Radiohead on SNL - Lotus Flower (1) by nickmic
In previous NY State of Mind Amoeblogs I've written about how to go about getting tickets to be studio audience members for tapings of such television shows as The Late Show with David Letterman, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the Colbert Report. Snagging tickets for each of these shows takes a fair bit of effort. But they do have standby lists and typically, at last minute, you can usually snag tickets to these coveted shows by putting in some time in line on the day of the taping.In comparison, getting tickets to NBC's long running, legendary, live comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live is the extremely tough - but not impossible. It just takes a degree of commitment and some time and effort if you are trying to get standby tickets. Advance tickets are only issued via an email lottery (snltickets@nbcuni.com) that accepts requests in the month of August for the following season. So unless you planned ahead, standby tickets are the best option...or knowing someone at NBC.

For getting last minute standby tickets, plan on getting little or no sleep the night before so you can arrive by 7am on the Saturday morning of the show (note: if you arrive before 7am, you will not be allowed to jump the line) to the 49th Street side of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. If you are granted tickets, you may choose a stand-by ticket for either the 8pm dress rehearsal or the 11:30pm live broadcast. Aside from minimal, necessary breaks, all stand-by line members must remain in line at all times. And remember that getting in line does not guarantee you will get a ticket, especially when the host and/or musical guest is a hot ticket like in May of 2011 when Lady Gaga was the musical guest with host Justin Timberlake, or when Radiohead paired with host Alex Baldwin in September of 2011 (video above), or earlier this month when Justin Bieber was the host.





rap sucks, for the most part. Not all rap, but as an art form it's just not at its best moment."
3 obviously NWA inspired, faux-gangsta rap group comedy CB4 as the fictional emcee Gusto, to such things as the cover art of his 1999 comedy album Bigger and Blacker which mocked the (at the time) predominant No Limit/Cash Money record labels' styled rap album cover art. Rock never misses a beat in taking shots at rap music and at the music scene, um business, in general.
Released in theaters a little earlier this year, Eddie Murphy's movie
Norbit -- in which, once again, he plays way too many different characters, somehow mistakenly thinking that this feat will make up for another not-so-funny comedy -- is already out on DVD and I watched it last night. At least, I watched as much of it as I could bear to sit through before hitting the eject button. Like other comedians and/or actors who have similarly gotten increasingly lamer onscreen over the years (think Ice Cube or Rob Schneider), Eddie Murphy has lost that certain edge that he once possessed long, long ago in his immediate post SNL years. In fa
ct, so lame was Norbit that it forced me to go back twenty years to seek out a clip from Murhpy's 1987 Robert Townsend directed live concert film Raw -- included below. 
o stormed the world and demanded change, and damn well GOT THE CHANGE? How many chances does a person get to thank them -- in person? 

