Slowly but surely, Jim Henson’s legacy is growing bigger and bigger in the public eye, all thanks to the power of viral videos. The Muppets have pulled in millions of views and awards with their antics and music videos, while Sesame Street is still going strong on PBS with some impressive guest stars like Ryan Reynolds and Terrence Howard. It seems like one neighborhood monster in particular is aiming for the stars, as Cookie Monster has publicly put out an audition to host SNL.

The video is proof that the brilliant minds behind Sesame Street aren’t just making mindless children’s entertainment, as Cookie Monster refers to himself as a glutton and spoofs things like MacGruber, Lady GaGa, and the format of SNL itself. There is even an official Facebook campaign to make this happen. That’s right, this is real.

Not many remember this, but Henson’s Muppets and Lorne Michael’s SNL have a history dating back to the first season of SNL, when the Muppets got their very first time in the spotlight on the show once a week. So before you write the idea off as being another gimicky hosting trend, it could very well happen.

Check out the audition after the jump, and by all means, help Cookie Monster host SNL!

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Sad news hit the comedy world last week, as it was announced that Saturday Night Live cast member for just over 8 years Will Forte will not be returning for the show’s upcoming 36th season. But, much like the circle of life, where we lose one, we get another…or in this case, three new lives in the SNL world.

No word on whether it was Forte’s decision to leave or Lorne Michaels’ way of mixing things up right before the new season, as he’s prone to do. What we do know, however, is that Forte’s publicist says that he’s “eternally grateful” to Michaels, along with the cast and crew.

With that said, a new report is out that the show will be getting 3 new faces come this fall. From the NY Post:

Taran Killam, a refugee from the cast of the long-running sitcom “Scrubs,” and two young comedians from Chicago — Paul Brittain and Vanessa Bayer – have been signed to the cast.

Among the new cast members, Killam, 28, is by far the best known. He became free when the proposed series he’d been working on — the Arianna Huffington-produced comedy called “Freshman,” about three first-term congressmen living together in the same D.C. apartment — was not picked up by ABC.

Brittain and Bayer are little known outside Chicago, where they have starred in stage comedies and done stand-up.

While the new of Forte leaving is sad enough on it’s own, other reports are coming in that Seth Meyers, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis and Kenan Thompson are still up in the air as to whether or not they will return next season.

Saturday Night Live has had fans of comedy split into groups since its first major cast change in 1980. Since then, dozens of factions have formed who believe solely that “SNL stopped being funny when [INSERT NAME HERE] left the show.” That statement has been said about just about every past cast member going as far back as Chevy Chase and as current as Amy Pohler.

Recently, the show has had a resurgence in popularity. With the weekly digital shorts of Andy Samberg and his band, The Lonely Island, to some of the more popular skits getting made into feature-length films, such as MacGruber, which is in theaters Friday.

Two weeks ago, Lorne Michaels and his team did something a bit off-beat, and took a cue from a grassroots campaign through Facebook to get Betty White to host. The show got enormous ratings, pulling in nearly 12 million viewers during the live broadcast, which is a rarity in the era of DVR’s and HULU.

It seems that they were able to keep the ball rolling, as the next episode, which was this past Saturday’s season finale, pulled in some of the highest ratings for the show in half of a decade. The finale, which featured host Alec Baldwin and musical guest Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, averaged a 5.8 rating and a 14 share, which is the highest for a season finale since 2005 when Lindsay Lohan hosted.

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Not very long ago, some die hard fans of former Golden Girl Betty White put together a grassroots campaign through Facebook to get fans behind the idea of her hosting Saturday Night Live. The moderator put out a plea for people to protest and request NBC employees for her to get a chance to host. Practically over night, the fan group blew up, and is still running strong with over 430,000 members.

It was announced about a week ago that NBC is “this close” to booking White on the show, but she unfortunately comes with a caveat. From Entertainment Weekly:

White would not be hosting alone. Rather, I hear SNL is putting together a “Women of Comedy” episode that would team the former Rose Nylund with several of her younger contemporaries. Ex-SNL MVP Molly Shannon is on board, I hear, and feelers have also been put out to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. (An NBC spokesperson insists no one has been confirmed at this time.)

While the prospect of White hosting all by her lonesome is kind of an awesome one, the thought of having a super show with names like Molly Shannon, Fey, and Pohler back is pretty cool too.

The show is on hiatus for the Olympics, but will return to a full schedule soon with Jennifer Lopez hosting and performing one week, and on of our favorite comedians, Zach Galifiniakis, hosting the following week.

Fans of Saturday Night Live and Will Forte rejoice! The very first trailer for the upcoming MacGruber, based on the Will Forte SNL skit, has finally hit the web, and it looks pretty damned funny.

Penned by Forte, along with other SNL writers Jorma Taccone (Hot Rod) and John Solomon, the script adapts the 30-second MacGuyver spoofs in which MacGruber must disarm a ticking bomb, which never happens due to the ensuing antics. The film was stretched and fluffed into a almost spy-like plot in which MacGruber must take down international terrorist Deiter von Cunth (Val Kilmer), all while sporting a blond mullet and looking cool.

This is the first SNL alum-starring, Lorne Michaels-produced film since 2008′s Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Pohler. Expect this film to do better than the aforementioned film, given the talent involved. MacGruber also stars Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Ryan Phillippe, and others.

Check out the very first trailer (Red Band, so NSFW due to language) after the jump, and expect to see MacGruber blowing stuff up on screen on April 23rd.

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A few months ago, we first reported that the Kids in The Hall, Lorne Michael’s bastard Canadian comedy troop, would be making it’s return to (Canadian) TV with an all new series entitled Death Comes To Town. It looks like we’re even closer to getting a return of the outrageous comedy team, as the first trailer has just been released.

The premise feels a little bit like the plot to Hot Fuzz. A local, everyday, suburban town gets it’s world rocked when a series of vicious murders take place, around the same time that Death shows up via Greyhound bus. The entire gang steps in to portray the locals (in typical KIDH fashion), including Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Scott Thompson, Mark McKinney, and Bruce McCulloch.

The story will be doled out in an 8 part mini-series, which will only be available on Canadian Broadcast TV at first (Hello internet download). No news yet on whether it will be syndicated on US TV, but if Lorne Michaels gave the group a chance once, he’s likely to do it 21 years later.

Check out the first promo of Death Comes To Town after the jump and be sure to keep it here for more info as it comes to us.

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