american express' timeless safety and security are now available on apple pay. the next evolution of membership is here. another attack in europe. all right. thanks for getting up with us this sunday morning. the sunday the day after valentine's day. it's a day that begins with much of new england in the grips of yet another monster storm. we're seeing record-shattering snowfall totals in some places up there. still no end in sight to that. we're going to be live in boston just moments from now. also brutal arctic chills heavy winds elsewhere in the country. some other records being set there. we'll have an update on that as well. also this morning it's day one of that fragile cease fire

between russia and ukraine. it's now under way. already one pro-russian leader is renouncing it. is the violence about to begin again? we'll have a report on that in a few minutes. and a very big day in this building. a very big night in this building. just 12 hours from now it's going to be the "saturday night live" 40th anniversary spectacular. and four former performers and writers from that show who will be at the special tonight, they're going to be here first this morning to watch some classic clips with us to share their memories to share their stories. really looking forward to that segment later in the show today. but first, deadly shootings in denmark that the country's prime minister says represents a terrorist attack. two victims dead after a gunman attacked a cafe where a cartoonist who had satirically depicted the prophet mohammed was speaking and later a synagogue in copenhagen. there are indications all of this could have been much worse. that suspected gunman now dead.

police saying they killed him. no information about his identify is known yet but the twin attacks bear an eerie resem blns to the deadly rampage in france just last month when a magazine that published his eded disparageing cartoons of mohammed were published. french ambassador his country still reeling from last month's terror attacks in attendance at the forum saturday along with swedish cartoonist lars vilks who has received multiple death threats from muslim radicals since drawing a cartoon of mohammed as a dog in 2007. he's under 24 hour police protection. heavy police protection also stationed outside that cafe yesterday. the gunman trying to force his way through security force his way into the cafe. firing about 30 shots in the process, killing one person

wounding three police officers. then escaping without making it into the cafe. hours later just after midnight copenhagen time a second deadly attack. this time outside the city's main synagogue. a jewish man shot and killed two more police wounded there. that synagogue also heavily protected by police in the wake of the cafe attack earlier in the day. the man who was killed apparently standing guard at the entrance to a building adjacent to that synagogue. a massive overnight manhunt shutting down parts of central coopen hagen. at 5:00 a.m. police identifying a location where they believe the suspect to be. the suspect then opening fire when confronted by police then shooting -- the police shot the suspect dead. they now say they believe this was the man behind the shootings. again, no word publicly on his identity, no comments from police yet about possible motives, but the danish prime minister is saying emphatically that, we feel certain it was a politically motivated attack and

thereby it was a terrorist attack. other european leaders as well saying the same thing. the french foreign minister saying france, quote, remains by the side of the danish authorities and people in the fight against terrorism. the president of the european council, dopp nald tusk calling the cafe attack another brutal terrorist attack targeted at our fundamental values and freedom including the freedom of expression and a columnist for "charlie hebdo" saying in response to saturday's shootings, quote, we are all danish tonight. peter keldorf is a journalist based in copenhagen. peter, thank you for taking a few minutes this morning. let me start with this. we're seeing publicly no information yet about who this suspect is who this man who was shot and killed by the police is anything about his background. are there any indications over there that can clear that up at

all? any information on his identify? >> our intelligence service has said they know who the man was and they knew him in advance of the attack and the police know the identity of the man they shot this morning, but they do not want to reveal his name so the news is they know who the suspect, the guy they shot this morning, they know who he is and they knew him in advance. that's the latest. >> all right. we're having a bit of a problem with the audio there, peter. i'm going to thank you and let you go but peter said if you weren't able to hear clearly, he gave us some interesting information saying that the authorities in denmark do know or do think they know who this suspect is who this man shot dead is. they have his identity he says but they are not revealing it public publicly. also new comments coming in this morning, new public comments from the prime minister of

denmark. this just moments ago. let's play that for you. >> our thoughts go to the whole of the jewish community today. they belong in denmark. they are a strong part of our community and we will do everything we can to protect the jewish community in our country. >> and those words from the prime minister of denmark come as the ap is recording israeli prime minister benjamin nnt is netanyahu is calling for the massive immigration of european jews to israel following the danish attacks. steve clemens is an editor at large for "the atlantic" and he joins us now. look, we don't have any public information as we say from the authorities in denmark about who this is. i haven't heard, we haven't seen certainly any claims of responsibility, claims of linkage from any terrorist groups. at the same time this just has all of the hallmarks of what we saw in france last month. i mean, this started at an event

where a cartoonist who depicted mohammed in a negative life was speaking and it went to a synagogue. and last month to a kosher grocery store. >> and vilks who has a line of attempts on him, another terror ring arrested in 2010 isn'ted of try -- suspected of trying to kill him at this time. he was on isis' most wanted list. it does bear that. the other interesting dimension is if the gentleman just on the phone is correct and they knew who he was, that was also true in the case of france. it was true in a slightly different case but importantly in australia where there was the attack at the coffee shop. there are within our societies people being watched that have not yet crossed the line but yet just sort of lurk there with the possibility of doing that in some of these cases who are animated and we don't know what animated this individual yet, and certainly the attack on the synagogue is so deeply disconcerting, and it was

heartening to hear the prime minister's words about that. but this is going to open up all of those raw nerves again and insecurities in various communities across europe. >> if you could talk a little bit, we had a conversation last month when this was in france and about the jewish community in froonsance relations with the muslim community muslims in the country but not necessarily a part of the society. that's a dynamic that also exists in denmark? >> it exists across europe but what is isis and what are its adjutants trying to do? they're trying to create the impression of a clash of civilizations, a clash of cultures in which theirs is dominant over others. what i worry about prime minister netanyahu's comments, though imds understand the fear many jews fear across europe they feel as though the integration project particularly with muslims in their levavened that

out. and netanyahu is saying it's time to leave europe which enhances and increases the strain and the sense that there is really a clash under way. i nind deeply distressing and it will really undermine the european project and it will exacerbate this high fear world in which many jews are living, and i think it's also unfair candidly, to hold all muslims accountable for maybe what some individuals do. we don't even know if this individual was a muslim yet, but that tension is something that's become palpable and very disconcerting and needs to be addressed directly and quickly. >> right. that's right. and again to reiterate what we heard from peter in copenhagen saying that the authorities in denmark, he says do know who the suspect is and do know who the man they shot is are not revealing that publicly right

now. as you said steve, we don't know if it's a muslim, if it's not. it could be a deranged person could go a copycat thing from france. obviously a lot we will learn today. we'll be all over the story on this show throughout the day certainly here on msnbc. for now my thanks to steve clemens for joining us. really appreciate it. >> thank you. turning to the big story at home here in the united states and that has to do with weather. some of the coldest temperatures in a generation in treacherous conditions all around out there as heavy snow and blizzard conditions are moving toward new england this weekend. already in new england. where dozens of crashes on valentine's day as snow and high wind led to put. wreck multiple wrecks. one pileup counted as many as 20 vehicles on interstate 90 in erie pennsylvania. seven people suffered bumps and bruises miraculously. amtrak between north station in boston and brunswick, maine, has been canceled for sunday.

we have someone who is brave enough to be outside for us right now. the weather channel's sam champion is in boston where something like 4,000 snowplows have been deployed or at the ready. sam, it's snowing there. that's not the head lyeline because it's been snowing for three weeks. tell us what life is in boston. >> you know boston pretty well if i'm right. >> yeah, although i don't really recognize it right now. >> yeah it's been a long time since boston has had this much snow. probably as we've said never as you work on that 80-inch mark and a little above it in just 23 days. folks around here are seeing snow piles they haven't seen. everybody's benchmark is that blizzard of '78. of course, this has blown way, way, way past that. two blizzards in this area has never really happened this close together. we have blizzard conditions in the overnight. really picked up around midnight until like 3:00 4:00 in the morning. the worst here seemed to be right around 4:00 4:30 to about

6:00 in the morning where we got that thundersnow first starting here in the boston area. that's the classic sign of this storm really ramping up. the power of this storm right at about 4:30 through boston at 6:00 as we started to look toward plymouth. this is quincy market, that's nathaniel hall. they have their own snow removal teams and they've been out all night. they say they'll be here until it stops snowing trying to get ahead of the snow. withoutaging this agedamaging this or clumping it, i want you to see this. this is going to be a problem later on today. look how light and fine and powdery that snow is. it's just unbelievable. it's lighter than pulled cutton. so whenever the wind picks up here it really grabs anything that's on the ground anything you put in the snow piles, and just makes whiteout conditions. even when the snow shuts down the governor just finished or they're in their press conference, i can see them in

the press conference and the governor has -- basically what they've been say something give us some time. we need time to get the roads clear. if the snow shuts down don't just clear out your car and get on the roads. give us until later on this afternoon because we've got a lot to clear. and when that mind -- i'm going to walk this way and show you the snow pile. when that wind picks up, even if it's not snowing, you're going to think it's snowing particularly this close to the snow piles. now, i'm going to try to stay out of the way of the bobcat because these guys are working pretty hard and heavy and have been all night long. just to give you an idea of how high this snow pile is gauge me at 6'0". this is just from that area right here we've been raking in. i'm going to do it in a couple tiers. this is the first tier. that's probably right around four or five feet. i haven't even tried this yet to get up on top of it. this is level with that first story of the building. so this snow pile about 10 12

feet high and we've got more coming during the day today. i think we still have another couple inches left inside this system. so exactly what they're telling everybody to do just hang tight, let them get the snow removed. even when the snow ends guys this is going to be a windy one. >> we are actually hearing, sam, while you were doing that, we heard from the city council in boston. they're renaming that pile of snow mount champion in your honor. >> this just in. i was going to put a flag on it for you. just send me a big msnbc flag i will run up and stake it for you. >> it's on the way. thanks for the report and good luck in that storm. the biggest part of this for many americans is arguably the cold temperature, not just the snow on the ground. msnbc meteorologist dominica davis is here. thanks for being here. >> it's not just the snow. we are going to be dealing with extreme cold dangerously cold temperatures along with the wind.

so power outages are going to be a continuing concern and it's not only for the new england area but even down into the mid-atlantic. so here is still the blizzard conditions the blizzard warnings we have going up the coast from boston up to bangor maine. wind gusts will be upwards of 70 miles an hour. that blizzard warning goes until 7:00 in the morning. this is some serious stuff. we could be looking at winds along the coast 70 miles per hour. 60 miles per hour right around the boston area. it gets a little bit better as you get through new york and philadelphia, but still those are strong winds that will cause power outages for sure. so everybody on the northeast needs to be aware of that today. here is the current wind gusts right now. we have 32 in d.c. it's 39 in new york. 28 in boston. those winds will pick up as we head through the afternoon and especially this evening. now, with those winds it's the extreme cold so this is really what we're talking about, dangerous cold minus 23 right now for the feels-like temperature in binghamton.

in boston it feels like five degrees and that is pretty good but minus 3 for the feel-like temperature here in new york. windchills will get as low as minus 15 along much of the northeast. so imagine that steve, you lose power, even if it's just for a few hours, you're going to feel that. so that's our big concern today and tomorrow morning as well. >> yeah that's some scary stuff. we talk about the snow but the cold too, just as much of a problem, maybe more. dominica, thank you for that. really appreciate that. still ahead in the show 40 years in the making the big "saturday night live" anniversary spectacular is tonight. we got a huge all-star table of "snl" performers and writers. you won't want to miss that. but first, the tenuous cease fire in ukraine, is it going to last? has it already been broken? details are straight ahead. how much money do you have in your pocket right now? i have $40 $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time,

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we are keeping a close eye this morning on ukraine. that's where that delicate cease fire that european leaders furiously negotiated this week between russia and ukraine is now in effect or is it? the president of ukraine and the leader of pro-russian rebels in the eastern part of the country both declare fighting had stopped at midnight local time per the agreement. and there are signs on the ground now that the fighting has, indeed stopped. but at the same time another rebel leader is reportedly renouncing the truce saying it doesn't apply to the key city that is a rail hub where rebels have ukrainian troops surrounded and they apparently don't want to let up. intense fighting around the city marking the run-up to the truce. the president has warned his troops will respond if rebels strike. one lieutenant saying this cease fire won't amount to anything. this is a conflict that's killed

5 p 5,300 so far and has been resistant to past cease fire attempts. joining me is nina khrushcheva. and julia laffey. nina, let me start with you. what you're looking at this morning, big picture, the fighting has stopped. you have a rebel leader saying it doesn't apply to us. do you think this truce is real and can last? >> this truce can last to a certain degree. it cannot last the way we think it should last that is there would be no flares up, there would be no fighting because the fighting has already happened and i don't think the rebels are going to give up the city. what they're saying they have surrounded the ukrainian troops and as long as the president is not going to recognize it they are going to demolish the troops. they are saying it is up to the ukrainian president to admit the

city is theirs and if he admits it they will let them go. he cannot admit it because then the city goes de facto to russia and that's what he cannot afford. >> there's a stand still. >> we already have a stand still here. there's already also issues abouts the exchange of prisoners. i think there's a lot of sticking points and i think the best thing we can hope or the best thing that leaders can do is that probably meet again next week to address this sticking points and maybe agree on those because if they don't, these points will continue to exacerbate the cease-fire and maybe even unravel it. >> julia, looming over all of this is vladimir putin. what does putin want out of this in the end? do we have a clear sense of that? >> i think, you know, he clearly wants ukraine to be a failed state and a state that is

ineligible to join the european union and nato which is already can't do given crimea. because if there's a territorial dispute, it cannot join the eu or nato which is putin's ultimate goal it not have the eu and nato expanding right up to this his border. past that he's also cornered himself. i think he theds to keep fighting keep spending and he doesn't have -- this is not a man who thinks really long term. this is not a man who thinks of an exit strategy when he starts something, and we're seeing that here. you know right now if you look at the map, you have a section of the donetsk region they have a airplane that's completely destroyed, they're trying to get the port, trying to make this land they've carved out of

ukraine somewhat sustainable and cohesive and coherent. but past that what do they want? do they want this region to be independent? do they want it to be a hugely autonomous region inside ukraine. it's not going to be part of russia or is it? you know part of it is that putin doesn't think of an exit strategy but part of it is also he likes to keep all options on the table and make sure he can go in any direction at any time. >> what do you think of the putin -- >> i actually totally agree he likes to keep his options open. he's a judo master. that's what they do. but i actually think that as much as we want to say and we do say he's a tactician, he's not a strategist there is some bit of a strategic thinking here because in minute of coursesk he was adamant do netsk was going to remain part of ukraine. as long as it does it's an

important destabilizing center so putin can control his rebels or can influence his rebels so they can take more territory or make sure that there is russian-controlled territory within ukraine, not independent ukraine, and that allows it to play out because it doesn't have to play out tomorrow. he can play this out in a year. so in this sense he's somewhat strategic but in a destructive and i think ultimately as julia said, he'll back himself into the corner ultimately destructive to himself way. >> we'll see how it plays out. thank you to julia and nina. still ahead in the show today, a former "snl" cast member is trying to be could be the next al franken making a leap from "snl" to politics. we'll tell you who he is and talk to him. next, rand paul maneuvers for a possible 2016 bid. we will tell you his plan. stay with us.

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this week on the gop complain trail a crafty maneuver by rand paul that may, may, free him from facing a wrenching and potentially campaign-killing decision. at issue is this kentucky state law forbids a candidate from appearing on the same ballot for two different offices. it's a problem for paul because he wants to run for president next year. he is also up for re-election as a senator in kentucky next year. the filing deadline for the as soon as race will be next january which happens to be just as the republican presidential primaries are starting to get under way. so under the law, paul would then have to choose. he'd have to give up the presidential campaign and file to run for the senate or he had have to walk away from the senate in order to stay in the presidential race. but paul has a plan to get around this as the leking ton herald leader newspaper reported this week. he's writ an letter to the kentucky republican central committee asking the party not to hold a presidential primary neck year. instead, to hold a caucus. the coo he is caucuses are public meetings.

they're not secret ballot elections. they're run by the party. so if rand paul gets his way here, then his dilemma will disappear. he will be able to put his name on the bat lotballot for senate and compete in the presidential caucuses. if he doesn't give his way, one of his ambitions will have to give. joining me we have this morning's panel msnbc contributor michael steele the former chairman of the rnc and one half of the sirius xm show steele and you think erunger. the other half rick unger, is here as well. lynn sweet, friend of the show with "the chicago sun-times" rounds out our panel. the rand paul question is interesting to me. there's a lot i want to talk about about rand. i am curious about this dilemma. my read is sort of the grassroots in kentucky the rank and file in kentucky love this guy. if he wants them to do this

they're probably going to do this. do you agree? >> basically. this is all inside politics at the lowest possible level. this is grassroots and its best and at the end of the day the party will likely give him his wish and it's an upside for the party, too. if they go the caucus route they can move up the line a little bit for when they hold their caucus. they don't have to wait until the back of the line. they can actually then as a caucus state much as we see in iowa play a major -- not a major but more of a role in who the presidential nomination is going to go to at some point. >> very rand paulian. this is the same guy who had trouble getting credited as an ophthalmologist. what did he do? he created his own ophthalmology board that would accredit him. if he can't get to where he wants to through the normal system -- >> he will find a way or make a

way. >> we look for that creative inity in a president. >> i have had this thought about him for a while. i still think he's a really interesting figure in politics and the interesting thing to me was he takes a lot of libertarian ideology of his father and he has the potential to bring it more into the mainstream than his father did. i think sort of the achilles' heel of rand paul and we've been seeing this lately is for lack of a better term sometimes it seems like he's the guy who believes the forwarded e-mails. when you listen to him talk about vaccines when he got in trouble on vaccines he says sometimes these fringe things that sound like they're coming from his father's universe and they've seeped into rand's campaign. i think it hurts that effort to go mainstream. >> you say achilles' heel. how about achilles foot leg, arm? >> i was trying to be polite. >> okay. he has a niche. he can't get out of it. that's the problem. there is not a broad enough libertarian movement that could take him to the republican nomination. i do not see a path. now, i covered his father's

presidential races and he knows what it's like. you start with a good base they will take you through, he'll have enough money to travel around the country. but here is another case steve, and gentlemen, everything his father said will be part of what he has to talk about. and when you look at the big jewish donors when you look at the adelsons of the world, his father's record and statements on israel, for example, he is just not going to be able to talk his way out of it. >> i don't necessarily buy all of that. i think that at the end of the day rand paul is the same issue that bush has, and jeb and rand are going to distinguish themselves in their own right having made their own separate accomplishments. look you're absolutely right, they're -- >> but jeb's father didn't have the newsletters with all -- >> and, look, to the extent he has to answer those, he will but i don't think they will upend any presidential hope.

the achilles foot will be moments like vaccinations. you better be prepared -- >> that marginalizes you. i think that's my point. >> that's true. but i don't think it has to relate back to his dad. >> right. so he has enough to shoot himself in the foot. but in case there's a shortage, there's a little bit more. >> you're right about jewish donors, they will never flock to paul because of his father's history but i don't think that would be his problem. as a writer for every two columns i write where i criticize him, i will actually write one where i go rand paul just did something kind of cool but that's not good enough. because when i'm criticizing him it's for doing something so uniquely stupid or flipping on a point within 24 hours. it reminds me of some other candidates who i won't name. >> i want to squeeze this in speaking of rand paul. this sort of shows maybe the two sides of rand paul. he's interesting and unique he

put out yesterday a valentine to hillary clinton mocking the idea that -- this is what he put out there. on one level it's sort of human like you don't see politicians doing this -- >> i think he misses the point of valentine's. >> here is the other point. one of the reasons you have people -- there are a lot of reasons why people run for president. one is if he had sent that and he wasn't running for president, we might not pay attention. it's a platform for his ideas. i am not convinced he's really running a campaign to get to the white house as much as he's running a campaign of his ideas and issues he cares about. >> which explains why it's so important to run for the senate and the white house at the same time. >> always have a fallback. >> get the lbj rule in kentucky. still ahead, you might know him as the ladies man, but this morning he is going to be on this show. tim meadows joins our big

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all right. there is a ton going on this morning. we'll get caught up with some of the other headlines making news. other things people are talking about. i have my trusty index cards with me. the panel is with me. this is from politico. it says headline here activists bristle at hillary clinton's fund-raising pleas. there are activists who are sick of the ready for hillary asking for money considering she's not a candidate. maybe a downside for clinton's strategy of staying out of the public eye while her supporters campaign for her. i was been wondering about this. she's in better political position than we've ever seen for a candidate for a major party nomination. i know she's not in trouble right now. will there come a point when it looks like she's not doing

interviews, not doing speeches when do they get there. >> she's damned if she does, and damned if she doesn't. let her be a grandmother for the moment. >> do you think -- >> in the defense of hillary -- >> she's thinking about this. >> you wonder why the american people are sick of the political process. it's because of all this nitpicking we go through about these candidate who aren't even announced. >> but she's meeting with all these advisers behind the scenes. the staff is being built up -- >> i have meetings every day. that doesn't mean i'm running for president. >> she's not just having meetings about being a grandmother. i'm completely cool with hillary hanging become because there's nobody challenging her. but there is a problem. i have been talking to my friends in the fund-raising world, this is making their lives very hard. >> why is it so hard for her to raise money? >> it's the people who do it. >> you're saying she did not raise what she should have raised. >> she didn't. >> what is that amount? >> well i don't know -- >> what is that amount? >> they're not satisfied. >> all these smart people would

tell her what the amount is he should be raising then. >> i have a little different theory. quickly on the money and then speaking out. the thing is there's a lot of people who are raising money on her behalf who are also making money off of this and that's the subtext here. it's not so much met her mark or not, she's not controlling it. >> where is my 15%. >> and when does she have to announce? whenever she feels like it. you just said there is no competition. there was a thought a while back maybe sooner than later, but later is later. >> no and i get there's no pressure. i just wonder if at some point people are going to say all these big issues and we haven't heard from her. >> dates will start happening for primaries -- >> making the media mad too, because if we can't see her -- >> you decoded me. i want to get to this one, too. joe biden has a valentine's day message for you. we can't not play this for you. take a look. >> hey, folks. happy valentine's day. this year get someone you love

something really special. >> mr. vice president, valentine's day is just a scam by greeting card companies. >> let me tell you something, who cares. some piece of advice man, take it seriously. >> dually noted. >> i think you will find it's more affordable than your cell phone bill. kablooey. >> and you talk about rand paul's greeting card? >> i'm sorry, that wasn't even the strangest thing joe biden said this week. >> no in iowa -- >> that wasn't even close. he said it on tv. when you're giving a speech and talking about your butt buddy, this isn't even close. >> that's a direct quote from the vice president talking about a 94-year-old former congressman. >> the white house this week used these very comedic videos the president did one that was hilarious by buzz feed in order to encourage people to sign up for obamacare, the deadline is february 15th. i think these are wonderful examples of trying something to reach different audiences and self-deprecating humor is the

best political humor when you make mockery of yourself. >> that's right. you break through to people maybe who -- >> particularly when the joke is in health care. >> there you go. >> let's not go there. >> let's move on to the next index card after that. how about this one. this is just a quick one. slate puts this up. their headline is windchill blows, it's time to get rid of a meaningless number. they say the windchill factor. you hear it's 9 degrees but feels like minus 6. they say it's trumped up ensen significanceal sensationallism. >> can you make a difference. >> it does make a difference between thermal underwear or not. >> they didn't take that point. panelists will be back next hour. and still ahead, an update on the breaking news we've following, the deadly shooting at a denmark synagogue at a free

speech event yesterday. closer to home another blizzard bearing down on the northeast. why the winds may not be the toughest challenge yet for new englanders. how much money do you have in your pocket right now? i have $40 $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. ♪ ♪ [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. [ m'm... ] [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.®

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to prevent heart disease heart attack, stroke or dementia. ask your doctor about premarin vaginal cream. all right. we are tracking that blizzard that is pounding new england this weekend. it could dump more than two feet of snow on parts of maine. on top of all that snow that may already there. the snow may not be the most dangerous part. miguel almaguer is live for us in boston where it's just coming down. miguel, take it away. >> reporter: good morning. blizzard-like conditions overnight and while the snow does look beautiful it could get ugly out here later on today. we're going to expect to see steady snow for much of the day in boston and new england. the city of boston they've been dealing with 80 inches of snow already this winter. now they can see another foot in places like maine. they could see two feet and as you mentioned, the big concern not necessarily or not only the snow but later on the wind. we could see hurricane-force

winds up to 75 miles an hour near the cape and it's also going to be bone chilling cold after much of the storm passes. we'll have an arctic blast where the windchill could dip to negative 35 degrees in some areas, so this storm just the beginning of a series of weathermakers that's going to drop the temperatures out here. certainly a brutal weekend and a brutal holiday. back to you. >> thanks to nbc's miguel almaguer live in boston. if you're in boston stay inside. by the way opening day at fenway park, can you believe this, look at the scenes we saw, six weeks away. they will have a baseball game apparently. we put out the call yesterday on twitter, facebook on social media. we asked you to send us your snow pictures and your response with tremendous. we want to have you keep tweeting those at us logging in with your snow selfies. we want to show you some of the best ones we got in. look at some and guess where they're from. this is from craig shoveling out the mailbox. where is he? i'm going to guess medway

massachusetts, because that's what the screen says. >> this is former vermont governor howard dean. another sent in by share ra not as much snow on the ground there. that is the capital city of columbus ohio recently passed over for the democratic convention. this is former massachusetts congressman barney frank sending us a photo from maine where he lives. this came in saturday afternoon from a fan named rachel. she kind of looks a little familiar. you have seen her before. it's rachel maddow in new hampshire with a fish. what a day for rachel maddow. still ahead, just how serious is the threat of another government shutdown? and what congress has to do if it's going to avoid it if it wants to avoid it. next is former "snl" cast member could be running for congress. we'll ask him about that right after this. ♪ music ♪ ...the getaway vehicle!

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tell me if this sounds familiar. a "saturday night live" alum deciding to take a shot at politics. but this time we're not talking about al franken. it's another former cast member who is now eyeing a move to capitol hill. gary kroger who was on "snl" during the early 1980s may be running for congress in iowa next year. he's a democrat. he says he won't make a decision until the spring. he's also in town for the big 40th anniversary "snl" spectacular and he joins us now. welcome. jo thank you for having me. >> interesting timing. you're back for the 40th anniversary. al franken is the example everybody thinks of. you had said this the press you wanted to ask him for advice. we had al franken on your show last week and we said what advice would he give you and we'll play his answer and see what you think of it. this is what al franken said to us. >> you're running for a job that's a very different job than being a comedian but a lot of people, you know, young people ask me how do you become a

senator because i'm a senator now, and i say do comedy for 40 years and run for the senate and so far that has worked every time. >> so have you followed the 40-year track. >> you know it's perfect. it's a perfect answer. here is the serious answer. yes, i was in show business for 20 years. i'm now in advertising, creative director of an advertising agency. if you look up politics i think it says showbiz meets politics. any artist tends to look at the world through a different lens. they see the inequitying, they see what's different, the abstractions. when you think about way to communicate, i think the politics is perfect. i think that's why a guy like al franken looks deeply into issues. >> i will ask you this franken has been so interesting to watch. he made a wry joke but al franken from 2008 to the present day is very different publicly

than the al franken america new for decades and he seems to have made a very intentional calculation that he basically doesn't want to be funny in public. he wants to cultivate a very serious reputation. he doesn't want to have any of his opponents be able to say he's just a lightweight comedian. i don't know him but it feels to me from afar that he's basically had to give up a chunk of his personality to get into politics. >> i would go so far as to say he's the same al franken. i bet at home he's al franken. i bet he's funny, i bet he's a satirist. i'm the same person. i have always been serious about politics. i have always been serious about the human condition. i have always been a serious liberal. i like to say progressive because it implies action. i have always been serious but i fell into comedy and i'm marginally funny. it was just my job. but it didn't mean that i went home and said hey, everything is funny. my son is here. i don't tell him make fun of everything. no, absolutely not. it's a different discipline.

>> you're back in town for the special. your era had some big personal personalities personalities, eddie murphy. >> i'm a footnote in the "snl" book. i'm a fan tonight. i get to show my son, there's will ferrell. >> who was your favorite to work with back this the day? >> when i got there eddie murphy's career exploded. we are the new kids me julia louis-dreyfus, brad hall and "48 hours" came out and there was a star of such magnitude on a show that wasn't about creating stars and suddenly it was like being on the lucy show. eddie would come out and the whole audience would stop and applaud. we'd wait for the applause. it was phenomenal. here is a 19-year-old, 20-year-old kid. i never in my life ever saw anyone more talented than eddie murphy. his ear was so in tune with everything. >> you played walter mondale in 1984. is mondale going to campaign for you.

>> well, i hope he does and i can say i'm do the best walter mondale. >> i think it's the only walter mondale impersonation but i louv loved that. thank you for joining us and have fun. we're going to go live to copenhagen with another update on the breaking news over there. stay with us, please. at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like mute buttons equal danger. ...that sound good? not being on this phone call sounds good. it's not muted. was that you jason? it was geoffrey! it was jason. it could've been brenda. they say after seeing a magician make his assistant disappear mr.clean came up with a product that makes dirt virtually disappear. he called it the magic eraser. it cleans like magic. even baked on dirt disappears right before your eyes. mr.clean's magic eraser.

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at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like shopping hungry equals overshopping. another shutdown? all right. thanks for staying with us this sunday morning. if you're just joining us we want to bring you up to speed on the breaking news we've been following all morning. two deadly shootings in copenhagen, denmark, followed by the suspect being killed by police. denmark's prime minister calling these attacks an act of terror. other leaders in europe echoing

that call as well. police believe the same man is responsible for both shootings, one at a free speech event, another at a synagogue hours later. officers shot and killed the suspected gun man. they have not yet publicly identified him. two men were killed three, including the shooter. five police officers also wounded during this violence. joining us on the phone is a security reporter with the danish newspaper "information." thank you for joining us. let me just start if there's any update if you have heard from the police from any authorities over there. we heard last hour they may know who the suspect is but they're not ready to report it publicly. do we know when that will be that they're ready to come forward with this information? >> yeah, hi, it's good to be with you, steve. what we know so far is as you said, they haven't published the name of the killer but he is known to both the police and the intelligence services. what they're working on right

now is trying to establish whether he was a foreign fighter in syria or iraq as in whether he might have fought for, for instance, the islamic state. shortly after he was shot in the neighborhood where he allegedly lived, a number of apartments in the nearby neighborhood, one that is known for having a large population of arab immigrants was searched by the police. >> it also sounds rasmus reading the accounts of what happened, is a heavy security presence at the free speech event and then after what happened there apparently people at the synagogue requested police presence for their event at night. it sounds to me like this could have potentially been much worse if it hadn't been for this extra security presence at both of these events. >> yeah undoubtedly it would be. 80 people were attending a

girl's bar mitzvah in the synagogue on crystal street in central copenhagen. this is the most central mosques for the jewish community in copenhagen. as you said right after at the attack at the free speech attack, they requested armed officers to come protect them. as you know sadly, a 30-something-year-old jewish man who was defending the synagogue was shot but he may have avoided a much bigger attack yes. >> rasmus raun westh on the scene in denmark. appreciate you taking a few minutes this morning. turning to that ticking clock here at home. domestic politics. the money running out, congress stalled, democrats thinking they have the advantage. here we go again, shutdown watch officially on yet again. but now with just five legislative days remaining before the department of homeland security runs out of money, that's supposed to happen on february 27th.

this is the first shutdown impasse since republicans won full control of congress in last year's elections. now, we haven't seen this exact dynamic before with republicans controlling everything on capitol hill and obama in the white house. at issue here is president obama's immigration actions deferring deportations for up to 5 million people. those have made conservatives furious. they passed a bill in the republican house to fund the department of homeland security but also simultaneously to undo all of obama's immigration executive actions. but democrats in the senate are stalling that bill demanding that republicans simply pass a clean bill what they call a clean bill that provides funding for dhs, no strings attached. mitch mcconnell who has promised no more shutdowns, asked republicans in the house to send over a new bill. >> i'll tell you, i think it's clearly stuck in the senate. we can't get on it we can't offer amendments to it and the next step is obviously up to the house. >> but john boehner and house

speaker put the ball right back in the senate's court. >> the house has done its job. we've passed a bill that funds the department and stops the president's unilateral actions with regard to immigration. it's up to senate democrats now to do their job. >> republican leadership is hearing from a growing chorus of gop moderates warning against a shutdown warning it would hurt the newly in charge party's image with voters. but the tea party right insists this time is going to be different. the democrats will be the ones getting the blame. >> and for senate democrats in a partisan vote to filibuster funding for the department of homeland security is both reckless and irresponsible. the house of representatives has done its job. it's voted on funding for dhs, and senate democrats are playing partisan politics with our national security by preventing the senate from even taking up

that funding bill. >> mississippi senator roger wicker, who runs the national republican senatorial committee telling politico i have not been one to wave the blood shirt very often but on this issue republicans ever funding the government and our democratic colleagues are refusing to even get to the issue even to show their voters back home where they stand. joining us now is senator roger wicker from mississippi and also our panel joining us sitting in for this we have msnbc contributor michael steele rick unger and lynn sweet with "the chicago sun-times." senator, thank you for taking a few minutes this morning. i appreciate it. >> glad to be with you. >> i wonder what your reaction is to the sound we played why your leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell saying this bill the house passed is stalled in the senate. mcconnell said he doesn't want any more shutdowns and he says the house should send something new over. do you agree with that? >> i think mitch mcconnell and john boehner are both right. i'm not even sure what they've said is contradictory, but let

me say this steve. in the sometime since the top of the hour i think you've said the word shutdown five or six times. there's no one that seriously think that is the department of homeland security is going to be shut down. now, i think we should fund the department of homeland security but the functions will go on. i think it's fair to the people that work there to remove that uncertainty. here is the situation. the house of representatives has passed a bill fully funding the department of homeland security. the senate democrats will not even vote to take up that bill and so we're at an impasse -- >> but senator, the key -- >> we will have to hear from the voters back home and i hope they're insisting this week to those elected democrats who said the president was wrong in doing that, i hope they're telling those senators then the solution is to take up the bill and let the process begin it work. >> the key though as you say,

senator, is, yes, the house has passed a bill. democrats' position is they also want a bill that would fund the department of homeland security but what they don't want is what republicans in the house attached to it and what republicans in the house attached to it was language that would basically undo all of the executive action that is president obama took on immigration, including what he did back in 2012 which allows certain law-abiding children of the undocumented in this country who have graduated from college who are in college or served in the military. it allows them to stay in the country. democrats are staying take all that language out and just fund homeland security. we're fine with that. why is that not okay? >> well, there are two things there. you mentioned two executive actions, one is back in 2012 one last november or december. i think that's an issue that could be discussed. let's let the senators vote on this. the house took the bill up. it was open for amendment in the normal process. the way you get to a resolution in the senate is first, to

bring the bill up. and so what democrats have been doing for two weeks now with this filibuster is filibustering a motion to proceed to the bill. we're willing to have an open amendment process. if there are nuances there or if someone wants to strip out all the language that the house of representatives has put in there a democratic member of the senate can offer that amendment and the people back home can see how we vote on that. i think the people want homeland security funded but i think they also think that if you're going to make major changes in immigration law and in executive amnesty, it needs to be done by a bill passing the house, a bill passing the senate and signed by the president, and not by unilateral action and, frankly, many members of the democratic caucus in the senate have said as much. >> senator -- >> they won't get on the bill and vote that way.

>> i want to get our panel in here. rick has a question for you. >> don't you find it at least slightly ironic you have members of the gop in the house it appears senator ted cruz suddenly being absolutely shocked that there are democrats who would want to filibuster this bill? it was only seven weeks ago where we came to the end of an era where republicans were filibustering in record amounts. doesn't this play a little silly to the american public? >> look the facts are this we need to fund the homeland security department. it's fair to the people that work there. the way to do that is to do what the house has done and pass a funding bill. we can't get it even to the floor in the united states senate. it's really not very complicated. >> well actually senator, this is lynn sweet here. it isn't simple either. it does seem like you're looking to force the democrats to take a

roll call hit. why not have a fair fight on immigration, take it out of the bill, and then because the republicans do control the senate, you can call those immigration provisions up for an up or down vote at will. >> exactly. >> almost at will. >> i think it's interesting that someone would suggest that it's not fair for elected members of the united states senate to take a vote on a very important issue. >> oh, i didn't suggest that. i'm -- >> to take a vote on an issue where they have suggested that the president's action is not the way to do it. that's what claire mccaskill of missouri said. this is not the way to do it. senator manchin of west virginia said i disagree with the president's action there. and somehow the question suggests it's not fair to make democratic senators vote on the very policy that they've said they disagree with. >> let me -- >> i just find that a very interesting suggestion. >> well quick follow-up here. the republicans have been in charge of the chamber just a few

weeks. why not show that you can govern without having even talk of these showdowns that people hear all the time as you mentioned in bringing this up. just try to govern and not create all this drama and take out the contentious part and do it separately. >> voters gave the republicans the majority of the united states senate for the first time in eight years last november and the question suggests that our response to that should be to do exactly as the democrats have suggested. i just think that's an interesting -- that would be an interesting approach to win the election and then do exactly what the democrats want. we have a process. democrats need to get on the bill, then they can offer the amendments and the american people can see where we stand. >> senator wicker let me just end with this. if this process plays out and what mitch mcconnell seemed to be suggesting this week ultimately happens and that is that a bill emerges from the

house to the senate that does not maybe include this immigration language and does fund the department of homeland security, would you be comfortable with supporting that? >> you know, i really don't think that's going to happen. i come from the house of representatives. i served there 13 years. you know we've got a math problem in the senate a bill has to get to 60. in the house it's got to get to 218, and, frankly, i think the john boehner republicans are on the high ground there having funded the department having said that the president's executive amnesty is not legal and not authorized and we want to make that clear. to me they're on the high ground and, frankly, i think mr. boehner would have a hard time getting 218 votes for what is -- what they're calling a clean bill. we can do both of these things, but the point is we can fund the department of homeland security

and also express ourselves. if we take the position we can't do riders on executive amnesty, then we're also saying we can't do riders on the epa. we can't do riders on the corps of engineers. there are riders on almost every funding bill. so to say we've got to have clean bills for the next two years or somehow we're not fulfilling our duties i think is an argument that's not going to make it. >> five legislative days remaining between now and that deadline. we will see how this plays out. senator roger wicker from mississippi, really appreciate the time this morning. thank you. >> thank you. >> all right. still ahead, there are so many memorable moments from "saturday night live's" 40-year history. in just a few minutes we'll be joined live by some of "snl's" legendary cast members and writers to talk about some of those moments. next ruth bader ginsburg has some choice words for congress.

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time to catch up on some other news making headline this is morning. panel is back with us the index card segment. big stuff on the index cards just handed to me hot off the presses. three brand new polls, republican and democratic presidential race in each of the three critical early primary states. let us show you the numbers and begin in iowa with the republican caucuses. you see mike huckabee running in first place. new nbc/maris poll. jeb bush right behind him. scott walker has had a very good few weeks. on the democratic side in iowa hillary clinton, the state where she finished third in 2008.

she's near 70%. joe biden at 12%. they did not include elizabeth warren in the poll. warren saying she's not running. move to new hampshire, the republican race ft.in the first primary state, jeb bush skath walker doing well rand paul. chris christie at 13%. hillary clinton, 69%. next door senator bernie sanders from vermont is at 13%. biden falling down to 8%. south carolina, first in the south, this one comes with an asterisk asterisk. lindsey graham the favorite son. he says he's thinking of running fof president.for president. a lot of people skeptical. again, hillary clinton very very strong there. joe biden at 20%. so talk about some of these early numbers. we always say they're very early but i think they're relevant right now on the republican side for two reasons. one is when we say they're

really early, the only thing that matters is name recognition. when your name is bush and these are your numbers, i think that's a problem. and the second thing is yeah, scott walker has been having a good few weeks here. >> i think, you know, the polls show of who has momentum and i know that is name recognition but the reason in this period of the preprimary primary, it's the money primary. that helps with fund-raising. fund-raising helps to find who is viable. i want to remind you when then-senator barack obama first mounted a challenge to hillary clinton when he started in '07, it was his first quarter fund-raising numbers that were strong and comparable to hillary clinton that made him viable and vaulted him to the top rank. jeb bush is expected to have multiple millions of dollars. he's going to have an event in chicago in a few days where he will take out more than $3 million in one day. >> he just had a $100,000 a head

event in new york city. >> i'm sorry, i'm just not a fan of anyone taking polls right now. this is the most ridiculous science there is at this point because, a, number one, you're not talking to voters who are actually engaged who are going to be voting in november 2016. >> but the iowa caucusgoers they're engaged. >> trust me they're not that engaged. >> aren't the donors engaged. >> this is a poll of donors that's a different conversation -- >> no, no not a poll of donors. >> but the donors look at the polls of voters -- >> why does michael steele want to put us all out of work? >> i'm just trying to bring perspective because we create front-runners that don't exist. there is no front-runner because no one is nominated -- >> but michael, doesn't it say there is a problem for jeb bush -- >> no. >> with universal name -- >> no. i think he's doing better. >> we dismiss early polls. we say they only measure name recognition --

>> let's see where jeb bush when he announced he's running for president of the united states. let's see -- >> things don't wait. >> that's going to be coming in two months. >> but so i'm not saying if it was my own money i would commission a poll but since they exist, the reality is mike, we live in the real political world -- >> this isn't real. >> hold on. deanors look at these polls. you know that. >> jeb bush is not going to lose -- >> i'm going to say one thing. if i'm scott walker i'm getting copies of what you just showed. i'm framing them i'm hanging them in my den because he's not going to see that for long. scott walker will fade very -- >> but the other thing he's doing is sending that to every single big dollar donor saying you want an alternative to jeb, take a look. i got traction. >> small dollar too. this is what this is about. >> michael steele doesn't like the polls. i do. next i got -- msnbc interviewed

ruth bader ginsburg on friday. >> i'm wondering how you see the current state of race relations in our country. >> people who think you could wave a magic wand and the legacy of the past will be over are blind. >> should we be worried that all of those great achievements of the civil rights movement are being rolled back? >> some day we will go back to having the kind of legislature that we should where members, whatever party they belong to want to make the thing work. >> that's just a sneak peek an exclusive interview with ruth bader ginsburg. the entire interview you can catch it monday night, 9:00 p.m. on rachel maddow's somehow. you can watch it all there. mark your calendar for that. my thanks to our panel for today, lynn sweet, steele and unger and catch their radio show every week. thank you for joining us. still ahead, that all-star panel

we've been talking about all morning of former "snl"ers talking 40 years of stories, behind the scenes memories working for loren. that's all coming up. but before that some of my favorite "snl" parodies from over the years. a lot of fun clips for you. stay tuned. business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can.

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"snl" took aim at a president and this is what it looked like. >> if i don't win, i will continue to run in the primaries even if there are none. and now for my second announce ment announcement -- live from new york, it's saturday night! >> gerald ford was a star athlete at the university of michigan, one of the most physically gifted presidents we ever had. he stum gebled a few times coming down airplane steps and that became the basis for the caricature. jimmy carter was portrayed by dan aykroyd. there were funny sketches. then you move into ronald reagan. this is one of the richest characters, one of the richest presidents "snl" had to work with. you see phil hartman playing him in the mid 1980s. others who took a shot at this

joe hispes ka poe. robin williams came in once and played him. one of my all-time favorite sketches was phil hartman as the iran contra scandal was playing. "snl" decided to turn his image around. this is what they did. >> the red countries are the countries we sell arms to. the green countries are the countries where we wash our money. the blue countries -- >> excuse me mr. president sir. >> yes. >> it's your 11:30 photo opportunity. the little girl who sold the most girl scout opportunities. >> damn! okay. let's get it over with. everybody out. come on move, move. this is the part of the job i hate. well hello, little girl. what's your name? >> i still laugh whenever i watch that. then there was reagan's successor, vice president george

h.w. bush. dana carvey as george h.w. bush. a lot of trouble sometimes stringing sentences together. thoughts that would start and you wouldn't know where they would end up. here he was, this is the fake presidential debate in 1988. dana carvey versus michael dukakis. >> all i can say is we are on the track, we're getting the job done. we can do more but let's stay the course. a thousand points of light, well, unfortunately, i see my time is up. >> mr. vice president, you still have 1:20. >> what? well, no diane, i must have spoken for at least two minutes. thank you. >> governor dukakis, rebuttal. >> i can't believe i'm losing to this guy. >> but michael dukakis did lose to george bush sr. and then bush senior defeated in 1992 by bill clinton, and you

talk about someone who "snl" could have a lot of fun with bill clinton certainly at the top of that list. we associate i think darrell hammond for most of the '90s as the bill clinton impersonator. my favorite for the first couple years was phil hartman again. he played reagan he played clinton. he was my favorite all-time cast member. really talented and versatile. here is a great sketch. it's phil hartman as bill clinton. jan hooks, she comes back to play hillary rodham clinton and then dan aykroyd. he comes back to play bob dole and this is what happened. >> all right, hillary. one more word and you're going to be a stain on the back wall. do you want to go do you? >> come on you two. come on! >> you stay out of this bill i'm doing something you should have done a long time ago. >> that was the clinton years and then take a look after clinton. of course, george w. bush. reagan, clinton, bush a lot of juicy characters for "snl" to have a lot of fun with.

will ferrell, this was iconic. it started even before bush became president. the 2000 debate, pushbush versus gore. will ferrell as bush in that debate. >> in fact, we are almost out of time. i will ask each candidate to sum up in a single word the best argument for his candidacy. governor bush? >> strategery. >> in some ways a word that defined the bush presidency. after george w. bush that brings us to the seventh and final "snl" president barack obama who was played originally by fred armisen. jay took it over. i have to say in all honesty, this is a comedy thing, obama has probably been the toughest president for comedians to have fun with. he just doesn't lend himself to caricature as much as some of the other guys did. "snl" still has two years to figure that out. anyway, still ahead in the show today, our big "snl" panel, they are here. but before we get to them a live report from the weekend

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it's been another absolutely brutal weekend for folks in new england. they have been braving yet another winter storm, this the fourth to hit that region in as many weeks. the weather channel's keith carson is live for us in portland maine. tell us about what's going on up there. >> reporter: good morning, steve. we've got a couple inches of snow so far. we're here right off the portland waterfront. as far as the snow coming down it hasn't been that bad. winds picking up 25 or 30 miles an hour. that's been the storm across southern new england, massachusetts, cape cod seeing strong wind gusts as that low pressure system, what we call in the weather world becomes strong over the ocean. they're coming in out of the north in portland. they're going to continue to get really strong through the day. i think the bigger story with

the storm at least in maine is that it is extremely cold. when these wind gusts get going, our windchill factor minus 5, miousnus 6, you end up with a light snow. it's easy to move around for sure. but as the winds krarngcrank through the afternoon, we get into the range of wshindchills where it's dangerous to get outside. when you get the windchills in the minus 15 to minus 20 range later this afternoon, you want to stay away from that. >> that is even cold by maine standards i think. weather channel's keith carson live for us in portland. appreciate the update this morning. and still ahead in the show he is one of the biggest stars to come out of "snl" in its 40 years. eddie murphy is going to be here in this building just hours from now, and so are my next guests the "snl" superstar round table, they will be here now and a few hours from now. ur pocket right now? i have $40 $21.

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all right. as you might have heard once or twice on the show today, we are only hours away from the 40th anniversary "saturday night live" special. there's no mistaking it is a big day in this building. security is tight. the red carpet is getting rolled out for all the huge names taking part in a 4 1/2 hour event. i am very excited to be joined by four alums. we have have us at the table julia sweeney best known for the androgynous character pat. a. whitney brown, famous for his commentaries at the weekend update deck. allen swi bell is one of the original "snl" write i wasrs who worked closely with gilda radner and a familiar to fans of the show, tim meadows was in the cast for ten seasons and played the outrageously funny ladies man. i have been looking forward to this panel all week. i'm curious, you're back in this

building. a few floors up where you would do the show but what's it like being back? are you having a lot of memories this week? what's the feelings right now? >> it's great. it's sort of washes over you. you come into the place, and it's stirring. the building itself is stirring and i remember the energy i used to feel every single week. you got a rush of it just walking in. >> and are you running into cast members you haven't seen in a while? >> my palms started sweating as soon as i saw the building. i started getting anxiety. i was like i'm going to work. i had to convince myself i'm not. but to this day that closing theme relaxes me because it means -- >> the show is over. >> you have a day off. you have 12 hours off. >> i sort -- to me it's -- the security is so much different here now than it was back when we were here. like you just would walk in basically and just come upstairs. and now it's like, you know picture taken, all this other stuff happening. >> that's all i know.

>> we used to roam around the halls here too. like tom davis showed us a place up on the roof where you could go out and see the evening and do stuff. >> whoa whoa. see the evening. >> you can look up at the stars and have a couple beers. >> lots of stories through the years about what goes on sort of off the air or after the show. was it as wild as we have heard? >> we used to smoke cigarettes in the building. >> in the building. that's probably the most outrageous thing. >> so you guys -- some of you overlapped. some of you sort of span different eras on this show. i thought one thing i wanted to do is play some of the clips from some of your iconic moments and just to remember them for the audience but also to see what you think. julia, we mentioned the it's pat character. it was a sensation in the early '90s. let's play a clip and ask you about it. >> yeah let's do it. >> andrea i've got a new member ready for an evaluation can you handle it? >> oh i was going to go to lunch.

can't do you it? >> well i think you'd be better with this client. >> why? is he a rich gorgeous hunk? >> well it's a hunk of something. >> who is going to evaluate me? >> and, of course, tim meadows in that stech, too. >> wow. >> where did that come from? >> i was at the theater in los angeles in and i was working as an accountant in the day and there were a couple people i was working with that were irritating in a specific way and one of those people drooled a lot and stood too close. i was trying to imitate him. that was a guy but there was also this other girl and whern i tried to do it i couldn't really convincingly exactly do a guy and i decided maybe the joke will be that you can't tell the difference, but i didn't think that was going to be the main joke. but then that became of course the main joke. >> some of these sketches they become instant ensations.sensations.

>> the first time i did it, it was the last sketch of the show. people didn't really know who was playing pat, and i didn't even think i got a good audience response but then a couple weeks later roseanne barr was hosting and she had seen that show and wanted to do it again. christine sander and i wrote all the pat sketches. i came out as pat and got this fabulous entrance applause which threw me and from then on it was popular. >> roseanne played a role. >> yes. >> interesting there. tim, you also had several -- you had one very iconic character and that's the ladies man. we want to play a clip from that but this is interesting, too. this is where "snl" merges with news and politics. monica lewinsky did an appearance on "saturday night live" and then on the ladies man. let's take a look at that. >> will you please welcome my guest, miss monica lewinsky. come on everybody. yeah. oh yeah. now, miss lewinsky will be quite

helpful to us because i have been told that when it comes to matters of the heart and her own personal relationships, she's known for showing very good judgment, is that correct? >> that's right, leon. >> a great line. >> wow. >> what was that like that day, that night? >> it was a weird week. because we knew -- we were told she was going to be on the show that week or she was available for sketches and i was not a fan of having her in the sketch and it was one of the rare times i said i'm going to be hands off, i'm not going to write. then andrew steele and dennis mmc mcnicholas wrote the sketch and i realized how funny it was going to be. i contributed a couple things. it was a weird moment. literally this person we had been making fun of we had been in a lot of sketches we had her right here in front of me. and i was a little embarrassed.

>> how was she? >> she was very sweet. actually very nice. i had a little more compassion for her after i met her and then actually i ran into her in l.a. at -- our kids were at a nursery school thing, mike's son -- i don't know she was nannying or something like that and we talked and it was a friendly talk. and then my ex-wife, i told her about it and she was like what how dare you caulk to monica lewinsky. it's like nothing happened. we just talked. it's like we had an affair over the nursery school. >> i remember the day she was on, it was kept secret all week and the word started to leak out. i was in college and this was this buzz building all around school and everybody had to be in front of the tv at 11:30 to see this. we have to squeeze a break in. we'll be right back after this. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 60,000 bonus points

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and now with a final comment

on the electoral process, here is the man that i look up to most in the entire world, a. whitney brown with the big picture. whitney. >> my friends, over 200 years ago the fathers of our nation created the office of president. i know it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. after all, in those days all you had to do was vote for the man you liked the most. and now finally in 1988 it's come to the point where you have to vote against the man you dislike the most. >> a. whitney brown is a writer and also a commentator on "weekend update." you recognize dennis miller there. >> as a writer i got to write all of the intros. he had to say whatever i put up on the teleprompter. it just got more and more hyper hyperbolic as time went on.

i don't even know if he knew what he was saying. >> "weekend update" is sort of its own thing within "saturday night live" that's an institution. before there was a "daily show" or colbert this was the first place to parody the news. >> in a sketch or two i played a dead body and i was in the reagan mastermind sketch. the amazing thing about that i think that's a frankensmigle joint. in the first year of his presidency, the very first time anyone had ever satirized him instead of parodying him. everybody played him as dumb. so that was, you know that's still one of my favorite sketches. i think that was frankensmigle and maybe downey. >> so a writer for the show in going back to some of the classic original cast members, most famous you had john

belushi, the samurai sketch. >> a mr. richard fanner writes in and says dear row sana rose ana dana now i'm depressed, i dwand weight my face broke out, i'm constipated. my gums are bleeding my sinuses are clogged, and i have gas. what should i do? mr. fanner you sound like a real attractive guy. >> so al you start to see the talent there and see so many incredible characters. what was it like working with her and putting sketches together like that? >> it was amazing because my skill set was before i got to the show was joke writing. here i was with a bunch of improv players like akroyd and

belushi and gilda and i had never seen that kind of energy come to a sketch before. anything i would do they would take it and bring it up to this level. that character was an amalgum of a couple of different energies. richard fanner was her brother-in-law so i turned him into a dumb guy from ft. lee. >> it's listening to where the inspiration of where these come from. i'm curious, you worked with so many of the big names and maybe names that people have forgotten. who were some of the best characters, the best actors the funniest people you've gotten to work with on this show through the years? >> phil hartman. >> i've always said phil is my all-time favorite. >> we used to call phil the glue. >> yeah. >> because you couldn't -- he held everything together because he could do everything. he could do impressions, he could do voices he could play the straight man, he could be the funny guy. he taught us -- he taught me how

to read cue cards in a sketch. he literally pulled me to the side and said this is how you do it because i was going back and north and looking nervous. he's like no you look at the cue cards and don't take your eye off the cue cards. then he goes and you've got to know your joke. always know the joke in the sketch. so i would learn -- i would do my lines to the cue cards, but i always knew how to do my punch line to the person or to the audience, whatever. i was like you don't mess that up you know. >> plus you would write ten jokes into a sketch and he would bring you 12 laughs. he was really good at that. >> one of my favorite sketches that i wrote that i didn't appear in you were actually in it julia, it was calledop ia -- opera digest. >> oh right. >> it was about this actor alec baldwin who could not read very well so he would pronounce yale

university like yaley university. so we would cut to him for these intense stares and they got bigger laughs than the actual writing of the sketch. i was with downey watching it and downey goes you put the glue in there and he's going to do that. he's going to make a sketch way better. >> and the guest hosts, anybody have a really good or bad guest host story? >> a great guest host was buck henry for me. i used to write the samurais for belushi so it would be easy to have buck walk into a del katoday tess en not make any mention that there was a samurai guy making a sandwich for him and he would just talk about the super bowl the next day. so me as a writer was writing this for a writer and it was just really cool how he underplayed it and understated everything. >> my favorite guest host of all time actually was leslie neilsen. he came on and there was some all-time classics.

i wish we could do this for five, ten, 21 minutes. unfortunately we are at the very end of the table. thanks to my roundtable. have fun tonight, we are all jealous of you guys getting to go to that thing. the big show airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. a red carpet special starting at 7:00. thank you for getting up with us today. back next weekend saturday sunday 8:00 a.m. eastern time. first watch melissa harris-perry. that is next. have a great sunday.

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