiday season if this strike continues."
According to the NY Post, guests included Darrell Hammond, "Freaks and Geeks" star Samm Levine and host Michael Cera. In addition, everyone from the cast was on hand -- except Maya Rudolph. Lorne Michaels, who celebrated his 63rd birthday that night, was even in attendance. As for the audience, a majority of it was comprised of friends of cast members and regular performers at UCB, so the show was just as hard to get into as the regular SNL taping at Studio 8H. Tonight another hard to get into show will be hosted at UCB when 30 Rock takes the stage (this won't be Alec Baldwin's first time performing at the venue either), though the site still says a limited amount of tickets will be available at the door.
The Times has a slideshow from the event, and it looks like Samberg and Armisen performed their Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rap! And the musical guest? Yo La Tengo. Check out the Times play-by-play of the night, here, and a more exhaustive play-by-play at Huffington Post.
Photo via The New York Times
