“SNL50: The Anniversary Special” catered to all generations in its three-hour Sunday special, including a star-studded audience and hitting on 50 years worth of fan-favorite comics and sketches.
The special was preluded by the “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert,” a three-hour comedy concert that aired on Peacock Feb. 14. The special highlighted the show’s long history of musical guests and featured performances by Arcade Fire, Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, Cher, Chris Martin, David Byrne, DEVO, Eddie Vedder, Jack White, Jelly Roll, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Mumford & Sons, Post Malone, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Robyn, The B-52s and The Roots.
Two nights later, former SNL cast members and former celebrity guests would fill Rockefeller Center for a red carpet leading up to the main event, which would air at 7 p.m.
Like the concert, the special paid homage to its musical guest history, starting with a musical performance of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound” by Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon, a callback to Simon’s 1976 SNL performance.
Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard would also shine in their cover of Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
Lil Wayne followed, performing a medley of some of his greatest hits.
Adam Sandler, after being introduced by Jack Nicholson, would also whip out his guitar once more on the SNL50 stage to do a tribute to 50 years of SNL.
The musical performances were then closed by none other than Sir Paul McCartney, who did a medley from three songs from The Beatles album “Abbey Road.”
In addition to its slew of musical icons, the special touched on fan-favorite sketches that span throughout every SNL era.
Carpenter would return to the stage alongside Marcello Hernández’s “Domingo” for the sketch “Domingo: Vow Renewal.” The first Domingo sketch debuted in 2024 and became popular for parodying Carpenter’s song “Espresso.” This iteration, which also featured Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny, highlighted the most recent SNL era in the special.
Long-time SNL fans would also be represented in the special as many long-time fan-favorite sketches and characters took to the SNL stage once more.
“Debbie Downer” (Rachel Dratch) returned to her wet-blanket ways as a bartender for Jimmy Fallon, Ayo Edebiri and Drew Barrymore. “Bronx Beat” also made a comeback just in time for “sweater weather” as Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph gabbed across from Mike Myers’ as he reprised his role as “Linda Richman.”
However, the highlight of these sketch callbacks was Kate McKinnon’s reprisal in “Close Encounter” and the Eddie Murphy, Kenan Thompson and Will Ferrell “Scared Straight” sketch. In “Close Encounter” McKinnon leaves both the viewers at home and her sketchmates Meryl Streep, Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson in stitches with her flawless body humor as her character relates the story to how she was abducted by aliens once more.
“Scared Straight” was also a highlight of the night with Murphy surprising the audience with a well-timed expletive and Ferrell surprising the audience by trading his “tight pants” for khaki daisy dukes.
In addition to bringing back familiar faces and character favorites, SNL50 shined with its archival footage montages. Perhaps the funniest, albeit most controversial of these was its “In Memoriam” tribute led by Tom Hanks.
While at first it may seem sentimental, that’s not exactly the SNL style. Instead, the skit paid homage to all of the SNL skits that had aged very poorly over the years, and by today’s standards are highly cancelable, truly calling back to all eras of SNL humor.
With its collection of character favorites and its enjoyable musical performances, SNL50 is worth the time commitment and a great way to have a laugh with your closest friends.
For those seeking a comedy marathon or a blast from the comedic past, “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” alongside “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert” are both available to stream on Peacock.