SNL 50, The Anniversary Special: New Must See Highlights

On October 11, 1975, Chevy Chase shouted the catchphrase that would last half a century: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” This year, Saturday Night Live celebrated its fifty-year anniversary with, SNL 50: The Anniversary Special, which could only be described as the rowdiest love letter to New York.

The legendary sketch comedy turned New York City into its three-day festival campground, starting Friday at Radio City Music Hall with SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert. It was an evening that brought many legendary SNL hall of famers, musical skits, and iconic moments onto one stage, including the iconic “D**K in a Box” sung by Andy Samberg with special guest Lady Gaga.

Surprisingly, SNL 50: The Anniversary Special, did not take place on Saturday night. As a treat, NBC played a rerun of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live, which aired on October 11, 1975. It was surreal to watch these pieces of entertainment history the same way our parents and grandparents watched them back then, unaware they were watching the beginning of an NYC staple.

Now, onto the main event.

SNL 50: The Anniversary Special: Highlights

Good ol’ 30 Rockefeller Plaza was filled to the brim with talent. Between SNL alums, favored past hosts, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ service dog, there were too many comedy stars to name.

The evening opened with a duet, “Homeward Bound,” between the shortest people in the music industry, singer-songwriter Paul Simon and newly anointed Grammy winner Sabrina Carpenter. Simon played the song once before, back in 1976 with George Harrison. Carpenter, as she stated, “was not born then, and neither were my parents.”

Five-time host, certified Silver Fox, and “newest diversity hire” of SNL, Steve Martin, did the night’s opening monologue, a staple of the comedy since its beginning. He also got Martin Short deported back to Canada, but that’s hardly relevant.

NBC decided to go all out with sketches. The cast of SNL‘s past, present, and future revived some of their most popular sketches and showcased special montages of the things they couldn’t recreate.

Domingo is back, and he’s bringing the family back together.

Marcello Hernandez’s infamous home-wrecker character crashes another of Kelsey’s (Chloe Fineman) and Matt’s (Andrew Dismukes) milestones. It turns out that Kelsey is not the only one stepping out. Matt’s groomsmen (Bowen Yang, Andy Samberg, Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney) and Kelsey’s childhood friend, who just got out of prison (Sabrina Carpenter) reveal that the groom hooked up with golf caddy Ronaldo (Pedro Pascal) on a recent guys trip.

And what a small world. Ronaldo just so happens to be Domingo’s older brother, and here comes their half-brother Santiago (Bad Bunny), who also joins in on the home-wrecking, seducing Kelsey’s parents (Martin Short and Molly Shannon) while remodeling their kitchen.

While it was a small surprise in the grand scheme of the night, we need to show some love to Aubrey Plaza. This was her first public appearance since the death of her husband, Jeff Beana. She came on air in a tie-dyed shirt to introduce Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard, and The Roots, to perform “Nothing Compares 2 U” in memory of the late Irish singer songwriter Sinead O’Connor, who was blacklisted after her 1992 performance.

Kate Mckinnon returned and also returned to portray Colleen Rafferty – the middle-aged redneck woman who keeps getting abducted by aliens. It’s a sketch known for breaking her fellow actors. No one in this country is strong enough to keep it together when McKinnon scissors the air beside them.

Even if they could, they would not be able to withstand special guest Meryl Streep as her equally eccentric mama. The Rafferty ladies were joined by John Hamm and Aidy Bryant as federal officers, and Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson as her fellow rednecks.

Did you know Adam Sandler can play guitar? His comedic dedication song “50 Years” was surprising, funny, and sweet. Singing thanks to the cast, crew, and Speedy, the cue card man.

Former writer John Mulaney walks Pete Davidson and David Spade through five decades of New York City in a ten-minute musical number. What started as Diner Lobster became the melody of this weird city—the city substance that made it what it is, and the e-bikes that terrorize our town. Because where would SNL be without some good old-fashioned snow?

Speaking of insidious SNL things, NBC had Tom Hanks introduce a special “In Memoriam” segment. In memoriam—not to alums who have passed on, but to the poorly aged jokes that will never again see the light of the stage, remember when O.J. Simpson hosted?

Closing out Sunday night’s performances was English rockstar and Beatles member Paul McCartney with a mashup of “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End.”

Honorable Mentions of the Evening

Overall, there were 23 performances in the span of the three-hour special. Here’s a brief overview of the rest of the evening.

• Lawrence Welk (Fred Armisen) introduces Robert Goulet (Will Ferrell) and The Maharelle Sisters (Scarlett Johansson, Kim Kardashian, Kristen Wiig, Ana Gasteyer)
• Black Jeopardy host Darnell Hayes (Kenan Thompson) quizzes contestants Eddie Murphy, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, and returning champion Doug (Tom Hanks) in some trivia.
• Dedication montage to SNL’s physical comedy introduced by Emma Stone and Sally O’Malley (Molly Shannon)
• SNL alumni Amy Poehler and Tina Fey do a Q&A with the star-studded audience. Featuring Donna Richards, the attending who’s in charge of seeing every host in their underpants.
• Andy Samberg reassures Bowen Yang that everyone at SNL has anxiety in an digital short.
• “Weekend Update” was hosted by Colin Jost and Michael Che, featuring Cecily Strong, Bobby Moynihan, Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Vanessa Bayer, and Bill Murray.
• A commercial parodies compilation introduced by Alec Baldwin
• Betty (Amy Poehler) and Jodi (Maya Rudolph), featuring Miles Teller and Mike Myers during “Coffee Talk“
• The return of Debbie Downer (Rachel Dratch) and she’s ruining the mood at the bar with Jimmy Kimmel, Ayo Edebiri, Drew Barrymore, and Robert De Niro.
• Keenan Thompson, Eddie Murphy, and Will Ferrell get Mikey Day, Marcello Hernandez, and Michael Longfellow “Scared Straight” at Jason Sudeikis’s behest.

The Not Ready For Prime Time Players

Saturday Night Live couldn’t have made it here with the original class of 1975. Nicknamed, “The Not Ready for Primetime Players,” Dan Aykroyd, Garret Morris, Laraine Newman, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, and Jane Curtin are the ones we have to thank for paving the way. Radner and Belushi have since passed away, but their impact lives on every Saturday. Those who could be there were present at Rockefeller Center Sunday Night.

Still going strong, Newman and Morris took the stage at Studio 8H on Sunday. Newman pre-filmed a sketch with “Chad,” aka Pete Davidson, a very chill dude with very little to say.

Morris, the first Black cast member of SNL, is now 88 years old. He took center stage live, still astounded that NBC asked him to do all these reunions 50 years later. He introduced a short video filmed in 1978 starring the late John Belushi, Don’t Look Back in Anger. In it, an elderly Belushi tends to the original cast’s graves and makes humorous predictions about how the cast will pass on.

The video has a sad irony: Belushi jokes about being the last man standing. He would be the first of the original players to pass away at 33 in 1982. Gilda Radner lost her battle with ovarian cancer in 1989.

As Martin Short closed out the special, the stage was filled to the maximum with SNL alumni, from the original players to the current cast. Martin Short gave a “thank you and good night speech” to the show’s creator Lorne Michaels.

Behind him, original players Newman and Curtin held up a headshot of the late, great Gilda Radner. A fitting tribute to the talented comedian.

Hopefully, Saturday Night Live will continue to make audiences laugh for another 50 seasons.

Saturday Night Live will return with new episodes on March 1.