By: Megan Saul

Culture Editor

Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a popular American late-night comedy show that airs parody sketches, musical performances, and more. Known for its iconic line that ends its cold opening, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night,” generations of fans have watched and loved SNL. As the first episode aired in 1975, on the weekend of Feb. 14, SNL celebrated their 50th anniversary with many events to honor the show’s musical side and all of the cast members from over the years. 

Lorne Michaels created SNL in order to fill the empty Saturday night television time slot. His goal was to create a show containing political satire and comedy. Since then, SNL has won countless awards and the most Emmy nominations received by a television program. Many of the cast members of SNL have also continued on to lead successful careers, even having their own late-night talk shows. 

Prior to the anniversary celebrations, NBC released a four part docu-series entitled Beyond Saturday Night. This docu-series details the behind the scenes of the show including dynamics from the writer’s room. One episode of this program even shows the five-minute audition tapes of current and past cast members. This series helped viewers learn more details about the show and drew them in for the anniversary celebrations. 

The celebrations consisted of the re-airing of the first episode and the airing of a musical special concert titled SNL50: The Homecoming Concert as well as a three hour special called SNL50: The Anniversary Special. The first episode of SNL, hosted by George Carlin, re-aired on Feb. 15 and demonstrated how far SNL has come as a show. The Homecoming Concert, with host and past cast member Jimmy Fallon, celebrated the musical performances featured on SNL over the past 50 years. This concert occurred on Feb. 14 at the Radio City Music Hall and included performances from over 25 musicians. While many songs were heartfelt and emotional considering SNL’s longevity, others were, as expected, comical. 

The biggest part of the celebration was the Anniversary Special, and while it didn’t have a specific host, many past members joined in on the action. To start the episode, Steve Martin delivered the opening monologue and singers Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon sang a duet. The night continued with additional performances by Paul McCartney, Adam Sandler, Miley Cyrus, and more. Many of the sketches were sequels or recreations of popular skits from prior episodes, including a skit on Domingo, a character created this season. and one titled Debbie Downer, which originated in 2004. Throughout the night, there were cameos from Alec Baldwin, Lin Manuel Miranda, Tom Hanks, Garrett Morrison, Peyton Manning, Meryl Streep, Ryan Reynolds, Cher, and so many more. 

At the end of the special, Martin Short said, referring to and thanking Michaels, “The reason we’re all here, the man who made our dreams come true.” Stars, laughter, and, most notably, gratitude for the show that changed countless people’s lives filled Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary events. 

(Sources: NBC, Time, USA Today)