"Saturday Night Live" History (2004-2013) Quiz

Answer: Pieces of Me

It was during season 30's October 23rd show in 2004 when Jessica Simpson's sister Ashlee Simpson was the musical guest on "SNL". The song she was supposed to sing was "Autobiography", but due to a malfunction, "Pieces of Me" started to play and Ashlee quickly tried lip-synching to that.

It was clear according to writer Liz Cackowski that something was awry: "It was pretty awesome. Everyone was freaking out." In a panic, Ashlee attempted to dance the single most awkward-looking hoedown in history, but gave up quickly on that.

She ran off stage, and NBC cut the vocal track and went to commercial. Cackowski recalls, "It was so exciting. Like, 'What just happened?'" The odious part truly though was Ashlee throwing her band under the bus with her lie, a lie which didn't make sense when examined.

She blamed them saying, "My band started playing the wrong song. I didn't know what to do so I thought I'd do a hoedown." So, her band started playing a song that included her vocal track? Either account of the story indicates she wasn't singing live. "SNL" had the good heart however, to invite her back a year later.

She performed and it seemed to go just fine.

Answer: cupcakes at Greenwich Village's Magnolia Bakery

"But first my hunger pains are stickin' like duct tape.
Let's hit up Magnolia and mack on some cupcakes.
No doubt that bakery's get all da bomb frostins.
I love those cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling."

The troupe (Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone) debuted the video parody on December 17, 2005, and it included their desire to see the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia." The video helped popularize a long series of "SNL's" Digital Shorts, featuring a wide variety of parodies.

"Two, no six, no twelve, Bakers Dozen!
I told you that I'm crazy for these cupcakes cousin."

Answer: Justin Timberlake

It was a season smash hit, on the December 16, 2006 show. And as the saying goes, it broke the Internet, garnering 35 million hits online. Timberlake would quip later, "You can make political statements or you can choose to say nothing about nothing and come up with" the skit they performed.

"Hey girl I got somethin' real important to give you so just sit down and listen.
Girl you know we've been together such a long long time (Such a long time) and now I'm ready to lay it on the line.
Wow, you know it's Christmas and my heart is open wide (Open wide)
Gonna give you something so you know what's on my mind (What's on my mind) A
gift real special, so take off the top, take a look inside it's..." etc. etc.

Answer: Bob Dylan and Maldita Vecindad played music

It was season 33, November 17, 2007. The Writer's Guild of America was on strike. The invitation only show was held at UCB (The Upright Citizen's Brigade) in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. It was Lorne Michaels' birthday and proceeds indeed went to the staff who were all temporarily laid off. Bob Dylan was not on hand, nor was that Mexican band Maldita Vecindad.

But Yo La Tengo did play as the musical guest of the show in which actor Michael Cera hosted, and the regular cast entertained as well with Dratch doing her Debbie Downer, and Hammond imitating Bill Clinton. Cera would say, "It's kind of a silent honor, what I imagine it would be like to be appreciated posthumously."

Answer: Thursday

"Thursday Night Live" saw the cast (The Ready For Primetime Players?), perform 30-minute specials of Weekend Update during Season 34, on October 9th, 16th, and 23rd in 2008. The show was indeed also live. The October 9 show was a town hall presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain hosted by Tom Brokaw (all played by cast members) followed by an edition of Weekend Update hosted by Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler.

The October 16 show as well as the October 23 show were Weekend Update editions with co-hosts Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler. John Mulaney who has become a big star comedian these days was a writer for the staff back then, and he recalled, "I remember thinking this one sketch is totally not going to make it on the air--there's no way the [cue] cards department could write it in time." But they indeed managed, writing the first cards for the actors to begin with and frantically writing the rest of the cards hoping the actors wouldn't catch up to them.

Answer: Katie Couric

No one really knows if Fey's takedown of Ms. Palin swung the election toward the Democrats, but Palin did show that she had the class and civility to appear on "Saturday Night Live" a month later. In that show's cold open, Alec Baldwin would tell her, "You are way hotter in person." Seth Meyers was assigned to helping Palin write her parodies and he reported that Palin was "guarded and polite, but most importantly, she was game."

Answer: Stefon

Bill Hader's city culture correspondent debuted on April 24, 2010 during a season 35 "Weekend Update" appearance. He was a hit from the get-go and viewers would eagerly look forward to his appearances and see how he fought against breaking character when reading off the bizarre list of attractions that various clubs would offer when he gave his city culture reports.

The cue cards were routinely changed on him without his seeing them and thus being surprised week after week. Writer/comedian John Mulaney teamed up with Hader when writing the sketches and although Michaels kept cutting the sketches, it was Doug Abel, the writer of "Weekend Update" who suggested to them that they try it on the "Weekend Update" segment.

Answer: Betty White

Season 35 saw "SNL" debut its oldest host on May 8, 2010 after that Facebook campaign lobbied for none other than Betty White. She was 88 years-old at the time. In her opening monologue she joked, "I didn't even know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time." She remembers feeling "panic stricken" before stepping out in front of the "big live audience": "All of a sudden, the decades that you've been in television fade away, and you think, 'What am I doing here?'"

Answer: The Californians

Debuting April 14, 201 in season 37, The Californians featured many cast members particularly Fred Armisen and Bill Hader speaking in over-the-top Valley accents. However serious a situation the characters found themselves in, such as catching one another cheating on their spouses, the arguments would inevitably devolve into what routes, roads, streets and highways were the best to get from one place to another.

The cast invented during the many times Lorne Michaels was late to a table read of that week's script, and apparently he was always late according to Bill Hader.

Answer: Serena Williams

The issue of diversity was lampooned in that November 2, 2013 episode in which Kerry Washington frantically switched from one character to another without a break, the point of which was to illustrate the lack of support she had in jumping into all those characters.

She portrayed all those women except for Serena Williams. The issue did lead to the show hiring Sasheer Zamata in January 2014, and then Leslie Jones after that based upon the recommendation of Chris Rock who used to be a cast member.

He told Lorne Michaels: "She's 20 years older than everybody in the cast and she hasn't been in improv or whatever, but she's really freakin' funny and you should look at her."