The best moments from ‘SNL’s’ 50th anniversary special
One of the most famous stages in New York was the place to be on Sunday night.
Alums, former hosts and seemingly everyone who’s ever entered “SNL’s” orbit was on hand to celebrate the show’s 50th Anniversary.
“SNL50: The Anniversary Special” was part reflection, part reunion and a culmination of festivities that began on Friday with a concert.
Here are some highlights:
What would an “SNL” special be without the favorites? Kristen Wiig’s Dooneese, Will Ferrell’s Robert Goulet, Molly Shannon’s Sally O’Malley, Pete Davidson’s Chad, Rachel Dratch’s Debbie Downer, Cecily Strong’s the Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party and Bobby Moynihan’s Drunk Uncle were among the characters who returned with largely positive results.
What would a trip town memory lane be without Debbie pouring drinks and reminding us of the dangers of alcohol and microplastics?
An inarguable highlight of the familiar fictional faces was the “SNL” talk-show crossover, which featured Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph’s “Bronx Beat” having a moment with Mike Myers in character as Linda Richman from “Coffee Talk.” With a guest list as packed as the one for Sunday’s special, it felt natural to have these characters make the most of a once-in-a-lifetime chance to come together.
Kate McKinnon’s chain-smoking Colleen Rafferty, a woman who was abducted by aliens, was also among the returning characters, but this time, she was joined Meryl Streep, who chose to make her “SNL” debut on a very special night.
The sketch, in which McKinnon appeared alongside Pedro Pascal, Woody Harrelson, Aidy Bryant and Jon Hamm, took the lore of Colleen one step further by introducing her mom, who was as hilariously raunchy as her daughter.
“A good mother can also be a bad girl,” Streep, in character, suggestively joked to Pascal.
“SNL’s” musical history was honored in an excellent special produced by Questlove, so many of the musical moments during Sunday’s special felt oddly less memorable, with the exception of Paul McCartney. In fact, perhaps one of the most memorably musical moments came from Adam Sandler.
Sandler was not among the billed musical performers but nonetheless whipped out his guitar for a song that in equal measure honored some of the longtime crew members, delivered a poignant trip down memory lane and joked about nepo babies.
Pre-taped segments included a tribute to the show’s history of physical comedy, a digital short led by Andy Samberg about the anxieties of working on “SNL” and a look back at the shows satirical ads, including “Colon Blow” cereal and “Mom Jeans.”
One of the best, however, was a highlight reel that revisited sketches and characters that have aged poorly.
Tom Hanks, who introduced the latter video segment, joked that while some of the characters, accents and “ethnic wigs” featured in the past “were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them.”
“So if anyone should be cancelled, shouldn’t it be you, the audience,” he joked.
It was inevitable that the faces of beloved late cast members would be featured on Sunday. John Belushi, Chris Farley, Norm MacDonald, Gilda Radner, Phil Hartman and more appeared many times in compilations and highlight reels. What can’t be forgotten, however, was that the stage was also graced by countless living “SNL” legends.
One of them was Steve Martin, who had the honor of doing a timelessly funny opening monologue.
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Martin, who has hosted the show 16 times, said that at 79 years old, he feels “like I’m 65, which is also not good.”
He joked that when he heard “SNL” would be having a special to celebrate its milestone 50th year, he wanted to “leap with joy” but didn’t at the time because “I was wearing a short skirt with no underpants.”
Martin was briefly joined on stage by Martin Short and John Mulaney, the latter of whom joked that, “It amazes me that 894 people have hosted ‘Saturday Night Live’ in the course of 50 years and only two of them have committed murder.”
To see the likes of Poehler, Martin, Ferrell, Rudolph, Wiig, McKinnon, Myers, Shannon, Strong and more playing again on the stage in Studio 8H was nothing short of, as the night’s festivities were fittingly billed, special.
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Returning characters
An ‘SNL’ talk-show crossover
Meryl Streep makes her “SNL” debut
Adam Sandler’s heartfelt musical tribute
‘SNL’ acknowledges it didn’t get everything right
The legends cement their legacies
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Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds, Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson and More Exes Appear at SNL50
The star-studded event brought many celebs back together — several of whom had more in common than just a love of comedy
NBC/NOAM GALAI/NBC VIA GETTY
So many stars have been spotted at SNL50: The Anniversary Special — including several notable exes.
The special event marks the culmination of a three-day celebration honoring the legacy of the long-running sketch show. Countless celebrities were in attendance for the once-in-a-generation experience, several of which have more than a love of comedy in common.
Scarlett Johansson and husband Colin Jost were spotted on the red carpet before the show shortly after Johansson’s ex-husband, Ryan Reynolds posed with his now-wife Blake Lively, per E! News.
JOHN NACION/VARIETY VIA GETTY
Johansson, 40, and Reynolds, 48, were married from 2008 to 2011. In a November 2019 interview with Vanity Fair, the Black Widow actress opened up about her first marriage — without naming Reynolds, specifically — admitting that she perhaps romanticized marriage early on in her life.
“The first time I got married I was 23 years old,” Johansson said in the interview. “I didn’t really have an understanding of marriage. Maybe I kind of romanticized it, I think, in a way.
Johansson and Jost, 42, got married in October 2020 and welcomed a son, Cosmo, 3 in 2021. Reynolds and Lively, 37, married in 2012 and now share four children: James, 10, Inez, 8, Betty, 5 and Olin, 2.
NBC/NOAM GALAI/NBC VIA GETTY
Exes Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson were also spotted on the SNL50 red carpet. The pair — who first connected when Kardashian, 44, hosted SNL in October 2021, dated from November 2021 until August 2022.
Shortly after their breakup, a source told PEOPLE that the split was due to their busy schedules.
“They both travel all the time and it was hard,” the inside source said.
NBC/NOAM GALAI/NBC VIA GETTY
Former SNL castmate Fred Armisen and ex-girlfriend, actress Natasha Lyonne were seen at the event — each with their current respective partners.
Armisen and Lyonne were first linked in 2014, and Lyonne confirmed their split in 2022 while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter.
Armisen, 58, opened up about the breakup while appearing on the Fail Better podcast in July.
“That ended well and we’re still friends,” Armisen said. “It made me feel like it was part of getting older that I could approach being in a relationship in a different way. I can look back at that relationship with a sort of peaceful happiness, and that’s how it was.”
Armisen attended the anniversary event with his current wife, actress Riki Lindhome. The pair married in 2022.
NBC/JAMIE MCCARTHY/NBC VIA GETTY
Meanwhile, the 45-year-old Russian Dolls actress attended the anniversary event with her current partner, producer Bryn Mooser.
Chris Rock and Lake Bell, who were both in attendance as well, had previously fueled dating rumors in the summer of 2022. At the time, a source told PEOPLE the pair had been “getting to know each other and seem to have fun.” However, according to Page Six, the comedian said in his 2023 Netflix special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, “I’m single. I’ve been single for a long time,” he said. “I was married for a long time. I was dating somebody for a while. Now I’m single.”
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SNL50: The Anniversary Special aired live on Sunday, Feb. 16, on NBC and Peacock.
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‘Saturday Night Live’ celebrates 50 years with comedy, music and show’s many, many famous friends
As “Saturday Night Live” turns 50, some of the show’s biggest names – including Seth Meyers and Jason Sudeikis – name their favorite sketches from the iconic comedy show. (Feb. 14)
Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter duetted on Simon’s “Homeward Bound” to open the show, five-decade “Saturday Night Live” luminary Steve Martin delivered the monologue, and Paul McCartney gave an epic closing to a 50th anniversary special celebrating the sketch institution that was overflowing with famous former cast members, superstar hosts and legendary guests.
The 83-year-old Simon has been essential to “SNL” since its earliest episodes in 1975, and told the 25-year-old pop sensation of the moment Carpenter that he first performed “Homeward Bound” on “SNL” in 1976.
“I was not born then,” Carpenter said, getting a laugh. “And neither were my parents,” she added, getting a bigger laugh.
McCartney closed with the rarely performed song cycle from the Beatles’ “Abbey Road,” “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End,” with its wistful ending, “the love you take, is equal to the love you make.”
Lil Wayne and Miley Cyrus were among the night’s other musical guests, though the show’s musical legacy also had its own night with a Radio City Music Hall concert on Friday.
“SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration” aired live from New York, of course, on NBC and Peacock. The pop culture juggernaut has launched the careers of generations of comedians including Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell, who all appeared in early sketches.
And the evening included epic cameos that included Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and Keith Richards.
Martin, one of the shows most prolific hosts and guests since the first season in 1975, tried to keep it current in the monologue even on a backward-looking night.
Martin said when the show’s creator Lorne Michaels only told him he’d be doing the monologue, “I was actually vacationing on a friend’s boat down on the Gulf of Steve Martin.”
He was joined by former “SNL” luminaries and frequent hosts Martin Short and John Mulaney, who looked at the star-studded crowd full of former hosts in the same Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza that has been the show’s longtime home.
“I see some of the most difficult people I have ever met in my entire life,” Mulaney said. “Over the course of 50 years, 894 people have hosted ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder.”
Later, on the night’s “Weekend Update,” anchor Colin Jost said there are so many former hosts and musical guests that wanted to see the show that many had to be seated in a neighboring studio and some had to watch “from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn” as a photo of Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared.
Martin took a jab at the always-difficult-to-wrangle Bill Murray in his monologue.
“We wanted to make sure that Bill would be here tonight,” Martin said, “so we didn’t invite him.”
Murray appeared on “Weekend Update” to rank the show’s anchors since they began with Chevy Chase. He poked at the whiteness of the group by first ranking its Black anchors, a list of just one, current co-anchor Michael Che.
The extravaganza came after months of celebrations of “Saturday Night Live,” which premiered Oct. 11, 1975, with an original cast that included John Belushi, Chase and Gilda Radner.
It’s become appointment television over the years as the show has skewered presidents, politics and pop culture.
“It is a honor and a thrill to be hosting weekend update for the 50th and if it was up to our president final season of SNL,” Jost said.
The show had its typical ending, with all involved looking exhilarated and exhausted on the studio stage. This night it was so crowded with luminaries it looked like it might break. Led by Short, they all applauded in tribute to Michaels, who created the show and has run it for 45 of its 50 years.
Alec Baldwin, the show’s most frequent host with 17 stints, appeared to introduce an evening of commercial parodies, seven months after his trial was halted and an involuntary manslaughter charge was dropped in the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Aubrey Plaza made one of her first public appearances since the January death of her husband when she introduced Cyrus and Howard’s performance.
The 87-year-old Nicholson was once a constant in the front rows of the Oscars and Los Angeles Laker games, but is rarely seen out anymore. He introduced his “Anger Management” co-star Adam Sandler, who sang in his signature style about the show’s history. He gave a roll-call of cast members, giving special attention to several who have died, including his friends Chris Farley and MacDonald along with Radner, Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman.
It ended with, “six years of our boy Farley, five of our buddy Norm.”
The show didn’t have a formal “in memoriam” section, though it pretended to when 10-time host Tom Hanks came out somberly to mourn “SNL characters and sketches that have aged horribly.”
A montage began with the late Belushi’s “Samurai” character. The word “Yikes” appeared on screen in a sketch that included Mike Myers and a young Macaulay Culkin in a bathtub. A “body shaming” label appeared over the beloved sketch of Farley and the late Patrick Swayze as Chippendale’s dancers, and “slut shaming” appeared over one of the show’s earliest, catchphrases, Dan Aykroyd saying “Jane, you ignorant slut” to Jane Curtin. The current-day Aykroyd was a notable absence.
The oldest former cast member, 88-year-old Garrett Morris, appeared to introduce a film that showed the whole original cast.
“I had no idea y’all that I would be required to do so many reunion shows,” he said.
The first sketch featured a mash-up of former cast members and hosts. Fred Armisen hosted a “Lawrence Welk Show” that featured Ferrell as Robert Goulet.
Former hosts Kim Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson — Jost’s wife — gave an updated version of the elegant singing Maharelle Sisters with former cast members Ana Gasteyer and Wiig, who provided the traditional punchline “And I’m Dooneese” with a balding head and creepy, tiny doll arms.
It was followed by “Black Jeopardy,” hosted by the show’s longest running (and still current) cast member, Kenan Thompson, who called the game show the only one “where every single viewer fully understood Kendrick’s halftime performance.”
It showcased many of the show’s most prominent Black cast members through the years including Tracy Morgan and Murphy, doing a Morgan impression.
“Big Dog gonna make some big money!” Murphy-as-Morgan shouted.
Streep walked on as the mother of McKinnon’s constant alien abductee Miss Rafferty, with the same spread legs and vulgar manner.
Streep’s fellow all-time-great actor Robert De Niro paired with Rachel Dratch in a “Debbie Downer” sketch with its traditional trombone accompaniment.
Former cast member Amy Poehler and former lead writer Tina Fey, who partnered as “Weekend Update” anchors, led a Q-and-A with audience questions.
Ryan Reynolds stood, and they asked him how it’s going.
“Great, why?” he said defensively. “What have you heard?”
Reynolds and wife Blake Lively, sitting next to him, have been locked in a heated legal and media battle with her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Adam Driver, Cher, Bad Bunny, Peyton Manning and Richards were also featured in the bit.
Poehler also paired with Rudolph for a revival of their mock talk show “Bronx Beat,” that featured Mike Myers as his mother-in-law-inspired, Streisand-loving character “Linda Richman.”
“Look at you, both of you, you look like buttah,” Myers said.
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