‘Saturday Night Live’ anniversary special opens with Paul Simon, Sabrina Carpenter and Steve Martin
Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter duetted on Simon’s song “Homeward Bound” and five-decade “Saturday Night Live” luminary Steve Martin delivered the monologue to open the a 50th anniversary special celebrating the sketch institution that was overflowing with famous former cast members, superstar hosts and other A-list guests.
The 83-year-old Simon has been essential to “SNL” since its earliest episodes in 1975, and performed on the first show after the 9/11 attacks. He was joined by the 25-year-old pop sensation of the moment, Carpenter.
“I sang this song with George Harrison on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 1976,” Simon said.
“I was not born then,” Carpenter said, getting a laugh. “And neither were my parents,” she added, getting a bigger laugh.
Fifty seasons of “Saturday Night Live” sketches, songs and special guests are being celebrated for the show’s landmark anniversary. The show is airing on NBC and streaming on Peacock.
Steve Martin’s opening sets tone for ‘SNL50’
Martin, one of the shows most prolific hosts and guests since the first season in 1975, kept tried to keep it current in the monologue even on a backward-looking night.
Martin said when the show’s creator Lorne Michaels only told him he’d be doing the monologue, “I was actually vacationing on a friend’s boat down on the Gulf of Steve Martin.”
He was joined by his frequent collaborator and former cast member Martin Short and by John Mulaney, another popular host and a former longtime writer on the show.
Mulaney looked at the star-studded crowd, where many former hosts sat in the same Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza that has been the show’s longtime home.
“As I look around, I see some of the most difficult people I have ever met in my entire life,” Mulaney said. “Over the course of 50 years, 894 people have hosted ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder.”
The pop culture juggernaut has launched the careers of generations of comedians, from Bill Murray to Eddie Murphy and Tina Fey to Kristen Wiig.
Murphy and Wiig appeared in early sketches on “SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration,” airing live from New York, of course.
Martin took a jab at the always-difficult-to-wrangle Murray in his monologue.
“We wanted to make sure that Bill would be here tonight,” Martin said, “so we didn’t invite him.”
The three-hour extravaganza comes after months of celebrations of “Saturday Night Live,” which premiered Oct. 11, 1975, with an original cast that included John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Gilda Radner.
It’s become appointment television over the years as the show has skewered presidents, politics and pop culture and been a platform for the biggest musical stars of the moment. As streaming has altered television viewing, “SNL” sketches, host monologues and short comedy films remain popular on social media and routinely rack up millions of views on YouTube.
Sketches and bits jam-packed with former cast and hosts
The first sketch featured a mash-up of former cast members and hosts. Fred Armisen hosted a mock version of “The Lawrence Welk Show” that featured Will Ferrell doing his smarmy impression of singer Robert Goulet.
Former hosts Kim Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson — wife of current cast member Colin Jost — gave an updated version of the elegant singing Maharelle Sisters with former cast members Ana Gasteyer and Kristen Wiig providing the traditional punchline “And I’m Dooneese” with a balding head and creepy, tiny doll arms.
It was followed by “Black Jeopardy,” hosted by the show’s longest running (and still current) cast member, Kenan Thompson, who called the game show the only one “where every single viewer fully understood Kendrick’s halftime performance.”
It showcased many of the show’s most prominent Black cast members through the years including Tracy Morgan as one contestant and Eddie Murphy, doing a Morgan impression, as another.
“Big Dog gonna make some big money!” Murphy-as-Morgan shouted.
Chris Rock and Leslie Jones also appeared as did Tom Hanks, reprising his role from an episode he hosted as an uncannily skilled MAGA contestant.
Current and more recent cast members including Bowen Yang and Andy Samberg appeared in another musical sketch along with Carpenter.
Former cast member Amy Poehler and former lead writer Tina Fey, who partnered as “Weekend Update” anchors and Golden Globes hosts, led a Q-and-A with questions from the absurdly A-list audience.
Ryan Reynolds stood, and they asked him how it’s going.
“Great, why?” he said defensively. “What have you heard?”
Reynolds and wife Blake Lively, sitting next to him, have been locked in a heated legal and media battle with her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Adam Driver, Cher, Jon Hamm and Bad Bunny, Jason Momoa, Peyton Manning and Keith Richards were also featured in the bit.
“I left a scarf here in 1988, I’m kind of wondering if anyone has seen it around,” the Rolling Stone asked.
“Look it’s simply not here OK!” Zach Galifianakis said, a scarf tied to his head.
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Aubrey Plaza made one of her first public appearances since the January death of her husband when she introduced the night’s next pair of musical guests, Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard. They made a duet of “Nothing Compares 2 U” by the late Sinead O’Connor, who gave the show one of its most memorable musical moments when she tore up a picture of the pope on the air in 1992.
Paul McCartney is among the musicians set to appear later in the show, but it’s not clear if he’ll be making music.
The show already celebrated its musical legacy with a Radio City Music Hall concert on Friday hosted with a lineup that included Cher, Miley Cyrus, Arcade Fire, David Byrne, Post Malone and Nirvana.
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Writer John Carucci contributed to this report.
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For more coverage of the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” visit: https://apnews.com/hub/saturday-night-live