SNL 40

Visiting 30 Rock and 8-H in 2013.

I am a huge nerd, I have admitted it in the past and I will continue to admit it into the future. One of the things that gets my nerd juices flowing the fastest is Saturday Night Live. Last night was SNL40, the highlight of my storm-stayed holiday long weekend at home. I have been waiting for the huge special that aired last night since I first caught wind of it and believe me, it did not disappoint. After over a year of hard work the special was absolutely magical to me.

My Highlights:

-Bradley Cooper making out with Betty White.

-The auditions feature during the show with clips of SNL favourites auditions back in the day.

-Chris Rock’s tribute to Eddie Murphy.

-The montages, all of em’.

-Tributes to my hero Lorne Michaels throughout the night, my favourite one had to be during Adam

Sandler and Andy’s Samberg’s Digital Short. 

My Forgettable Moments:

-Miley Cyrus’s performance, it was good but had everyone in my house scratching their heads.

-Eddie Murphy’s 73-second appearance.

This morning I woke up and re-watched most of the special again and there are honestly very few things I would cut. I thought Jerry Seinfeld’s question and answer segment was great but would have been better without Dakota Johnson’s awkward plug for her upcoming episode and a throw to the uncomfortable antics of Ellen Cleghorne. Also, the Californians went a too long. It was an absolute treat to see Wayne and Garth back together and impersonating Lorne.

My favourite moment is a hard one to judge, but it would have to be Celebrity Jeopardy.

I could go on and on about the magic of SNL 40 last night, unfortunately some people failed to see it. The internet is a-buzz today with feedback about the special but I think the most important thing to remember about SNL is something that I was told when touring NBC and visiting the SNL set.

Studio 8-H is tiny, it truly is. The crew does an incredible job making it look WAY bigger than it really is. That is one of the reasons it is so hard to get tickets to the show. During the tour they tell you that the show is not created each Saturday night for the people in the audience, it is made to watch at home. Last night’s Sunday night special was a change in format, I watched it as a performance for the incredible cast and crew that has made SNL over the past 40 years. From the comfort of my home I felt like I was peeping into a window watching something special created by and for some of the most talented comedians to ever live. It is hard to articulate exactly how I feel about last night’s show, but I feel privileged to say that I watched it and that I visited 8-H a place where magic truly does happen.

Last night it was exciting to see the incredible casts of the past work with the contemporary SNL night crew. I have mourned many people leaving the show in the past few years only to be blown away by the incredible new talent that joins the cast. It was wonderful to see them all working together.

If you have not watched SNL40 yet make sure you watch it all soon, do not just watch the clips online you will not get the incredible impact of the entire show as it was meant to be seen.

One final note, THANK YOU to everyone who has worked at SNL in the past and continues to provide laughs for the future. As I type this there are three people on screen in the TV show that I am watching (not SNL) that were once on SNL working together with other talented comedians to produce one of the funniest shows on television right now. Saturday Night Live has made the world a funnier, better place.

Also, props to Global TV here in Canada for live streaming SNL 40 for FREE online. Now SNL start letting Canadians view your YouTube videos, common' Lorne I know you have the power!

A Proud Moment Thanks to a Childhood Watching Oprah

Both Dane and Oprah are visibly proud of me.

Time has been flying away; it is hard to believe I used to have time to write everyday! 

Yes, my blog used to be part of my job and now that I have branched out into the world of marketing, finance and banking I really do not have time to write my humble thoughts in a trivial blog daily. But, I do miss it. 

Today at work I was challenged by weaving my fine radio skills with the art of ad writing for radio. Normally this is not so much a challenge, but an almost fun creative writing exercise. Over the past week it has not been, it has been a learning experience just to get through all the material I need to know before writing an ad for products that I am still rather naive about. I know have the first drafts of both spots done and I am about to start the editing process and mark up all the beautiful white paper I can. So, I thought I would share the inspiration for the second of the two ads I have just penned because it is a moment from my childhood I will never forget. 

I was 15 when this Oprah episode aired and I remember thinking to myself, "no way Oprah would ever drive one of those cars, she is a better actress than everyone gives her credit for". Today, I called up this moment in television history and twisted it for my own purposes for a radio ad. I will share it when the time comes for it to be produced, if it is ever produced. There is still a chance that it will end up in a paper ball on my floor at home or in a recycling bin in my boss's office. Regardless, nothing can take away the happiness I feel right now as I check this item off my to-do list. 

Here it is: 

I think anyone who enjoys a laugh can watch that without thinking about Dane Cook's bit on the same episode. Honestly, my inspiration was about 1/3 Oprah and 2/3 Dane Cook for the ad so here is that moment as well:

1/3 Oprah, 2/3 Dane Cook not a bad combination right? 

Just in case you are wondering what my inspiration was for the straight ad I wrote, the one I am much less proud of well it was $$$. Dolla-dolla bills. 

Pick A Puppy!

Television channels that were originally dedicated to promoting and playing music have been the source of endless jokes here in Canada because of their lacklustre attempts to meet their mission statement over the past few years. I have been a champion of knocking MuchMusic, CMT and the like for allowing YouTube to takeover the music video scene. It all started so innocent with spinoff shows that were relevant to music and then these channels just gave up and started airing shows that have no business on airwaves that should be representing a genre of music.

I could rant about this all day, but this blog is a little bit of an apology to the CMT network. On top of being a little critical of our Canadian music television channels for checking out of the music game for a majority of the day, I had been especially hard on the CMT network for their television show “Pick A Puppy”. I still think it is crazy that there is an entire television show dedicated to families picking out their dream puppy, but after a couple of weeks with free reign to pick my own puppy I have come to the conclusion it is much more difficult than I originally thought.

My afternoons have been spent visiting my Grandmother’s ten new additions to the family and I have been having an impossible time deciding on the puppy I want to bring home forever. We have it narrowed down to three but time is ticking down. People have begun visiting and claiming their own new little furry friends and I feel a little hopeless. Boy? Girl? Who knows! It is between two big boys and the tiniest little girl. One of the boys is a little bear who can fall asleep anywhere. The other boy we have named Ruxin, he is slightly whiny and has a white tuft on his stomach. The smallest girl is adorable. She does her own thing and is never with the other puppies (they kind of pick on here). My grandmother babied her to ensure she received enough food during the first few weeks; she is still small but she is incredibly feisty. I call her Gadget and I think she might be my favourite.

I have no idea how this is going to turn out. Will we end up with a big, lazy boy or a small energetic girl? Will they all end up massive black labs in the end? One more time, who knows?

We will see in the next couple of weeks! I am so excited to bring our little lad/lass home and baby the crap out of them!

My indecisiveness can be summed up in less than 500 words and I have been spending hours each week with these puppies. I maintain that there is no reason to have an entire television show devoted to the puppy picking process.

A photo posted by Kate Bruce (@kategbruce) on Nov 11, 2014 at 8:27am PST

Happy Moments: You Jelly? :)

Today’s happy moment is not only a reminder of something that put a big ole’ smile on my face today, it is a reminder that I need to learn how to make jalapeño jelly.  I am so fortunate to have met many great people while living in the Kootenays and one of them is a Vista Kootenays Account Executive names Ray Evin. Not only did I get to meet one of the members of one of my favourite bands growing up Lillix (his niece Tasha) but because he surprises me with wonderful treats every week.

The fresh kale that finds a home on my desk is amazing but my absolute favourite thing that Ray treats me to is his homemade jalapeño jelly. I put that (wonderful) shit on everything! Seriously, it was on my desk this morning and it has been part of every meal I have had today. On my bacon cheeseburger for lunch and on the chicken ranch club flatout sandwich that I had for supper.

I can't wait to feature it on my lunch tomorrow and find a way to incorporate it on my low-carb chicken bacon pizza for supper.

Note to self: Learn to make jalapeño jelly; you really won't be able to do without it when you leave the Kootenays.

Side note: As I type this I am finishing the very last episode of Parks and Recreation and I feel like part of my soul has been crushed.

Update: Moments after typing that last sentence I googled Parks and Recreation and realized that the unity concert was not the end of the show and that it will be back for a final season (seven) for 2014-2015. I am double happy right now. Until Parks and Recreation returns I guess I will have to just settle with watching Welcome to Sweden again (the first time I watched it a couple of months ago none of the Swedish bits had subtitles because it was the Swedish version that went to air so I feel like I missed a whole lot of what was happening). *

*That's right, I have only been watching Parks and Recreation for the last two months and I thought there was only six seasons. I always considered myself more of a 30 Rock girl, but after going to 30 Rockefeller Plaza I get sad because I do not live in New York. This has made me find room in my heart for both of these incredible shows and forced me to discover that I am not a Liz or Leslie, I am a strange combination of the two characters. Lizlie? 

The Day I Thought Would Never Happen... The Day We Gave Up Cable TV

Today we did it. We gave up something I never thought I would go without as an adult. Something that will (for me) make giving up wheat and sugar seem like an easy task. We gave up cable.

Until I was about thirteen my family’s TV experience was locked down to three channels, four on a good night. You best believe that includes Radio-Canada… so three English channels. Atlantic Canadian children all know the pain of picking between the five o’clock magazine news programs like Live At 5 or doing literally anything else.

AsI have detailed in previous blogs, I used to stay overnight at my Grandparent’shouse whenever my Grandfather was away to watch TGIF Friday’s on ABC and theamazing eras of Fox Sunday night animation. I was a huge TV nerd then and I still am now. But, with Kevin escaping to Basic Military Training this summer having cable is just going to be wasted at my apartment. It is way too expensive for one person, cutting it out of my services with Shaw saves me half of my monthly bill!

I am starting to feel like quite the little hipster. I haven’t had a cell phonefor over a month and now I have cut my cable… I also have become obsessed with houseplants. Yes, things are getting weird for Kate in the Kootenays.

To be honest with you there is not much I am going to miss on TV. There are few things I can’t watch now on my iPad or stream. We have fournd ourselves watching more Netflix than ever via the Xbox and there never seems to be anything truly worth watching on basic cable.

I am so over reality show competitions. I listen to the best music ever made all day at work, nothing really compares to the legends. People here in the Koots are less interested in television programming than anyone else in the country, rarely is any of it worth mentioning in my show.

I guess it all comes down to a lull in good programming on basic cable. Apart from the News there is nothing on cable that I can’t get on another device. I quite like listening to the News on the radio while I do yoga too… so I guess I am not really missing anything!

I’m not sure how long this will last. As much as I say there is a ton of crap on TV not worth paying for, I totally still allow it to clutter up the quiet in my apartment. Yes, I watch a lot of crappy TV; I hope this will end my horrible habit of watching anything and everything.

Do you still have cable? Do you think you will ever get rid of it? Or, are you finding anything different without cable? 

I sure will miss Fallon though…

How Long Would You Survive A Zombie Apocalypse

I know you have thought about it, how long would you live in a Zombie apocalypse? 

Well my friend Megan Milne at 1035 The Bridge posed that question. My answer as per this pretty intricate little survey was 88 days.

That’s 88 long-ass days. I can’t imagine how much that would suck. I wish I would have lied about how far and how long I can run. Geesh…

How long would you survive? I am interested to know.Take the quiz here.

Proof

Would you want to survive?

I am impressed that the internet thinks I would live that long. I do have a relatively Zombie-proof apartment (I have blogged about those apartment precautions in the past). But, (and this is going to sound sick) I am not sure I would want to live. Maybe if there was a library in my building so I could be entertained with the books I never have time to read.

I have not explored this topic that much in the blog, but you should know that is something I think about frequently on a daily basis. Usually right before I fall asleep.

If you are interested in a hilarious challenge, checkout Season 1 Episode 7 of “Happy Endings”. It is an incredibly funny TV show and that episode centers on a “Zombie Olympics” between friends. Pick a friend and challenge them to a survival test and let me know what happens, this is a social experiment I can totally get behind (and that you should totally film). 

FYI: You can totally watch all three amazing seasons of  "Happy Endings" on Netflix. 

Jay Onrait's “Anchorboy: True Tales From the World of Sportscasting”

Jay Onrait’s book “Anchorboy: True Tales From the World of Sportscasting” is one of the best books I have read in along time.

I am a huge Jay and Dan fan, I actually read the book a couple months ago and wanted to re-read it before I posted about it. I had been anticipating the release of “Anchorboy” before it was released because of all chitchatting about it on the “Jay and Dan Podcast”. I read the book in about a day, the chapters are very short and you don't want to stop reading Jay's story once you start. 

It has taken me so long to post about "Anchorboy" because I had loaned this book out to other people and finally just got it back. My boyfriend then read it in two days (he couldn't put it down) and then I finally got a chance to read it. It is that good.

The book lives up to all the promotion; it is hilarious. I'm not going to give away any of the stories because they are so good you really should buy the book. I have a couple and it has also been my go-to gift lately for pretty much any guy in my family. 

As a broadcasting nerd myself I really relate to Jay’s idea that everyone in our industry truly is nerdy in one-way or another. We all have a thing. It was my favourite thing he talked about in the book. 

I'm not normally a fan of potty talk. I actually usually hate discussions about poop. Jay talks about doody lots. Be warned. He actually makes horribly gross situations hilarious. 

One note: I wouldn't read this book in public places. I was in hysterics throughout the book and would have been pretty embarrassed to have anyone see my laughter tears. It totally would have messed up my mascara.

At this point I feel like I know both Jay and Dan. After listening to every episode of the original Podcast on our last drive across Canada last year and continuing to listen and watch whatever we can from them, I think things would get weird if I ran into them. In a weird way I hope I never work with them only for that reason.

If you are American and a fan of Fox Sports Live you need to read this book to get a little history about our national treasures Jay and Dan. If you are Canadian (like I am) this book is a reminder of an amazing period of sportscasting here in Canada and a sad reminder of what we are missing out on.

Read it, love it and tell me what you think!

Click here to checkout the Jay and Dan Podcast. 

**Again, a big THANK YOU to Jay and Dan. Without Sportscentre I would have missed going to so many morning classes during university. You guys gave me a reason to haul my ass out of bed.