Entertainment

First Promo for 'Maya Show' Is Glorious

by Maitri Suhas

It's a scrap, but it's an amazing scrap: NBC released the first promo for Maya Rudolph's variety show, aptly titled The Maya Rudolph Show, which will premiere on Monday, May 19. Sure, the spot is only 21 seconds long, but it's 21 wonderful seconds of seeing our favorite SNL alumna in glorious, living color. Rudolph has been in absentia from our television screens since Up All Night went off the air, but her presence is TRULY missed and felt every Saturday night when she's not on SNL. It feels like she just left, but damn, can you believe that it's been seven years since she departed?

As of now, The Maya Rudolph Show is a star-studded, one-time event, with Rudolph's funny pals joining her on stage in droves: Andy Samberg, Kristen Bell, Fred Armisen, Chris Parnell and Sean Hayes are on the lineup to help Maya really ring those bells and whistles. But the woman is a comedic genius and could probably fly solo — do you remember her as Beyoncé, the sidekick and interpreter for Prince? Or as a member of Gemini's Twin? Or, perhaps, in the strangest and one of the funniest sketches SNL has produced, as a wily, prank-loving Maya Angelou?

She's multi-talented, and she LOVES to do a little song and dance, so we can't think of anyone better to host a variety show. Fingers crossed that it becomes a weekly installment, and if it does, all the greatest SNL alumni would be ruling the NBC late-night lineup: Maya, Seth, and Jimmy. Let's face it, we need more ladies in late-night, as the painful departure of Chelsea Handler's show continues to remind us.

Here's the promo, and boy, is it flashy, feathery, and promising: