The show must go on.
As several TV comedies scramble to do the right thing in the wake of Friday's horrific mass-shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, a spokesperson for NBC's Saturday Night Live tells The Hollywood Reporter that there will be a live show tomorrow as planned.
Elsewhere, The Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson has asked of his 1.4 million Twitter followers to "please forgive [the] edit in tonight's pre-taped show because it's not such a great day for America." The CBS late night talker airs tonight at 12:35 a.m., with Howie Mandel scheduled to appear in support of his new NBC game show, Take It All -- a show criticized by some for rewarding the worst sides of human nature.
And Funny or Die's Billy on the Street with Billy Eichner, in which comedian Eichner accosts pedestrians with pop culture poll questions, has canceled outright tonight's airing on Fuse. The show was to feature Will Ferrell.
"Hey guys -- in light of today's events, the latest episode of Billy on the Street with Will Ferrell will not air tonight. See you next week," Eichner wrote on his Twitter feed.
NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno taped earlier today and will air as scheduled, a NBC spokesperson tells THR, with Bette Midler and Judd Apatow scheduled to appear. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will follow at 12:35 a.m. -- a show also taped on Friday, featuring Django Unchained star Christoph Waltz and Amy Sedaris.
On ABC, Jimmy Kimmel Live! will feature The Voice's Carson Daly -- Kimmel refers to him as "my Carsycakes" in a tweet posted early Friday morning -- and Happy Endings star Zach Knighton.
SNL will feature musical guest Paul McCartney, who performed an electrifying set at Wednesday's 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief. The network wouldn't say if the show will touch upon the Connecticut tragedy.
In 2001, SNL's 27th season premiered on schedule, just 18 days after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Hosted by Reese Witherspoon, the show began with a special cold open in which executive producer Lorne Michaels asked then-mayor Rudy Giuliani, "Can we be funny?"
"Why start now?" was Giuliani's response.
Email: seth.abramovitch@thr.com
Twitter: @SethAbramovitch
