Now that NBC’s Up All Night seems to be dead in the wake of star Christina Applegate’s departure, the other cast members are pursuing new TV jobs. Will Arnett signed onto a CBS pilot from Greg Garcia, but Maya Rudolph looks to be avoiding the sitcom route altogether. Deadline reports that Rudolph has turned down five sitcom pilot offers and instead wants to star in a network variety show. Fox, ABC, and NBC are all reportedly interested. Rudolph, the daughter of soul singer Minnie Ripperton, is also a singer herself. Before landing a gig as an SNL castmember in 2000, she worked as a backing singer in the music industry and as a keyboardist in the band The Rentals. She sang plenty of times on SNL, most notably as Beyonce in Fred Armisen’s “Prince Show” sketches and alongside Ana Gasteyer as a Destiny’s Child parody called Gemini’s Twin. A variety show seems like the perfect fit for Maya Rudolph, despite the fact that primetime variety shows have been dormant for a long time. If there’s anyone to resurrect it, though, its’ her, especially if she brings her pal Paul F. Tompkins with her.
