Cancel plans, Twitch is streaming a 48-hour 'Saturday Night Live' marathon
Put the biggest batch of popcorn you can muster on immediately.
Social streaming platform Twitch has teamed up with NBC Universal for a 48-hour marathon of the very best bits of Saturday Night Live. GO.
Streamers will be able to tune into 16 hours of SNL's classic and recent sketches, dating from the show's beginnings to current Season 43.
They'll screen back-to-back for 48 hours from May 17, kicking off at 6 p.m. ET. on TwitchPresents. It'll all wrap up hours before SNL Season 43's final episode, hosted by Tina Fey and Nicki Minaj at 11:30 p.m. ET on May 19.
Twitch hasn't given much away, but promises celebrity hosts and guests, a collection of Tina Fey sketches, commercial parodies, iconic impressions, digital shorts and more. You know the drill. We're thinking Fey as Sarah Palin, The Lonely Island's "Dick in a Box," more and more cowbell in "Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult" and and a whole lotta Stefon will probably be on the bill.
If they get through a whole marathon without playing Natalie Portman's iconic outburst "Natalie Raps," we'll be pissed.
Given how much attention the recent Ninja/Drake Twitch streams (both of them) attracted, you can bet there will be some sketches from Drake's SNL appearances.
“Similar to Twitch chat, Saturday Night Live serves as live commentary on pop culture and current events,” said Jane Weedon, Twitch's director of business development, in a statement.
"Each SNL sketch is a snapshot of its time, making it the ideal show to unite our global community across generations as they comment on the commentary."
It's not the first marathon for Twitch, which has aired around 12 marathons over the last few years including all 856 episodes of children’s series Mister Rogers Neighborhood, all 236 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, as well as Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting, and the original series of ReBoot and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers — but this'll be the first sketch comedy instalment.
Want to watch it with your buddies, or promote on your own Twitch channel? You'll be able to co-stream the marathon, meaning you can share NBC's video feed on Twitch and provide your own commentary.
Or you could just make a shitload of popcorn and settle the hell in.
Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.
