Seen: SNL's Seth Meyers + More Celebs

Seen: SNL's Seth Meyers + More Celebs

Long time Saturday Night Live cast member, head-writer, and anchor of Weekend Update Seth Meyers spoke at Brown yesterday. The New Year’s Eve actor, who also won the third season of Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown and is an avid Red Sox and Celtics fan, was dressed in pure collegiate attire, from his sneakers and jeans to a hoodie. “I do think it’s important for me to say that the weirdest kid in my high school went to Brown," Meyers said to the rambunctious crowd. "He was a really close friend of mine, but he was a super weird dude. And I know you guys want the whole world to think you’re a bunch of John Krasinskis, but I want you to know I had a super weird friend who went here as well. So, it totally evens out.” Meyers hit lots of targets during his stand-up routine, including Michele Bachmann, Anthony Weiner, Joseph Biden, Barack Obama, and even Osama bin Laden. During Q&A, Meyers laughed about kissing Bill Hader, admitted Kristen Wiig was the funniest co-star at SNL, Amy Poehler was his best friend at the show, and that if he had to pick a co-host for Weekend Update, it would be Brian Williams.

Another funnyman visited Brown as well this past week. On Sunday, former SNL cast member and current US Senator Al Franken accepted the Brown Democrats’ 2012 John F. Kennedy Jr. Award for inspiring youth in politics.  He spoke to students about life on Capitol Hill, and the difficulties Democrats have faced the past few years. He did not pull any punches when talking about his Republican colleagues, calling the conservative Supreme Court Judges “awful” and laying most of the blame for ideological roadblocks to progress on the shoulders of Republicans. He was a bit kinder about the current SNL cast, who has been under some criticism lately for contributing to what people see as the declining quality of the show.  Franken said, “They do some wonderful stuff…it’s spotty, but we’re always spotty.” A statement that can be applied to comedy as well as politics…

Two ladies from Rhode Island are heading to the small and big screen. Michaela McManus from Warwick (and a Tollgate High School grad) is starring in the much talked about new Thursday drama Awake on NBC.  McManus plays Tara, tennis coach to main character Michael’s (Jason Isaacs) son and a potential love interest. McManus is known from such shows as The Vampire Diaries, One Tree Hill, and Law and Order: SVU, plus she is currently filming Red Machine with James Marsden and Billy Bob Thorton. The other woman making it big is Johnston native Amanda Clayton, who is in the new Disney science fiction action film John Carter, which was just released this weekend. The movie is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 11-volume Barsoom series of novels, and Clayton is playing the role of Sarah Carter.  Maybe one day they’ll join Viola Davis in the ranks of Rhody Oscar nominees…

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All summer we gave you the biggest news about Wes Anderson’s film Moonrise Kingdom, as it was filmed in Middletown, Newport, Prudence Island, and other locations around the state. Finally, it is completed and it was just announced that it will have the honor of opening the 65th Cannes Film Festival this year, which begins on May 16. Starring Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman, Edward Norton, and others, the film follows two young lovers who run away in New England in 1965. Moonrise Kingdom will be shown in cinemas all over France before coming to the States, so some lucky Europeans will be exposed to some lovely Rhode Island scenery…

I know this is going to break some of your hearts, but John Mayer will no longer be coming to the Providence Performing Arts Center in April, or anywhere else. He announced Friday that he will be taking an indefinite hiatus from performing due to the return of the granuloma in his throat. He was treated for the same medical condition in 2011 and was on vocal rest for much of that year. This was to be his first tour in two years, to promote his new album Born and Raised, which will still be released on May 22. Mayer wrote on his tumblr, “Nothing feels worse than having to break the stage down before the performance, and I mean nothing…The only thing that stops me from devolving into a puddle of tears is knowing that it's a long life, and the greatest gift in the world is being able to create music no matter what the circumstances.” Guess his body isn’t a wonderland right now…

A Rhode Island-produced movie just became massively available through Redbox. The film is Loosies, the feature film by East Greenwich-based company Verdi Productions. The movie, directed by Michael Corrente and starring Peter Facinelli, Jaimie Alexander, Vincent Gallo, and Michael Madsen, is about a NYC pickpocket who needs to change his life after finding out that an old girlfriend is pregnant with his baby. With DVD sales topping 50,000 and the high numbers in viewership, Verdi is also planning to release a soundtrack from the film with original songs composed and performed by American Idol alumnus Paul McDonald. Verdi is also working on re-directing and editing its horror film Infected for release on Halloween 2012. Make sure to go check these home-grown movies out…

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