SNL Celebrates 50 years
This past Sunday night, almost 15 million people tuned into watch NBC’s Saturday Night Live celebrate their 50th anniversary with a red carpet and three hour special. The red carpet was a reunion for many celebrities and musical guests who have hosted and worked on SNL over the years including, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, and Scarlett Johansson. The anniversary special was hosted by Leslie Jones, Willie Geist, and Matt Rogers in Rockefeller Center, in New York City where they conducted pre-show interviews.
The show started out with young pop-star Sabrina Carpenter and iconic singer- songwriter Paul Simon performing “Homeward Bound,” which was a full circle moment from his original performance of “Homeward Bound on SNL in 1976. The duet showcased SNL’s cultural significance across generation. SNL is known for its comedic political commentary, and SNL 50 was no exception: Steve Martin referenced the recent DEI and immigration issues in his opening monologue, and the “Black Jeopardy!” skit called out the MAGA “party." As always the weekend update segment was a highlight, featuring Cecily Strong as “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation with at a Party." Former SNL cast members, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler had a Q&A with the cast audience of celebrities, including Bad Bunny, Peyton Manning, Jon Hamm, and most notably Ryan Reynolds, whose bit alluded to the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, It Ends With Us drama. An original SNL 1975 cast member, Laraine Newman made in appearance in the “Chad in 8H” sketch with Pete Davidson. Some of the musical highlights were Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard who performed an iconic cover of Nothing Compares 2 U and Paul McCartney who performed Golden Slumber, Carry That Weight, and The End.
These are just some of the highlights from the anniversary, but since October 1975 SNL has been producing hilarious comedy sketches, parodies of current events and pop culture with hundreds of actors and comedians. Especially with today’s political and social state they have a lot of content to work with. Here are some of my favorite moments from SNL 5o:
Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon
Laraine Newman and Pete Davidson
