“Saturday Night Live” celebrated its 50th anniversary with a three-and-a-half-hour Sunday night primetime special, because there were too many stars to fit into 90 minutes.
Lorne Michaels’ sketch comedy institution has been part of the fabric of American culture for so long that it can be easy to take for granted how unique its run has been. “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” served as a star-studded reminder of how singular the show is — how long it’s been relevant, how many stars it has produced and how many catchphrases it has embedded into the collective vocabulary. The special was a cavalcade of sketches, celebrity guests and “SNL” history that celebrated the past while keeping an eye on the present.
Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter opened the show with a rendition of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound,” which Simon performed on the show with Paul McCartney in 1976. (McCartney, one of Michaels’ best friends, closed out the show). Then 16-time host Steve Martin got to do the monologue, with appearances by former writer John Mulaney and former cast member Martin Short. Mulaney delivered a perfect Mulaney joke, which is a dark pop cultural reference — while talking about how insane and awful all the celebrity guests are, he said, “894 people have hosted ‘SNL’ and it amazes me that only 2 of them have committed murder.” (For the record, that’s O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake.)
The next sketches brought back popular — if relatively recent and not super-iconic — bits. Fred Armisen’s “Lawrence Welk Show” featured Robert Goulet (Will Ferrell) and the four Maharelle Sisters — Ana Gasteyer, Kim Kardashian, Scarlett Johansson and the balding, small-handed, generally disturbing Dooneese (Kristin Wiig). This was followed by “Black Jeopardy,” featuring Kenan Thompson, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan and Eddie Murphy doing a scene-stealing impression of Tracy Morgan. Tom Hanks reprised his role as Doug, a MAGA-hatted white guy who actually agrees with Black people about a lot of things, and got an oddly muted reaction from the studio audience. Domingo (Marcello Hernandez), the show’s newest breakout character, was up next, joined by his brothers Ronaldo (Pedro Pascal) and Santiago (Bad Bunny). This sketch also featured Sabrina Carpenter, who had an oddly large presence throughout the show. She even stood next to Lorne Michaels during goodnights.
All three of these sketches had funny moments, but were also sloppy and overlong. If this had been an actual episode of “SNL,” Lorne would ask the cast, “Are you proud of yourselves?”
The best of the pre-”Weekend Update” sketches was a digital short starring Andy Samberg and Bowen Yang where Samberg explained that “Everyone Who Ever Worked at ‘SNL’ Had Anxiety,” an ironic bit of self-mythology about the show’s notoriously stressful workplace environment.
After an appearance by a truly iconic long-ago “SNL” bit, “Deep Thoughts with Jack Handey,” Tina Fey and Amy Poehler led a Q&A section that mostly functioned as a way to show off the A-listers who stuffed into Studio 8H. Here’s a very incomplete list of some of the celebrities, including former writers and cast members in the audience, who didn’t have speaking roles (deep breath): Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Costner, Jenna Ortega, David Byrne, Stephen Colbert, Sarah Silverman, Billy Crystal, Lady Gaga, Seth Rogen, Rob Schneider, Jack White, Anya Taylor-Joy, “SNL” spouses Joanna Newsom (Andy Samberg) and Olivia Munn (John Mulaney), etc. etc.
There were a number of newsworthy celebrity cameos. Ryan Reynolds joked about his role in the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni scandal. Aubrey Plaza made her first public appearance since the tragic death of her husband Jeff Baena in January, introducing musical guests Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard. Jack Nicholson made an extremely rare appearance, introducing Adam Sandler. The guest list and seating chart were objects of speculation and intrigue heading into the show, and “SNL”-ologists will surely be studying screenshots for days to come, discussing who’s next to whom and why. The show’s ability to attract star power is unparalleled.
Not everyone was there, though. The three most notably absent cast members were Dan Aykroyd, Bill Hader and Dana Carvey. The former two declined to attend. Carvey’s absence has not been explained, and it’s especially odd considering his repeated appearances during political cold opens earlier in Season 50. One-season cast member Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t there, either. Chevy Chase was there, but did not appear during the show, nor did fellow Not Ready for Primetime Player Jane Curtain. Laraine Newman starred in a pre-taped sketch with Pete Davidson’s “Chad,” and Garrett Morris introduced a 1978 archival video sketch in which John Belushi danced on the graves of his co-stars. It was a typically irreverent tribute to late cast members Belushi and Gilda Radner.
The most emotionally affecting tribute to deceased cast members came during an original song by Adam Sandler, of all things, when he listed off various cast members and writers’ years of service on the show, concluding with “six years of our boy (Chris) Farley, five of our buddy Norm (Macdonald).” Sandler also shouted out long-tenured crew members like “Nurse Teresa” and “Drunk Wally” the cue card holder, which served as a nice reminder of all the people behind the scenes who keep “SNL” running. And the riskiest, most irreverent tribute came in the form of a Tom Hanks-introduced “In Memoriam” clip package of all the sketches and characters that didn’t age well, consisting of racist, sexist, homophobic and generally offensive moments. The number of blurred-out blackface moments was quite striking. They acknowledged some problematic hosts, including the aforementioned Simpson and Blake, but not Donald Trump. In fact, there was a conspicuous lack of political material throughout the show. No one reprised a presidential impression.
The only time Trump was mentioned was during “Weekend Update,” when Colin Jost joked “It is an honor and a thrill to be hosting ‘Weekend Update’ for the 50th, and if it was up to our President, final season of ‘SNL.’” “Update” featured the returns of classic characters The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation with at a Party (Cecily Strong) and Drunk Uncle (Bobby Moynihan), Seth Meyers interviewing Lorne’s Best Friends from Growing Up (Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer), and Bill Murray giving his ranking of the best “Weekend Update” hosts of all time (#1 was his brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, who anchored it in Season 7). It was an appropriately supersized segment, but Hader’s Stefon was greatly missed.
The show’s best sketches were after “Update,” featuring returns of some of some well-loved bits. Kate McKinnon reprised her “Close Encounters” character Colleen Rafferty and introduced her mother, Colleen Sr., played by Meryl Streep, who made her “SNL” debut. It’s hard to believe it, but it’s true. Mulaney did yet another musical theater tribute to New York City, this one skipping through the decades starting in gritty 1975 up through the present day. Highlights included Nathan Lane as an ‘80s stockbroker singing “Cocaine and Some Vodka” to the tune of “Hakuna Matata,” Jason Sudeikis dressed as Harvey Keitel’s pimp character Sport from “Taxi Driver,” and Kate McKinnon as Rudy Giuliani in “Hamilton” rapping “I am throwing away my shot, I’m just like my country, I’m drunk, corrupt and crazy.” Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph did “Bronx Beat” with Miles Teller and Mike Myers’ Linda Richman from “Coffee Talk,” who lost his pinky nail press-on. Robert De Niro met Debbie Downer (Rachel Dratch). And Michaels saved the best for last with a rendition of Kenan Thompson’s signature “Scared Straight” featuring Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell. It was magical to see the two greatest cast members to ever do it share a stage. Moments like that are the purpose of these reunion shows, to see members of different eras get to play together.
Overall, “SNL50” was a messy, excessive, self-satisfied special, but it was the perfect way to mark the milestone. It was nostalgic, but too irreverent to be mawkish. It hit the notes it needed to hit. And most of all, it made the case for the show’s legacy as well as its continued importance. Its emphasis on more recent sketches and performers was no accident. Lorne Michaels wants us to know “Saturday Night Live” is still very much alive.
“SNL50: The Anniversary Special” is now streaming on Peacock.
