Over the course of eight years in the cast of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Beck Bennett performed comedy with more than 150 celebrity hosts. But no one—not even Donald Trump himself—was as difficult to work with as Elon Musk. In the 300th episode of The Last Laugh, Bennett looks back on his SNL audition, discusses what it was like to join the show with one of his oldest friends Kyle Mooney, and reveals exactly what made Musk a more “offensive” collaborator than Trump. He explains how he knows Vladimir Putin liked his shirtless impression a lot more than Trump liked Alec Baldwin’s portrayal, how he knew it was finally time to leave the show, and how Lorne Michaels nearly talked him into staying. Finally, Bennett talks about the two very different movies he appears in this summer: voicing a cartoon dog in the raunchy Netflix movie ‘Fixed’ and joining the DC cinematic universe as The Daily Planet’s Steve Lombard in ‘Superman.’

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Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast

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10 years into her run at ‘The Daily Show,’ Desi Lydic is riding high with three Emmy nominations—including two for her short-form series “Foxsplains” in which she tries to wrap her head around MAGA’s most unhinged conspiracy theories. In this episode, the correspondent-turned-rotating host talks about how the series has granted her more empathy for brainwashed Trump supporters and looks back on processing his second term victory in real-time while hosting ‘The Daily Show.’ She talks about wanting to be the show’s “female Stephen Colbert” and how things changed once she dropped her Megyn Kelly-inspired character and started being herself on screen. Lydic also gets into the precarious state of late-night TV, from the “shocking” Colbert cancellation to the fate of Jon Stewart under the new Paramount leadership.

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Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast

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The three creators of the Emmy-nominated comedy series ‘Hacks’ had no idea they were predicting the future when they had their central late-night host character defiantly speak out against her network bosses and then lose her dream job. In this episode, Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky break down the “surreal” parallels between Deborah Vance’s arc in Season 4 and the real-life tribulations of Stephen Colbert. They talk about the importance of late-night TV, what its future might hold, and reveal how they got Jimmy Kimmel to play a bully version of himself on the show. The trio also goes deep on casting leads Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, as well as this year’s Emmy-nominated guest stars Robby Hoffman and Dance Mom herself, Julianne Nicholson. And they tease what might be in store for Season 5—including why fans are so desperate for Deborah and Ava to finally hook up.

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Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast

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