Sari Beeri from MIT uses AI to map city trees for urban planners and to assess the impact of climate change In an era where companies face growing pressure to minimize their environmental impact, C3 AI is emerging as a crucial player in the battle against climate change. Rather than simply providing solutions for operational […]

The post C3 AI: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Combat Climate Change appeared first on Green Prophet.

Sari Beeri from MIT uses AI to map city trees for urban planners and to assess the impact of climate change

In an era where companies face growing pressure to minimize their environmental impact, C3 AI is emerging as a crucial player in the battle against climate change. Rather than simply providing solutions for operational efficiency, this enterprise AI company is revolutionizing how industries measure, manage, and reduce their carbon footprints.

For years, businesses have treated sustainability as a secondary concern, often relegating it to the background rather than embedding it into core operations. C3 AI is changing this narrative by integrating artificial intelligence into sustainability efforts, enabling companies to make informed, data-driven decisions to reduce waste, optimize energy consumption, and lower emissions.

In February 2023, C3 AI set an ambitious goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This commitment is more than just corporate rhetoric; the company has laid out a detailed plan, aiming for a 50% reduction in direct and energy-related emissions by 2030 and a 25% decrease in supply chain emissions by 2035. These targets are aligned with the 1.5˚C climate pathway and will be verified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an organization that ensures corporate climate goals are grounded in scientific data.

AI-Powered Solutions Driving Change

C3 AI’s sustainability efforts extend beyond internal operations, with the company offering powerful AI-driven solutions that help other businesses manage their environmental impact.

One of the standout products, C3 AI ESG, offers real-time monitoring of carbon emissions, water usage, and waste production. This platform not only ensures compliance with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards but also helps companies spot inefficiencies before they become expensive problems.

Another vital tool is C3 AI Energy Management, which analyzes energy consumption patterns and provides actionable recommendations for improvement. In industries where even minor efficiency gains can lead to significant reductions in emissions—such as manufacturing, logistics, and transportation—AI insights can produce meaningful environmental and financial benefits.

Collaborations for Accelerated Impact

C3 AI recognizes that technology alone can’t solve the climate crisis, which is why the company has built strategic partnerships to advance sustainable AI solutions.

For instance, a collaboration with ENGIE, a global low-carbon energy provider, is focused on developing AI technologies that help large facilities and university campuses optimize their energy use and cut carbon emissions. These efforts are particularly vital in tackling Scope 3 emissions—the indirect emissions generated through supply chains and business travel.

Beyond the energy sector, C3 AI is working with urban planners and government entities to incorporate AI into the development of smart cities. By using predictive analytics, C3 AI aims to reduce waste, enhance public transportation systems, and improve the resilience of urban infrastructure to climate-related challenges.

C3 AI’s dedication to sustainability goes beyond the technology it offers—it also shapes the company’s internal practices. Unlike traditional software firms that rely heavily on energy-consuming data centers, C3 AI has adopted a cloud-based infrastructure, which significantly reduces its own energy consumption.

The company also employs a remote-first work model, cutting down on commuting-related emissions while providing employees with more flexibility. Additionally, its supply chain policies prioritize vendors that adhere to environmentally and ethically responsible standards.

As the climate crisis demands urgent action, C3 AI is demonstrating that artificial intelligence can play a pivotal role in addressing one of the world’s most pressing issues. By combining cutting-edge technology with bold sustainability goals, C3 AI is not only transforming its own operations but also empowering businesses across industries to take action.

As the global corporate landscape increasingly shifts toward sustainability, C3 AI’s innovations emphasize a crucial point: with the right technology, climate action can be both an opportunity and a catalyst for smarter, more efficient, and more responsible business practices.

A Personal Reflection: Irony and Innovation

As Michael Cooper of MySayOnPay.com poignantly stated, “Life is full of irony. Tom Siebel – legendary CEO of C3.AI has recently gone blind, due to complications from a brief but bitter illness. The irony stems from Tom’s lifetime of successes in letting corporations see more clearly what is happening throughout their organizations. As the father of the Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Tom and his team invented the concept of seeing into the organization with technology. Siebel’s new company, C3.AI, advances the effort by moving from description of the enterprise to prediction with AI, allowing companies to avoid unwanted outcomes and leverage the desired outcomes faster and more accurately. We hope this type of technology will allow Siebel to see the light of day again soon.”

This tribute to Tom Siebel underscores not only the personal challenge he now faces but also the enduring power of his vision for a world where businesses can gain greater clarity and foresight through AI technology.

C3.ai, Inc. is an American technology company specializing in enterprise artificial intelligence. Based in Redwood City, California, the company founded in 2009. The company is listed on the NYSE as AI. 

The post C3 AI: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Combat Climate Change appeared first on Green Prophet.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine shouldn’t have worked. The franchise was founded on ideas of exploration, “Wagon Train to the stars,” as creator Gene Roddenberry put it. It originally focused on a trio so iconic that producers worried that fans would reject Patrick Stewart and LeVar Burton on the bridge of a new Enterprise. Deep […]

The post The Best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes, Ranked appeared first on Den of Geek.

They say everyone has a story worth telling, but Melissa G. Moore really has a story worth telling.

Moore is the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a real-life serial killer known as The Happy Face Killer who murdered at least eight women during the early ‘90s. She has shared details of her unique upbringing on talk shows, books, podcasts, and more. Now her life is getting the scripted television treatment on Paramount+ with the Jennifer Cacicio-created, Michael Showalter-directed series Happy Face.

“I’ve told my story in all these mediums, but the one thing that’s been missing is what it’s really like to experience what I experienced,” Moore says. “It’s one thing to say ‘this is what happened to me,’ it’s another thing to give them the emotional elements.”

Happy Face indeed spares few details about what it’s like to be the child of a killer. Primarily set after Jesperson has been discovered, convicted, and imprisoned, the eight-episode series stars Annaleigh Ashford as Moore as she endures ongoing harassment from her father and works to ensure that the Happy Face Killer’s victims receive justice. 

“I’ve been really lucky throughout my career to have played a few real-life people, and that was really helpful jumping into this incredible story,” Ashford says. “The best part of getting to play this character is that the real Melissa has such a beautiful and authentic heart. That’s a real gift—to play someone who really cares about others before she cares about herself.”

Dennis Quaid steps into the role of Keith Jesperson, dubbed the Happy Face Killer due to his penchant for scribbling smiley faces in correspondence with authorities. Jesperson is currently 69 years old and continues to torment his daughter from behind bars in Oregon State Penitentiary with unwanted letters. 

“[Happy Face] shows what it’s like to have these letters still coming into my mailbox, him watching my Instagram, strangers reaching out to me, just the emotions of what that’s like, and the emotions of what my children go through, having a grandfather who’s a serial killer,” Moore says.

Moore credits Ashford and Quaid’s performances with helping her better understand her own dynamic with her father.

“They got the emotional entanglement, how toxic it was,” says Moore. “There was always going to be a part of me that wishes that this wasn’t true, that I really did have a dad. Dennis knows that my desire is to have a father and how my real father plays on that as manipulation.”

“One of the things that Dennis did so beautifully was he was able to play both people. He was able to play the man before the crime and the man after the crime,” Ashford adds. “It was a thrill to act with him. I feel like we had a really natural parental chemistry.”

In unpacking Moore’s trauma, Happy Face walks a familiar true crime tightrope by examining the dark psyche of a killer while still respecting the humanity of his victims. 

“I want to tell my story, but when I tell my story, I’m also giving attention to my serial killer father,” Moore says of the dilemma. “But I’m also giving attention to the victims of my father and the victims’ family members. I have to respect them. What you’ll see in this series is sometimes, victims’ family members want autonomy; they want privacy. Sometimes, my wishes are in conflict with their desires. There are very complex and delicate conversations that I have privately with survivors.”

Family ties loom large in Happy Face—not only in the twisted entanglement between a killer father and an innocent daughter but also in the far more healing relationship among Moore, her husband Ben (James Wolk), and their children, Hazel (Khiyla Aynne) and Max (Benjamin Mackey).

“It’s about family,” Ashford says. “When things are darkest, there always has to be light. I think that’s something special about this show.”

The first two episodes of Happy Face premiere Thursday, March 20 on Paramount+.

The post Exclusive First Look at Happy Face: A Real Life Serial Killer Story from a New Perspective appeared first on Den of Geek.

This week, fantasy fans welcome back Prime Video’s Wheel of Time for its third season, comedy fans in the UK welcome the fourth and final run of excellent televangelist sitcom The Righteous Gemstones, and drama fans welcome the arrival of the brilliant Adolescence on Netflix. That last one is a tough but compelling watch from […]

The post UK TV Premiere Dates: 2025 Calendar appeared first on Den of Geek.

They say everyone has a story worth telling, but Melissa G. Moore really has a story worth telling.

Moore is the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a real-life serial killer known as The Happy Face Killer who murdered at least eight women during the early ‘90s. She has shared details of her unique upbringing on talk shows, books, podcasts, and more. Now her life is getting the scripted television treatment on Paramount+ with the Jennifer Cacicio-created, Michael Showalter-directed series Happy Face.

“I’ve told my story in all these mediums, but the one thing that’s been missing is what it’s really like to experience what I experienced,” Moore says. “It’s one thing to say ‘this is what happened to me,’ it’s another thing to give them the emotional elements.”

Happy Face indeed spares few details about what it’s like to be the child of a killer. Primarily set after Jesperson has been discovered, convicted, and imprisoned, the eight-episode series stars Annaleigh Ashford as Moore as she endures ongoing harassment from her father and works to ensure that the Happy Face Killer’s victims receive justice. 

“I’ve been really lucky throughout my career to have played a few real-life people, and that was really helpful jumping into this incredible story,” Ashford says. “The best part of getting to play this character is that the real Melissa has such a beautiful and authentic heart. That’s a real gift—to play someone who really cares about others before she cares about herself.”

Dennis Quaid steps into the role of Keith Jesperson, dubbed the Happy Face Killer due to his penchant for scribbling smiley faces in correspondence with authorities. Jesperson is currently 69 years old and continues to torment his daughter from behind bars in Oregon State Penitentiary with unwanted letters. 

“[Happy Face] shows what it’s like to have these letters still coming into my mailbox, him watching my Instagram, strangers reaching out to me, just the emotions of what that’s like, and the emotions of what my children go through, having a grandfather who’s a serial killer,” Moore says.

Moore credits Ashford and Quaid’s performances with helping her better understand her own dynamic with her father.

“They got the emotional entanglement, how toxic it was,” says Moore. “There was always going to be a part of me that wishes that this wasn’t true, that I really did have a dad. Dennis knows that my desire is to have a father and how my real father plays on that as manipulation.”

“One of the things that Dennis did so beautifully was he was able to play both people. He was able to play the man before the crime and the man after the crime,” Ashford adds. “It was a thrill to act with him. I feel like we had a really natural parental chemistry.”

In unpacking Moore’s trauma, Happy Face walks a familiar true crime tightrope by examining the dark psyche of a killer while still respecting the humanity of his victims. 

“I want to tell my story, but when I tell my story, I’m also giving attention to my serial killer father,” Moore says of the dilemma. “But I’m also giving attention to the victims of my father and the victims’ family members. I have to respect them. What you’ll see in this series is sometimes, victims’ family members want autonomy; they want privacy. Sometimes, my wishes are in conflict with their desires. There are very complex and delicate conversations that I have privately with survivors.”

Family ties loom large in Happy Face—not only in the twisted entanglement between a killer father and an innocent daughter but also in the far more healing relationship among Moore, her husband Ben (James Wolk), and their children, Hazel (Khiyla Aynne) and Max (Benjamin Mackey).

“It’s about family,” Ashford says. “When things are darkest, there always has to be light. I think that’s something special about this show.”

The first two episodes of Happy Face premiere Thursday, March 20 on Paramount+.

The post Exclusive First Look at Happy Face: A Real Life Serial Killer Story from a New Perspective appeared first on Den of Geek.

They say everyone has a story worth telling, but Melissa G. Moore really has a story worth telling. Moore is the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a real-life serial killer known as The Happy Face Killer who murdered at least eight women during the early ‘90s. She has shared details of her unique upbringing on […]

The post Exclusive First Look at Happy Face: A Real Life Serial Killer Story from a New Perspective appeared first on Den of Geek.

They say everyone has a story worth telling, but Melissa G. Moore really has a story worth telling.

Moore is the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a real-life serial killer known as The Happy Face Killer who murdered at least eight women during the early ‘90s. She has shared details of her unique upbringing on talk shows, books, podcasts, and more. Now her life is getting the scripted television treatment on Paramount+ with the Jennifer Cacicio-created, Michael Showalter-directed series Happy Face.

“I’ve told my story in all these mediums, but the one thing that’s been missing is what it’s really like to experience what I experienced,” Moore says. “It’s one thing to say ‘this is what happened to me,’ it’s another thing to give them the emotional elements.”

Happy Face indeed spares few details about what it’s like to be the child of a killer. Primarily set after Jesperson has been discovered, convicted, and imprisoned, the eight-episode series stars Annaleigh Ashford as Moore as she endures ongoing harassment from her father and works to ensure that the Happy Face Killer’s victims receive justice. 

“I’ve been really lucky throughout my career to have played a few real-life people, and that was really helpful jumping into this incredible story,” Ashford says. “The best part of getting to play this character is that the real Melissa has such a beautiful and authentic heart. That’s a real gift—to play someone who really cares about others before she cares about herself.”

Dennis Quaid steps into the role of Keith Jesperson, dubbed the Happy Face Killer due to his penchant for scribbling smiley faces in correspondence with authorities. Jesperson is currently 69 years old and continues to torment his daughter from behind bars in Oregon State Penitentiary with unwanted letters. 

“[Happy Face] shows what it’s like to have these letters still coming into my mailbox, him watching my Instagram, strangers reaching out to me, just the emotions of what that’s like, and the emotions of what my children go through, having a grandfather who’s a serial killer,” Moore says.

Moore credits Ashford and Quaid’s performances with helping her better understand her own dynamic with her father.

“They got the emotional entanglement, how toxic it was,” says Moore. “There was always going to be a part of me that wishes that this wasn’t true, that I really did have a dad. Dennis knows that my desire is to have a father and how my real father plays on that as manipulation.”

“One of the things that Dennis did so beautifully was he was able to play both people. He was able to play the man before the crime and the man after the crime,” Ashford adds. “It was a thrill to act with him. I feel like we had a really natural parental chemistry.”

In unpacking Moore’s trauma, Happy Face walks a familiar true crime tightrope by examining the dark psyche of a killer while still respecting the humanity of his victims. 

“I want to tell my story, but when I tell my story, I’m also giving attention to my serial killer father,” Moore says of the dilemma. “But I’m also giving attention to the victims of my father and the victims’ family members. I have to respect them. What you’ll see in this series is sometimes, victims’ family members want autonomy; they want privacy. Sometimes, my wishes are in conflict with their desires. There are very complex and delicate conversations that I have privately with survivors.”

Family ties loom large in Happy Face—not only in the twisted entanglement between a killer father and an innocent daughter but also in the far more healing relationship among Moore, her husband Ben (James Wolk), and their children, Hazel (Khiyla Aynne) and Max (Benjamin Mackey).

“It’s about family,” Ashford says. “When things are darkest, there always has to be light. I think that’s something special about this show.”

The first two episodes of Happy Face premiere Thursday, March 20 on Paramount+.

The post Exclusive First Look at Happy Face: A Real Life Serial Killer Story from a New Perspective appeared first on Den of Geek.

As the world moves toward a more connected future, and self-driving cars, the transition from 4G to 5G standalone (SA) networks is inevitable and essential. This evolution is not just about faster speeds and lower latency—it also brings significant environmental benefits.

The post The Eco Benefits of Radcom: Pioneering a Greener Future in Telecommunications appeared first on Green Prophet.

Self driving cars need a solid 5G network. Radcom is driving the future forward

As the world moves toward a more connected future, and self-driving cars, the transition from 4G to 5G standalone (SA) networks is inevitable and essential. This evolution is not just about faster speeds and lower latency—it also brings significant environmental benefits.

Radcom (NASDAQ: RDCM), a leading provider of assurance services for communication service providers (CSPs), is at the forefront of this transformation. Their innovative solutions help phone companies migrate their networks to the cloud, reducing hardware reliance, cutting operational and capital expenses, and significantly decreasing environmental impact.

Reducing Hardware and Cutting Costs

Traditionally, cellular networks required extensive physical infrastructure, including thousands of base stations, cables, and on-site testing equipment. Radcom’s cloud-native technology changes the game by enabling CSPs to move network assurance and testing to a software-driven approach. This transition leads to a dramatic reduction in hardware, lowering the physical footprint of telecommunications infrastructure.

As a result:

Operating costs drop by 30%

Capital costs are reduced by 40%

These savings are not just financial—they also contribute to environmental sustainability. Less hardware means fewer resources are used in manufacturing, transportation, and maintenance, leading to a smaller carbon footprint for telecom providers.

Eliminating Field Service Calls and Reducing Energy Consumption

Before Radcom’s advanced assurance technology, CSPs relied heavily on field service teams to physically inspect and test networks. This process involved fuel-intensive travel, contributing to emissions and increased labor costs. With Radcom’s automated, software-driven network monitoring, real-time testing is continuously conducted without human intervention.

Michael Cooper, CEO of My Say On Pay, and an investor in Radcom, highlights this crucial shift: “No more field service guys going out to physically test the network. The network is constantly tested via software. Major reductions in service calls as Radcom helps to automatically heal the network.”

This automated approach not only reduces energy consumption but also enhances network reliability by proactively identifying and resolving issues before they affect customers.

Powering Industry 4.0 and Reducing Pollution

The migration to 5G SA is a crucial step in enabling Industry 4.0—the next wave of technological evolution. Radcom’s technology is helping pave the way for innovations such as:

• Self-driving cars that reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions.
• Fully automated factories that can be remotely controlled by employees working from home, eliminating unnecessary commuting and reducing energy waste.
• Smart cities that optimize energy use, lower pollution levels, and improve overall efficiency.

Cooper further emphasizes the transformative impact of Radcom’s role in Industry 4.0: “But the real upside is how the successful migration to 5G SA will unleash Industry 4.0—that includes self-driving cars, factories of the future that will be fully automated and remotely controlled by employees working from home. All of these outcomes reduce physical and human effort and therefore pollution.”

By facilitating these advancements, Radcom is not only supporting CSPs but also enabling a more sustainable future where human effort and environmental strain are minimized, he stresses.

Currently, only 60 out of 1,000 CSPs have deployed a 5G SA network. This means that there is enormous potential for Radcom to grow by helping mid-tier CSPs transition to 5G. The company is also working on a next-gen networking data plane analytics solution powered by Nvidia BlueField-3 DPU, further strengthening its position in the market, says Cooper.

Founded in 1991, Radcom has been a leader in network intelligence and assurance solutions for over three decades. The company has won multiple awards for its pioneering contributions to the telecom industry and has built strong relationships with major players such as AT&T, Dish, and Rakuten. With a workforce dedicated to pushing technological boundaries, Radcom is well-positioned to drive the future of 5G and beyond.

As the global demand for faster, more reliable, and environmentally friendly communication networks grows, Radcom’s solutions will play a crucial role in shaping a cleaner and more efficient digital future.

More sustainable investment commentary:

How to build a 100 year old company

The top 10 pay packages for American CEOs

How excess CEO pay affects us all 

The post The Eco Benefits of Radcom: Pioneering a Greener Future in Telecommunications appeared first on Green Prophet.

This article appears in the new issue of DEN OF GEEK magazine. You can read all of our magazine stories here. In 2016’s The Accountant, Ben Affleck played Christian Wolff, a man on the spectrum whose genius with numbers made him the go-to “accountant” for criminal organizations looking to launder money or find out who’s stealing from them. […]

The post The Accountant 2: How Gavin O’Connor and Ben Affleck Beat the Odds appeared first on Den of Geek.

A film festival without documentaries is like a day without sunshine. Thankfully, South by Southwest has always brought the goods when it comes to non-fiction filmmaking.

The 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival is filled with compelling documentary features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres. From the pastoral and thought-provoking Arrest the Midwife to the chilling Age of Disclosure to a Marc Maron project that asks Are We Good? – here are the docs to watch this year in Austin.

Arrest the Midwife

What does it fully mean to have the freedom of choice when it comes to childbirth? That understanding is going to be examined in Arrest the Midwife, a new documentary from director/producer Elaine Epstein. The same filmmaker who gave the world the Sundance and Emmy-nominated doc State of Denial, Epstein’s Arrest the Midwife picks up where the media fallout left off after three homebirth midwives serving Amish and Mennonite communities were arrested in upstate New York. Their detainment ignited a media firestorm and a wave of legislation, as well as a debate about just what freedom of choice, and maternal health, really means.

The Python Hunt

You might not know this, but Florida can be a really WEIRD place. Case in point: this new doc about a group of amateur bounty hunters who compete in a 10-night, government-sanctioned contest to see who can remove (read: kill) the most Burmese pythons, invasive snakes that threaten the Everglades ecosystem. Filmmaker Xander Robin, the director behind the very weird 2016 horror fantasy Are We Not Cats, sheds light on this most Floridian of conservation efforts.

Remaining Native

Thanks to recent works such as Reservation Dogs and Sugarcane, pop culture is finally gaining awareness of Indian boarding schools, a particularly shameful chapter in American history. Emmy-nominated Haudenosaunee director Paige Bethmann, who recently made the list of DOC NYC’s 40 under 40 documentary filmmakers to watch, continues that conversation with Remaining Native.

Bethmann’s film focuses on 17-year-old Ku Stevens, whose running feats continue the work of his grandfather, who escaped from a boarding school decades earlier. As he works to make a collegiate running team and distinguish himself in his sport, Stevens refuses to let the country forget what happened to his family. Remaining Native chronicles everything from Stevens’ achievements to investigations of artifacts stolen from Native peoples.

The Spies Among Us

The Spies Among Us offers one of the more timely entries at SXSW. Directors Jamie Coughlin Silverman and Gabriel Silverman follow a former victim of the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police, as he confronts his one-time tormenters. The Spies Among Us cuts through rhetoric about dictatorship to remind viewers of the fundamental cost. Fearless but empathetic, The Spies Among Us should be essential viewing for anyone worried about the world today.

The Age of Disclosure

The Age of Disclosure offers an irresistible premise. Director Dan Farah speaks to 34 members of the American government, including high-ranking officials in the military and intelligence community, about the existence of aliens. The film purports to reveal an 80-year effort by U.S. leaders to hide findings about non-human intelligent life, even battling against other nations to protect their information.

While that concept alone makes The Age of Disclosure a can’t miss, and materials for the film play up the ‘90s paranoia of the concept with an aesthetic that recalls The X-Files, Farah has more than sensationalism in mind. The Age of Disclosure also promises to explore the impact of government secrets on the populations they’re supposed to represent. 

Are We Good?

Marc Maron might be the most influential comedian of our generation, and yet most people can’t name one of his bits. That’s because Maron, whose stand-up and acting career goes back to 1987, rose to prominence with his podcast WTF?. Part comedy insider chat show, part therapy session, WTF? revealed Maron as a shockingly vulnerable and insightful interviewer, someone who unlocked the central appeal of standup comedy.

For Are We Good?, director Steven Feinartz traces Maron’s life and career. The film touches on everything from his childhood and early career to the public explosion of his very personal podcast to the loss of his partner, indie filmmaker and SXSW legend Lynn Shelton. Are We Good? promises to be classic Maron: raw, moving, and hilarious. 

Dear Tomorrow

Since 2009, Danish filmmaker Kaspar Astrup Schröder has explored odd corners of the world, as in his parkour documentary My Playground (2009) or 2018’s Fantasy Fantasy, about two girls with autism. For Dear Tomorrow, Schröder returns to one of his favorite locations to tell the story of lonely Japanese men.

Dear Tomorrow focuses on a mental health hotline that helps men in crisis, showing not only the difficult circumstances under which these professionals work but also the incredible size of the loneliness epidemic. Bleak as that sounds, Schröder always finds a human, empathetic core for his stories. Dear Tomorrow continues in that vein, honoring their dignity and never allowing the men to become mere statistics on a government chart.

The post SXSW 2025 Documentary Preview: The Biggest Doc Premieres from Austin appeared first on Den of Geek.

A film festival without documentaries is like a day without sunshine. Thankfully, South by Southwest has always brought the goods when it comes to non-fiction filmmaking. The 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival is filled with compelling documentary features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres. From the pastoral and thought-provoking Arrest the Midwife […]

The post SXSW 2025 Documentary Preview: The Biggest Doc Premieres from Austin appeared first on Den of Geek.

A film festival without documentaries is like a day without sunshine. Thankfully, South by Southwest has always brought the goods when it comes to non-fiction filmmaking.

The 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival is filled with compelling documentary features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres. From the pastoral and thought-provoking Arrest the Midwife to the chilling Age of Disclosure to a Marc Maron project that asks Are We Good? – here are the docs to watch this year in Austin.

Arrest the Midwife

What does it fully mean to have the freedom of choice when it comes to childbirth? That understanding is going to be examined in Arrest the Midwife, a new documentary from director/producer Elaine Epstein. The same filmmaker who gave the world the Sundance and Emmy-nominated doc State of Denial, Epstein’s Arrest the Midwife picks up where the media fallout left off after three homebirth midwives serving Amish and Mennonite communities were arrested in upstate New York. Their detainment ignited a media firestorm and a wave of legislation, as well as a debate about just what freedom of choice, and maternal health, really means.

The Python Hunt

You might not know this, but Florida can be a really WEIRD place. Case in point: this new doc about a group of amateur bounty hunters who compete in a 10-night, government-sanctioned contest to see who can remove (read: kill) the most Burmese pythons, invasive snakes that threaten the Everglades ecosystem. Filmmaker Xander Robin, the director behind the very weird 2016 horror fantasy Are We Not Cats, sheds light on this most Floridian of conservation efforts.

Remaining Native

Thanks to recent works such as Reservation Dogs and Sugarcane, pop culture is finally gaining awareness of Indian boarding schools, a particularly shameful chapter in American history. Emmy-nominated Haudenosaunee director Paige Bethmann, who recently made the list of DOC NYC’s 40 under 40 documentary filmmakers to watch, continues that conversation with Remaining Native.

Bethmann’s film focuses on 17-year-old Ku Stevens, whose running feats continue the work of his grandfather, who escaped from a boarding school decades earlier. As he works to make a collegiate running team and distinguish himself in his sport, Stevens refuses to let the country forget what happened to his family. Remaining Native chronicles everything from Stevens’ achievements to investigations of artifacts stolen from Native peoples.

The Spies Among Us

The Spies Among Us offers one of the more timely entries at SXSW. Directors Jamie Coughlin Silverman and Gabriel Silverman follow a former victim of the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police, as he confronts his one-time tormenters. The Spies Among Us cuts through rhetoric about dictatorship to remind viewers of the fundamental cost. Fearless but empathetic, The Spies Among Us should be essential viewing for anyone worried about the world today.

The Age of Disclosure

The Age of Disclosure offers an irresistible premise. Director Dan Farah speaks to 34 members of the American government, including high-ranking officials in the military and intelligence community, about the existence of aliens. The film purports to reveal an 80-year effort by U.S. leaders to hide findings about non-human intelligent life, even battling against other nations to protect their information.

While that concept alone makes The Age of Disclosure a can’t miss, and materials for the film play up the ‘90s paranoia of the concept with an aesthetic that recalls The X-Files, Farah has more than sensationalism in mind. The Age of Disclosure also promises to explore the impact of government secrets on the populations they’re supposed to represent. 

Are We Good?

Marc Maron might be the most influential comedian of our generation, and yet most people can’t name one of his bits. That’s because Maron, whose stand-up and acting career goes back to 1987, rose to prominence with his podcast WTF?. Part comedy insider chat show, part therapy session, WTF? revealed Maron as a shockingly vulnerable and insightful interviewer, someone who unlocked the central appeal of standup comedy.

For Are We Good?, director Steven Feinartz traces Maron’s life and career. The film touches on everything from his childhood and early career to the public explosion of his very personal podcast to the loss of his partner, indie filmmaker and SXSW legend Lynn Shelton. Are We Good? promises to be classic Maron: raw, moving, and hilarious. 

Dear Tomorrow

Since 2009, Danish filmmaker Kaspar Astrup Schröder has explored odd corners of the world, as in his parkour documentary My Playground (2009) or 2018’s Fantasy Fantasy, about two girls with autism. For Dear Tomorrow, Schröder returns to one of his favorite locations to tell the story of lonely Japanese men.

Dear Tomorrow focuses on a mental health hotline that helps men in crisis, showing not only the difficult circumstances under which these professionals work but also the incredible size of the loneliness epidemic. Bleak as that sounds, Schröder always finds a human, empathetic core for his stories. Dear Tomorrow continues in that vein, honoring their dignity and never allowing the men to become mere statistics on a government chart.

The post SXSW 2025 Documentary Preview: The Biggest Doc Premieres from Austin appeared first on Den of Geek.

From returning elder statesmen to the next wave of artists and producers fusing musical genres, Austin is packed this year with pioneer performers. With EDM, electropunk, country, grunge, indie, goth, rap, hip hop, Americana, R&B and more… music lovers can experience a rainbow of categorization-defying styles. With so many acts spanning the festival’s venues, we’ve […]

The post The Biggest Bands and Artists at the SXSW 2025 Music Festival appeared first on Den of Geek.

A film festival without documentaries is like a day without sunshine. Thankfully, South by Southwest has always brought the goods when it comes to non-fiction filmmaking.

The 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival is filled with compelling documentary features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres. From the pastoral and thought-provoking Arrest the Midwife to the chilling Age of Disclosure to a Marc Maron project that asks Are We Good? – here are the docs to watch this year in Austin.

Arrest the Midwife

What does it fully mean to have the freedom of choice when it comes to childbirth? That understanding is going to be examined in Arrest the Midwife, a new documentary from director/producer Elaine Epstein. The same filmmaker who gave the world the Sundance and Emmy-nominated doc State of Denial, Epstein’s Arrest the Midwife picks up where the media fallout left off after three homebirth midwives serving Amish and Mennonite communities were arrested in upstate New York. Their detainment ignited a media firestorm and a wave of legislation, as well as a debate about just what freedom of choice, and maternal health, really means.

The Python Hunt

You might not know this, but Florida can be a really WEIRD place. Case in point: this new doc about a group of amateur bounty hunters who compete in a 10-night, government-sanctioned contest to see who can remove (read: kill) the most Burmese pythons, invasive snakes that threaten the Everglades ecosystem. Filmmaker Xander Robin, the director behind the very weird 2016 horror fantasy Are We Not Cats, sheds light on this most Floridian of conservation efforts.

Remaining Native

Thanks to recent works such as Reservation Dogs and Sugarcane, pop culture is finally gaining awareness of Indian boarding schools, a particularly shameful chapter in American history. Emmy-nominated Haudenosaunee director Paige Bethmann, who recently made the list of DOC NYC’s 40 under 40 documentary filmmakers to watch, continues that conversation with Remaining Native.

Bethmann’s film focuses on 17-year-old Ku Stevens, whose running feats continue the work of his grandfather, who escaped from a boarding school decades earlier. As he works to make a collegiate running team and distinguish himself in his sport, Stevens refuses to let the country forget what happened to his family. Remaining Native chronicles everything from Stevens’ achievements to investigations of artifacts stolen from Native peoples.

The Spies Among Us

The Spies Among Us offers one of the more timely entries at SXSW. Directors Jamie Coughlin Silverman and Gabriel Silverman follow a former victim of the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police, as he confronts his one-time tormenters. The Spies Among Us cuts through rhetoric about dictatorship to remind viewers of the fundamental cost. Fearless but empathetic, The Spies Among Us should be essential viewing for anyone worried about the world today.

The Age of Disclosure

The Age of Disclosure offers an irresistible premise. Director Dan Farah speaks to 34 members of the American government, including high-ranking officials in the military and intelligence community, about the existence of aliens. The film purports to reveal an 80-year effort by U.S. leaders to hide findings about non-human intelligent life, even battling against other nations to protect their information.

While that concept alone makes The Age of Disclosure a can’t miss, and materials for the film play up the ‘90s paranoia of the concept with an aesthetic that recalls The X-Files, Farah has more than sensationalism in mind. The Age of Disclosure also promises to explore the impact of government secrets on the populations they’re supposed to represent. 

Are We Good?

Marc Maron might be the most influential comedian of our generation, and yet most people can’t name one of his bits. That’s because Maron, whose stand-up and acting career goes back to 1987, rose to prominence with his podcast WTF?. Part comedy insider chat show, part therapy session, WTF? revealed Maron as a shockingly vulnerable and insightful interviewer, someone who unlocked the central appeal of standup comedy.

For Are We Good?, director Steven Feinartz traces Maron’s life and career. The film touches on everything from his childhood and early career to the public explosion of his very personal podcast to the loss of his partner, indie filmmaker and SXSW legend Lynn Shelton. Are We Good? promises to be classic Maron: raw, moving, and hilarious. 

Dear Tomorrow

Since 2009, Danish filmmaker Kaspar Astrup Schröder has explored odd corners of the world, as in his parkour documentary My Playground (2009) or 2018’s Fantasy Fantasy, about two girls with autism. For Dear Tomorrow, Schröder returns to one of his favorite locations to tell the story of lonely Japanese men.

Dear Tomorrow focuses on a mental health hotline that helps men in crisis, showing not only the difficult circumstances under which these professionals work but also the incredible size of the loneliness epidemic. Bleak as that sounds, Schröder always finds a human, empathetic core for his stories. Dear Tomorrow continues in that vein, honoring their dignity and never allowing the men to become mere statistics on a government chart.

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People think it’s just questions and answers. It’s not just questions and answers. The best TV quiz shows are places you drop into that feel instantly like home. They’re a school common room, or a friend’s sofa, or your local pub – somewhere familiar and unchanging that lets you relax and know that you belong… […]

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The best Saturday Night Live hosts remind us how important that role is. Through ups and downs, one of the best reasons to tune into SNL is to see what that week’s host will do. Some hosts quickly discover that they are not fit for the unique world of live sketch comedy. Others exceed all expectations or meet some absurdly high ones. 

Today, we celebrate the best of the best SNL hosts. While quantity of appearances is obviously a factor in these rankings, the thing that separates the best of the best is their ability to forge a legacy for themselves in Studio 8H that is as good—if not better than— what they did outside of those hallowed halls. And while SNL regulars that returned to host were not ruled out of contention, there is something truly special about those outsiders who prove that they could have been some of SNL’s greatest cast members if things had gone slightly differently. 

12. Adam Driver 

To be fair, most of Adam Driver’s Saturday Night Live hosting gigs revolve around the gag that he’s a very serious actor who rarely seems to realize he’s in an SNL sketch. To be even more fair, that constant straight man approach almost always delivers. 

Few things are better than watching Adam Driver play an old-timey oil baron who embarrasses his son during career day or a Medieval Times performer who has decided to go way too method. The SNL crew always know exactly how to deploy Adam Driver, and we are often the beneficiaries of their genius. 

11. Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen’s Saturday Night Live hosting greatness is rarely acknowledged by those who didn’t grow up with a certain era of the show (the late 1970s). Yet, Bergen was one of those great early SNL hosts who not only set a standard for what a host should be but often outshined the sketch show’s main cast. 

While Bergen is sometimes best known as the first woman to host SNL, she was also the first person to host the show for a second time. She surprised many with her comedic chops that were still rooted in the intelligent dramatic work that made her such a rising star in the first place. While she showed she could have easily been one of the greatest Weekend Update anchors ever, it’s her incredible interview with dangerous toy manufacturer Irwin Mainway that best demonstrates her surprisingly modern comedic style. 

10. John Mulaney

John Mulaney certainly brings the charisma that the best Saturday Night Live hosts require an abundance of, but it’s Mulaney’s history as an SNL writer that makes him one of the all-time greats. 

As a prolific former member of the SNL writer’s room, Mulaney clearly understands what a good host should do. However, he often seems more interested in using the hosting gig as an excuse to push the wildest sketches that would have otherwise probably never made it to air. Best known for his incredible musical parodies (I’ll fight anyone who says “Diner Lobster” is anything less than one of SNL’s greatest contributions to comedy), Mulaney regularly unleashes the wildest concepts and finds a way to make them work.

9. Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake certainly has to be one of the most surprising hosts in Saturday Night Live history. While critics have been arguing for Timberlake’s surprising dramatic acting chops for quite some time, few expected him to be nearly as good of an SNL comedian as he has consistently been. 

While Timberlake is best paired with Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island gang (he was part of the group’s legendary “Dick in a Box” sketch), Timberlake generally excels at a sillier style of comedy that helps him make the show’s wildest ideas work better than they probably should. In terms of overall hosting credentials, it doesn’t hurt that Timerblake often pulled double duty as a musical guest. 

8. Ryan Gosling

Gosling is one of those Saturday Night Live hosts who could have easily been a beloved regular member of the show’s cast if his movie star looks and otherworldly talent didn’t create so many other opportunities for him. 

The star of some of the best SNL segments in fairly recent history (including “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “Italian Restaurant,” and “Close Encounter”), Gosling has this way of either getting the professionals around him to break or breaking so hard that you can’t help but share the pleasure he can barely contain. If that’s not your style, then be sure to check out incredible pre-taped segments like “Papyrus” and “Santa Baby” that feature Gosling giving genuine performances in the silliest scenarios you can imagine. 

7. John Goodman

John Goodman has described his old Saturday Night Live cast member audition as one of the worst things he’s ever done in his acting career. While those auditions can reportedly be quite a nightmare for anyone, it’s hard to watch Goodman’s many subsequent hosting appearances and imagine how the show’s producers possibly passed on this man. 

A prolific host throughout SNL’s booming ‘90s, Goodman was a perfect fit for an era of the show that saw an array of all-time great comedic talent slowly come into their own. His star power was undeniable, but he could work alongside anyone in just about any situation. Still, it’s fine if you only know him for delivering the best Wilford Brimley impression or stepping in as a Chicago superfan. 

6. Melissa McCarthy

It’s easy to forget that Melissa McCarthy wasn’t a full-time Saturday Night Live cast member. She has not only worked alongside many SNL cast members, but her comedy style and biggest genre hits practically feel like SNL movies. Of course, her association with the show is only strengthened by her history of unbelievably great hosting appearances. 

Like Kate McKinnon, McCarthy is willing to commit to the wildest (often physical) bits just to get a laugh. Watch her practically drown herself in ranch dressing to prove her fondness for the product in “Taste Test” if you want to see the McCarthy you (probably) know and (probably) love. Yet, it’s her performance as the world’s most abusive basketball coach in “Outside the Lines” or the world’s worst game show assistant in “Million Dollar Wheel” that really make you wish she had found a few years to be a regular SNL cast member.

5. Christopher Walken

Many probably went into Christopher Walken’s early Saturday Night Live hosting gigs expecting what many expect from a Christopher Walken movie performance: an increasingly exaggerated version of the Christopher Walken persona. And while SNL has certainly had fun with Walken’s distinct mannerisms and dialog delivery, SNL Christopher Walken has this way of elevating his game like he’s Michael Jordan in the playoffs. 

While Christopher Walken tends to…stand out more than other SNL hosts that blend into the cast, writing a show around Walken always pays off. Whether he’s interviewing a job candidate who is clearly a centaur or playing a southern war general with a truly unfortunate name, Walken commits to every bit in ways that have destroyed some of the most talented comedians that have ever graced television. 

4. Emma Stone

As one of the most talented and celebrated actresses of her generation, we should all feel lucky that Emma Stone has decided to grace the Saturday Night Live stage as often as she has. More than a “thanks for dropping by” star, though, Stone has found an unlikely second home on the sacred stage of Studio 8H.

While Stone is certainly a gifted live comedic performer, she has always shined brightest in some of the best pre-taped segments SNL has ever produced. Her turn as an actress who treated an appearance in a porno as the dramatic break of a lifetime is a premise worthy of a full-length film, and the conceptually inexplicable but undeniable “Wells For Boys” commercial may be the funniest thing SNL has ever done. Stone’s almost spooky commitment to her SNL appearances is one of life’s most reliable sources of pure joy. 

3. Alec Baldwin

Moreso than even some of Saturday Night Live’s other most prolific hosts, Alec Baldwin is essentially an honorary SNL cast member. He’s hosted the show more times than anyone else and has made several memorable cameos between those gigs. Stats aside, few stars have ever fit into so many different eras of the show as well as Alec Baldwin has.

If you really want to appreciate Baldwin’s genius though, you’ve got to go back and watch some of his earlier sketches before he started to settle into doing more impressions. Baldwin’s ability to deliver lines like “Schweddy Balls” with the gravitas and professionalism of a Hollywood star exemplifies the skills of a host who treated every character like it was the role of a lifetime. 

2. Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks first hosted Saturday Night Live in 1985 when he was largely still seen as an up-and-coming comedian. Not long after, Hanks became one of the most celebrated dramatic actors in American film history. And yet, no matter how many awards Hanks won or how bright his star power shone, he always came back to SNL as a way of reminding everyone he’s still one of the most gifted comedic performers on the planet. 

Like the best SNL hosts, Hanks’ appearances always feel like an event. You’re never truly prepared for what Tom Hanks will do next. He’s the man who turned David S. Pumpkins into an unlikely cultural icon in the same episode that he delivered an intelligently hilarious turn as a MAGA supporter who finds himself on an episode of Black Jeopardy. Only on SNL can a national treasure continue to find so many ways to surprise us. 

1. Steve Martin

Steve Martin has hosted Saturday Night Live in five different decades and has made appearances on the show ever since it has been on the air. In theory, he’s a legacy comedian who the show invites back when they want to deliver a cheap hit of nostalgia. In reality, Steve Martin remains one of the absolute funniest people you can be lucky enough to witness late one Saturday night. 

Sketches like “Wild and Crazy Guys,” “King Tut,” and “The Holiday Train” certainly showcase Martin’s live comedy credentials across wildly different eras of SNL. What elevates Martin as an SNL host, though, is his often underrated MC abilities. His monologues almost always deliver, and he is capable of truly hosting the show in ways that go far beyond what he does during the sketches. SNL remains one of the best showcases of this all-time great comedian’s many talents. 

The post The 12 Best Saturday Night Live Hosts Ever appeared first on Den of Geek.

Spring has sprung in Austin, which can mean only one thing: it’s time for the many-hyphenated SXSW Festival! A strange, wonderful, and wholly Austin intersection of music, technology, games, and of course film and television, this festival in many ways kicks off the next year’s itinerary in culture and fun. But there is so much […]

The post SXSW 2025 Narrative Film Preview Guide appeared first on Den of Geek.

The best Saturday Night Live hosts remind us how important that role is. Through ups and downs, one of the best reasons to tune into SNL is to see what that week’s host will do. Some hosts quickly discover that they are not fit for the unique world of live sketch comedy. Others exceed all expectations or meet some absurdly high ones. 

Today, we celebrate the best of the best SNL hosts. While quantity of appearances is obviously a factor in these rankings, the thing that separates the best of the best is their ability to forge a legacy for themselves in Studio 8H that is as good—if not better than— what they did outside of those hallowed halls. And while SNL regulars that returned to host were not ruled out of contention, there is something truly special about those outsiders who prove that they could have been some of SNL’s greatest cast members if things had gone slightly differently. 

12. Adam Driver 

To be fair, most of Adam Driver’s Saturday Night Live hosting gigs revolve around the gag that he’s a very serious actor who rarely seems to realize he’s in an SNL sketch. To be even more fair, that constant straight man approach almost always delivers. 

Few things are better than watching Adam Driver play an old-timey oil baron who embarrasses his son during career day or a Medieval Times performer who has decided to go way too method. The SNL crew always know exactly how to deploy Adam Driver, and we are often the beneficiaries of their genius. 

11. Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen’s Saturday Night Live hosting greatness is rarely acknowledged by those who didn’t grow up with a certain era of the show (the late 1970s). Yet, Bergen was one of those great early SNL hosts who not only set a standard for what a host should be but often outshined the sketch show’s main cast. 

While Bergen is sometimes best known as the first woman to host SNL, she was also the first person to host the show for a second time. She surprised many with her comedic chops that were still rooted in the intelligent dramatic work that made her such a rising star in the first place. While she showed she could have easily been one of the greatest Weekend Update anchors ever, it’s her incredible interview with dangerous toy manufacturer Irwin Mainway that best demonstrates her surprisingly modern comedic style. 

10. John Mulaney

John Mulaney certainly brings the charisma that the best Saturday Night Live hosts require an abundance of, but it’s Mulaney’s history as an SNL writer that makes him one of the all-time greats. 

As a prolific former member of the SNL writer’s room, Mulaney clearly understands what a good host should do. However, he often seems more interested in using the hosting gig as an excuse to push the wildest sketches that would have otherwise probably never made it to air. Best known for his incredible musical parodies (I’ll fight anyone who says “Diner Lobster” is anything less than one of SNL’s greatest contributions to comedy), Mulaney regularly unleashes the wildest concepts and finds a way to make them work.

9. Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake certainly has to be one of the most surprising hosts in Saturday Night Live history. While critics have been arguing for Timberlake’s surprising dramatic acting chops for quite some time, few expected him to be nearly as good of an SNL comedian as he has consistently been. 

While Timberlake is best paired with Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island gang (he was part of the group’s legendary “Dick in a Box” sketch), Timberlake generally excels at a sillier style of comedy that helps him make the show’s wildest ideas work better than they probably should. In terms of overall hosting credentials, it doesn’t hurt that Timerblake often pulled double duty as a musical guest. 

8. Ryan Gosling

Gosling is one of those Saturday Night Live hosts who could have easily been a beloved regular member of the show’s cast if his movie star looks and otherworldly talent didn’t create so many other opportunities for him. 

The star of some of the best SNL segments in fairly recent history (including “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “Italian Restaurant,” and “Close Encounter”), Gosling has this way of either getting the professionals around him to break or breaking so hard that you can’t help but share the pleasure he can barely contain. If that’s not your style, then be sure to check out incredible pre-taped segments like “Papyrus” and “Santa Baby” that feature Gosling giving genuine performances in the silliest scenarios you can imagine. 

7. John Goodman

John Goodman has described his old Saturday Night Live cast member audition as one of the worst things he’s ever done in his acting career. While those auditions can reportedly be quite a nightmare for anyone, it’s hard to watch Goodman’s many subsequent hosting appearances and imagine how the show’s producers possibly passed on this man. 

A prolific host throughout SNL’s booming ‘90s, Goodman was a perfect fit for an era of the show that saw an array of all-time great comedic talent slowly come into their own. His star power was undeniable, but he could work alongside anyone in just about any situation. Still, it’s fine if you only know him for delivering the best Wilford Brimley impression or stepping in as a Chicago superfan. 

6. Melissa McCarthy

It’s easy to forget that Melissa McCarthy wasn’t a full-time Saturday Night Live cast member. She has not only worked alongside many SNL cast members, but her comedy style and biggest genre hits practically feel like SNL movies. Of course, her association with the show is only strengthened by her history of unbelievably great hosting appearances. 

Like Kate McKinnon, McCarthy is willing to commit to the wildest (often physical) bits just to get a laugh. Watch her practically drown herself in ranch dressing to prove her fondness for the product in “Taste Test” if you want to see the McCarthy you (probably) know and (probably) love. Yet, it’s her performance as the world’s most abusive basketball coach in “Outside the Lines” or the world’s worst game show assistant in “Million Dollar Wheel” that really make you wish she had found a few years to be a regular SNL cast member.

5. Christopher Walken

Many probably went into Christopher Walken’s early Saturday Night Live hosting gigs expecting what many expect from a Christopher Walken movie performance: an increasingly exaggerated version of the Christopher Walken persona. And while SNL has certainly had fun with Walken’s distinct mannerisms and dialog delivery, SNL Christopher Walken has this way of elevating his game like he’s Michael Jordan in the playoffs. 

While Christopher Walken tends to…stand out more than other SNL hosts that blend into the cast, writing a show around Walken always pays off. Whether he’s interviewing a job candidate who is clearly a centaur or playing a southern war general with a truly unfortunate name, Walken commits to every bit in ways that have destroyed some of the most talented comedians that have ever graced television. 

4. Emma Stone

As one of the most talented and celebrated actresses of her generation, we should all feel lucky that Emma Stone has decided to grace the Saturday Night Live stage as often as she has. More than a “thanks for dropping by” star, though, Stone has found an unlikely second home on the sacred stage of Studio 8H.

While Stone is certainly a gifted live comedic performer, she has always shined brightest in some of the best pre-taped segments SNL has ever produced. Her turn as an actress who treated an appearance in a porno as the dramatic break of a lifetime is a premise worthy of a full-length film, and the conceptually inexplicable but undeniable “Wells For Boys” commercial may be the funniest thing SNL has ever done. Stone’s almost spooky commitment to her SNL appearances is one of life’s most reliable sources of pure joy. 

3. Alec Baldwin

Moreso than even some of Saturday Night Live’s other most prolific hosts, Alec Baldwin is essentially an honorary SNL cast member. He’s hosted the show more times than anyone else and has made several memorable cameos between those gigs. Stats aside, few stars have ever fit into so many different eras of the show as well as Alec Baldwin has.

If you really want to appreciate Baldwin’s genius though, you’ve got to go back and watch some of his earlier sketches before he started to settle into doing more impressions. Baldwin’s ability to deliver lines like “Schweddy Balls” with the gravitas and professionalism of a Hollywood star exemplifies the skills of a host who treated every character like it was the role of a lifetime. 

2. Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks first hosted Saturday Night Live in 1985 when he was largely still seen as an up-and-coming comedian. Not long after, Hanks became one of the most celebrated dramatic actors in American film history. And yet, no matter how many awards Hanks won or how bright his star power shone, he always came back to SNL as a way of reminding everyone he’s still one of the most gifted comedic performers on the planet. 

Like the best SNL hosts, Hanks’ appearances always feel like an event. You’re never truly prepared for what Tom Hanks will do next. He’s the man who turned David S. Pumpkins into an unlikely cultural icon in the same episode that he delivered an intelligently hilarious turn as a MAGA supporter who finds himself on an episode of Black Jeopardy. Only on SNL can a national treasure continue to find so many ways to surprise us. 

1. Steve Martin

Steve Martin has hosted Saturday Night Live in five different decades and has made appearances on the show ever since it has been on the air. In theory, he’s a legacy comedian who the show invites back when they want to deliver a cheap hit of nostalgia. In reality, Steve Martin remains one of the absolute funniest people you can be lucky enough to witness late one Saturday night. 

Sketches like “Wild and Crazy Guys,” “King Tut,” and “The Holiday Train” certainly showcase Martin’s live comedy credentials across wildly different eras of SNL. What elevates Martin as an SNL host, though, is his often underrated MC abilities. His monologues almost always deliver, and he is capable of truly hosting the show in ways that go far beyond what he does during the sketches. SNL remains one of the best showcases of this all-time great comedian’s many talents. 

The post The 12 Best Saturday Night Live Hosts Ever appeared first on Den of Geek.