‘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.
For more coverage of the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” visit: https://apnews.com/hub/saturday-night-live
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Steve Martin’s opening sets tone for ‘SNL50,’ ‘Update’ keeps it rolling
Cameos and memorials
Sketches and bits jam-packed with former cast and hosts
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Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds make ‘SNL’ cameo amid Justin Baldoni legal battle
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are all smiles amid their ongoing legal battle. On Sunday night, the couple attended the “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” in New York City, posing for photos on the red carpet. The outing marked Blake and Ryan’s first public appearance together since the beginning of their legal battle with Blake’s “It Ends With Us” co-star Justin Baldoni.
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SNL 50 Red Carpet Fashion: See Every Celebrity Arrive
From Adam Sandler to Amy Poehler, A-list comedians are hitting the red carpet for SNL 50: The Anniversary Special in New York Feb. 16. See every star arrive.
You can feel the excitement in your funny bones.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, Hollywood stars hit the red carpet in New York for SNL 50: The Anniversary Special, a three-hour show that aired on Peacock and airing on NBC Feb. 16. The special honored the best—and most hilarious—moments from the iconic sketch program over the years.
And several A-list comedians were a barrel of laughs as they got the party started on the red carpet, with comedians Tina Fey, Taran Killam, Andrew Dismukes, Sasheer Zamata, Rob Riggle and Jim Gaffigan among the first to arrive.
Inside, Jonas Brothers member Nick Jonas and comedian Bowen Yang caught up and posed for a pic together.
Several Saturday Night Live alums also headed back to their old stomping grounds, including Adam Sandler, Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Chris Rock, Fred Armisen, Jimmy Fallon, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon, Seth Meyers and Will Ferrell, who all attended the event.
But according to Amy, who joined SNL in 2001, even she was surprised by what creator Lorne Michaels had in store.
“I’m not ready, and I know absolutely nothing. It is typical SNL,” she joked to Today Feb. 10. “Today is Monday, the show is Sunday, so of course nothing’s ready.”
“Maybe there’s a pet turtle that Lorne has told the show to,” Amy quipped. “But no, they are putting together a huge amount of ideas.”
But more than the sketches, she was ready to reunite with old pals.
“It’s been so awesome to be back and with my class of people,” the 53-year-old added. “I love them dearly and get to work with them a lot, but just being around all the people that I love and grew up with is so exciting.”
Indeed, she wasn’t the only one getting in on the action. Former hosts and celeb fans joined the fun, ranging from musicians including Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus and Sabrina Carpenter to actors including Adam Driver, Ayo Edebiri, Pedro Pascal, Tom Hanks and Woody Harrelson.
And naturally, you could count on Scarlett Johansson to be on hand to support—or troll—her husband Colin Jost, writer and star of the “Weekend Update” segment.
Another celebrity who was doing amazing on the red carpet? Kim Kardashian, who also made her grand return to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center after hosting SNL in October 2021.
“It was such an amazing experience, like, euphoric,” Kim said on The Kardashians after her gig. “There’s just so many people, like, everywhere and it’s this rush.”
She added, “I’m just so excited that it’s over and I didn’t mess up one time, and I just had fun.”
Of course, it was also the setting of her meet-cute with Pete Davidson, who she dated for nine months until their split in 2022.
“It was a stage kiss, but it was still a little zing,” Kim said on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast in April 2022. “It wasn’t anything like a super, crazy feeling…A few days later, I was like, ‘Hmm, there is some BDE action.'”
In addition to Kim and Pete reuniting at SNL 50: The Anniversary Special, read on to see more celebrities celebrating the milestone show.
(E!, SNL, NBC and Peacock are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds
Kim Kardashian
Miley Cyrus
Pete Davidson
Dakota Johnson
Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost
Jackie Sandler and Adam Sandler
Kenan Thompson
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
Sabrina Carpenter
Meryl Streep
Eddie Murphy
Emma Stone and Dave McCary
Alexander Edwards and Cher
Bad Bunny
Amy Poehler
Tina Fey
Maya Rudolph
Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry Teller
Drew Barrymore
Zahra Rock and Chris Rock
Will Ferrell
Chris Fischer and Amy Schumer
Chris Pine
Kate McKinnon
Sandra Oh
Lauren Miller and Seth Rogen
Nick Jonas
Aidy Bryant
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