SNL50: Watch All the Highlights From the Star-Studded Anniversary Special
Saturday Night Live is celebrating a milestone birthday… and a whole bunch of big names showed up for the party.
In honor of the sketch comedy institution’s 50th season, NBC aired a live three-hour event on Sunday — titled SNL50: The Anniversary Special — with dozens of cast members, hosts and musical guests from decades past returning to Studio 8H for a night of comedy, music and mayhem.
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You want to see SNL alums? Everyone from Bill Murray to Eddie Murphy to Adam Sandler and Chris Rock to Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell to Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig were back to relive their glory days. How about A-list hosts? The special brought back luminaries like Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Robert De Niro and Scarlett Johansson. And musical guests were represented, too, both classic (Paul Simon and Paul McCartney) and modern (Bad Bunny and Sabrina Carpenter).
Of course, the celebration featured plenty of nods to SNL’s storied past with revivals of beloved sketches and characters — along with more than a few surprises. If you missed any of it (or just want to watch it again), we’ve collected all of the highlights from Sunday’s SNL50 special in one place for your viewing enjoyment. Scroll down to see the top moments, then grade it via the following poll.
PAUL SIMON AND SABRINA CARPENTER | The two music superstars teamed up to open the show with a duet of the Simon and Garfunkel classic “Homeward Bound.” Simon noted that he sang the song with George Harrison on SNL back in 1976, and Carpenter added that she wasn’t born then… and “neither were my parents.”
MONOLOGUE | 16-time SNL host Steve Martin took on monologue duties, announcing himself as “Saturday Night Live’s newest diversity hire.” Martin morbidly pointed out that a person born during SNL’s first season “could today be easily dead of natural causes” before getting an assist from longtime SNL writer (and six-time host) John Mulaney and his Only Murders in the Building co-star (and former SNL cast member) Martin Short.
THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW | Fred Armisen reprised his role as the 1960s variety show host. This time around, the Maharelle Sisters (Kim Kardashian, Scarlett Johansson, Ana Gasteyer… and of course, Kristen Wiig as the tiny-handed Dooneese) were joined by Will Ferrell’s lusty crooner Robert Goulet.
BLACK JEOPARDY! | Kenan Thompson hosted a fresh take on the game show parody, with Leslie Jones as Sharice, Tracy Morgan as Darius and Eddie Murphy… as Tracy Morgan, who fired off gems like “James Earl Jones is my biological father!” Chris Rock stopped by to take over hosting duties… and yes, Tom Hanks’ MAGA hat-wearing Doug showed up, too.
PHYSICAL COMEDY | Emma Stone introduced a clip package celebrating 50 years of physical comedy and was interrupted by Molly Shannon’s Sally O’Malley — who, as always, is proud to say she’s 50, “just like Saturday Night Live.”
DOMINGO | Sabrina Carpenter and the #KelSquad (Sarah Sherman, Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner) sang an off-key song about monogamy (to the tune of Wicked’s “Defying Gravity”) at Kelsey and Matt’s vow renewal, only to be disrupted by (of course) Marcello Hernandez’s Domingo. Matt’s groomsmen (Bowen Yang, Andy Samberg, Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney) eventually joined the party, along with Domingo’s brothers (Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny).
DEEP THOUGHTS | Jack Handey’s bizarre New Age musings returned — complete with Phil Hartman voiceover — with a wistful look back at the passage of time.
TINA FEY AND AMY POEHLER | The queens of Weekend Update took questions from all-stars in the audience, including Quinta Brunson and Ryan Reynolds. (When Fey asked Reynolds how he’s doing, he cheerfully replied: “Great! Why, what have you heard?”) Plus, Julia Louis-Dreyfus used her service dog to flirt with Adam Driver, and Keith Richards looked for a scarf he left at the show in 1988… which we later found on Zach Galifianakis’ head. Also featured during the Q&A: former cast members Fred Armisen, Jon Lovitz, Seth Meyers and Tim Meadows, as well as Bad Bunny, Jason Momoa, Jon Hamm, Nate Bargatze, Peyton Manning, Ray Romano and Rev. Al Sharpton.
DIGITAL SHORT | Andy Samberg took Bowen Yang on a trip through time, showing how all the SNL greats — including Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy — have suffered from anxiety. Sarah Sherman and Chris Parnell co-starred, as did Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer, who were in character as NPR hosts Margaret Jo McCullin and Terry Rialto, of “Schweddy Balls” fame.
MILEY CYRUS AND BRITTANY HOWARD | The duo delivered a powerful cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the biggest hit by the late Sinéad O’Connor, who infamously tore up a picture of the Pope on SNL in 1992. Cyrus and Howard were also introduced by actress Aubrey Plaza, making her first public appearance since the death of her filmmaker husband Jeff Baena last month.
WEEKEND UPDATE | Current anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che led the news with a jab at President Trump. “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,” Jost began. He paid tribute to the original Not Ready for Primetime Players (and noted that Chevy Chase was replaced after Season 1 by… Kenan Thompson), before Che paid tribute to the late, great Norm Macdonald. Then came desk pieces by a very pregnant Cecily Strong (who reprised her role as The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party) and Bobby Moynihan (who stumbled out as her baby daddy, Drunk Uncle).
Afterwards, Jost and Che turned the anchor desk over to Seth Meyers, who was joined by Vanessa Bayer and Fred Armisen — in character as Lorne Michaels’ Best Friends From Growing Up.
Last but not least, Jost returned and introduced legacy cast member Bill Murray, who revealed rankings of Black Weekend Update anchors (just Che) and “regular” Weekend Update anchors.
CLOSE ENCOUNTER | Kate McKinnon’s chain-smoking Miss Rafferty was joined by stoners played by Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson to tell Jon Hamm and Aidy Bryant about an extraterrestrial encounter they had — and yeah, she had a much less pleasant experience with the aliens than they did: “The only other place I’ve been pantsless five times is Six Flags.” Joining the fun was Meryl Streep as Miss Rafferty’s equally crude mother: “As for underwear, underwear-wise, this devil wears nada.” (Can you believe she’s never hosted SNL? We can’t, either.)
THE STAGEHAND | The second digital short of the evening saw Laraine Newman return to Studio 8H to wax nostalgic about being one of the original Not Ready for Primetime Players. Alas, the only person there to lend an ear was a familiar stagehand: Pete Davidson’s apathetic Chad.
ADAM SANDLER | After an introduction from the reclusive Jack Nicholson (clad in a New York Yankees beret), Sandler took the stage to strum guitar and sing a song about 50 years of SNL, including references to not being able to use Lorne Michaels’ private bathroom and Steven Spielberg visiting the set and not laughing at their sketches. Sandler even got choked up as he paid tribute to five decades of SNL cast members — including the late Norm Macdonald and Chris Farley.
NEW YORK MUSICAL | John Mulaney’s most expansive musical yet took Pete Davidson and David Spade on a trip through time, showing the grittiest aspects of each decade in New York City. The astonishingly large ensemble for this one included former cast members Alex Moffat, Ana Gasteyer, Beck Bennett, Cecily Strong, Jason Sudeikis, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Kyle Mooney, Maya Rudolph, Taran Killam and Will Forte; current cast members Chloe Fineman, Devon Walker, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman; former band leader G.E. Smith and Paul Shaffer; and celebs like Adam Driver, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Nathan Lane, Nick Jonas, Paul Rudd and Scarlett Johansson.
COMMERCIAL PARODIES | The reigning king of SNL hosts Alec Baldwin — sorry, that’s actually “Alex Baldwin” — set up a montage of SNL’s best fake commercials, but he added a couple of plugs of his own first: for a sleep aid called After Update (because “nothing puts people to sleep faster than the sketches that air after Update) and Third Year Veneers, the fancy new teeth all SNL cast members get for their third year.
BRONX BEAT | Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph reprised their accents — err, roles — as Betty Caruso and Jodi Deitz. After a brief interview with Miles Teller about “tussling Tom Cruise on the beach” in Top Gun: Maverick Top Gun 2, the ladies were joined by another legendary talk show host, Coffee Talk‘s Linda Richman (played by Mike Myers).
LIL WAYNE AND THE ROOTS | Dave Chappelle — smoking a cigarette, of course — introduced the hip-hop supergroup, who did a medley of Weezy’s hits like “Uproar,” “Lollipop,” “Mrs. Officer” and “A Milli.”
“IN MEMORIAM” | Ten-time host Tom Hanks was on hand to introduce a compilation of “SNL characters and sketches that have aged horribly,” broken down into specific categories. Those included Ethnic Stereotypes, Sexual Harassment, Underage Sexual Harassment, Body Shaming, Slut Shaming, Gay Panic, Ableism, Sexism, Child Molestation, Questionable Makeup (aka Blackface), Questionable Guests and Racial Slurs. Man, have times changed!
DEBBIE DOWNER | Rachel Dratch revived her infamously depressing SNL character, seriously bringing down the vibe for Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore and Ayo Edebiri as they enjoyed a celebratory cocktail backstage: “Even one drink can significantly slash life expectancy.” Don’t ask her for eggs, either: “Bird flu’s on the rampage. Millions of fowl have already been culled.” Robert De Niro also got an invite to the pity party, with Debbie pointing out the microplastics in his drink’s straw: “At this point, we’re all walking landfills.” (De Niro got so fed up, he nearly strangled her.)
SCARED STRAIGHT | An unruly pack of wayward youths got a hard lesson in humility, courtesy of a police program that introduced them to a pair of tough-talking convicts played by Kenan Thompson and Eddie Murphy. They had a rough upbringing… that actually sounds a lot like Harry Potter. (“In prison, there’ll be a dude entering your Chamber of Secrets!”) They got some backup, too, from Will Ferrell as fellow inmate Big Red, who sported the shortest shorts we’ve ever seen and is really enjoying prison: “I’m in an improv group. I’m scrapbooking like crazy!”
DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER | Original cast member Garrett Morris took the stage to introduce a classic short film that aired on a 1978 episode of SNL. In it, the late, great John Belushi plays an aging version of himself visiting the graves of his castmates and spinning wild stories about all the mischief they got up to after SNL. In this version, he outlived them all… and he has the dance moves to prove it.
PAUL McCARTNEY | The former Beatle capped off the night with a rendition of the final Abbey Road medley that poignantly ends with “And in the end/The love you take/Is equal to the love you make.” And dig that groovy piano, man!
GOODNIGHTS | With the stage absolutely packed with big names, Martin Short did the honors of saying goodbye for the night, paying tribute to cast members past and present before toasting SNL head honcho Lorne Michaels one last time. Watch it again and play Spot the Celebrity!
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