Saturday Night Live celebrated their 50th anniversary with a 3 hour long special on February 16th. Many celebrities showed up, including Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Paul McCartney, and past cast members like Jason Sudeikis, John Mulaney, and Bill Hader. It was viewed by millions of Americans live. According to AP News, “The “Saturday Night Live” 50th anniversary celebration is NBC’s most-watched prime-time entertainment telecast in five years, reaching nearly 15 million viewers” (AP News, Feb 17).

Steve Martin opened up the show with a monologue, in which he was joined by Martin Short and John Mulaney. Bill Murray returned to “Weekend Update”, and ranked the anchors that have been on it. Many other stars also showed up in skits, like Peyton Manning, Adam Driver, and Bad Bunny. Garrett Morris, who was a cast member in the first ever SNL season, introduced a film including the original cast members. Prior to that, he said, “I had no idea, y’all, that I’d be required to do so many reunion shows” (Morris, Feb 16).

There were also many musical performances as well. Prior to Steve Martin’s monologue, Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon performed a rendition of Simon’s song “Homeward Bound”. Adam Sandler performed a tribute song to SNL, and Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard performed “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor. Paul McCartney also performed a medley of songs by The Beatles, and Lil Wayne and the Roots performed a medley of songs together as well.

Unfortunately, after the anniversary show, some members of the cast have been testing positive for COVID. Martin Short and Maya Rudolph have both tested positive for COVID, and Short’s had to delay some dates on his and Martin’s comedy tour.