Longtime-running comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL) celebrated its 50-year anniversary with a “Homecoming Concert” and three-hour-long special.
The weekend-long celebration began Friday, Feb. 14, with a concert held in New York at Radio City Music Hall, according to AP News. This concert was hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon and featured a wide array of musical talents. Backstreet Boys, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, Miley Cryus and Lady Gaga were only a few of the musicians who performed. According to AP News, several surprising collabs happened on the concert stage as surviving members of Nirvana performed with Post Malone, Miley Cryus partnered with Brittany Howard and Queen sang with the B-52s and SNL cast members. David Bowie’s song “Heroes” was performed by Arcade Fire, David Byrne, St. Vincent and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Questlove and The Roots from “The Tonight Show” showed off their musical talent. Comedians also performed songs during the concert, including Fred Armisen, Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, Andy Samberg, Chris Parnell, Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Ana Gastayer, Bill Murray and Cecily Strong, as per AP News.
The three-hour comedy special aired Sunday, Feb. 16, on SNL’s home network NBC. The show was hosted “in the same Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza that has been the show’s longtime home,” according to AP News. The show opened with Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon’s duet and Steve Martin’s opening monologue. Steve Martin was then joined on stage by Martin Short and John Mulaney. “Weekend Update” regular hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che were joined at the desk by Bill Murrary and Chevy Chase.
The show was filled with celebrity faces who have been on the show throughout the years. Sketches included Bowen Yang, Molly Shannon, Emma Stone, Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen, Will Ferrell, Kim Kardashian, Scarlett Johansson, Ana Gasteyer, Kristen Wiig, Merryl Streep, Kate McKinnon, Robert De Niro, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Mike Meyers, Maya Rudolph, Kenan Thompson, Tracy Morgan and Eddie Murphy. Other stars also made brief appearances, including Adam Driver, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Garrett Morris, Bad Bunny, Cher, Peyton Manning, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and more. For a comprehensive list, see the NBC New York article.
According to AP News, Aubrey Plaza made one of her first public appearances since the death of her husband, while wearing a tie-dye shirt to honor her late husband. Adam Sandler performed a song about SNL’s history and gave emotional shoutouts to two of the late cast members, Chris Farley and Norm MacDonald, by singing “six years of our boy Farley, five of our buddy Norm.” The show closed with a performance by Paul McCartney and a closing monologue by Martin Short.
According to NBC News, “The ‘Saturday Night Live’ 50th anniversary celebration was NBC’s most-watched prime-time entertainment telecast in five years, reaching nearly 15 million viewers.” The live audience filled the studio and included dozens of celebrities and past SNL members, according to Business Insider.
By Kailey Wurr, A&E Editor
Graphic by Shae-Lynn Henderon, EIC