All year long NBC has been promoting SNL 50. The 50th anniversary season of Saturday Night Live, a show that was created in 1975. To celebrate there was a four part docu-series, a music documentary, a three-hour music special, and a three-hour special.
The special was the most hyped, including multiple commercials, articles, Instagram posts and an hour and half red carpet event beforehand. But did the special actually live up to the hype, and was it enjoyable for avid SNL fans? Well, kind of, it definitely had its moments, but overall it was a very underwhelming show. But if you like SNL you should watch it in full.
Cold Opening: “Homeward Bound.” Odd choice to have Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon sing together, but they performed well. This song was sung by Simon and the late George Harrison back in 1976.
Monologue: Great choice to have Steve Martin “host” this monologue. He has been on the show 35 times, 16 of those he has hosted. I really like that they showcased the writers, since they don’t get as much attention as the actual cast. A great way to kick off the show.
Show: The Lawrence Welk Show. Kim Kardashian being in this sketch was quite random, other than dating Pete Davidson, she doesn’t have anything to do with SNL. Everyone’s performance in this sketch was really well done. I love seeing Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig together after so long, they are a great comedic duo even if they didn’t have much screen time together. The ending of this sketch fell somewhat flat, but was good overall.
Game Show: Black Jeopardy! A really solid sketch. I love that they had the actual Tracy Morgan there in the sketch, but had Eddie Murphy play him.
Intro: Molly Shannon being 60 but still being able to do high kicks is very impressive.
Clip Compilation: Physical Comedy. Great homage, RIP Chris Farley the king of physical comedy.
Sketch: Vow Renewal. The third installment of the Domingo sketches. Most people have seen the first Domingo sketch with Ariana Grande after it went viral on social media. The first one was definitely the best one, but after that the premise gets very repetitive. While I personally didn’t like this sketch, I thought that the cameo’s from Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny were really funny. Also the irony of Sabrina Carpenter badly singing her own song is perfect. But overall this sketch fell flat.
Miscellaneous: Deep Thoughts. The first deep thoughts with Jack Handey in 30 years, I thought it was really funny that they poked fun at their salaries being the only important thing to them.
Miscellaneous : Audience Q&A. Kind of overdone, but Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ dog was super adorable.
SNL Digital Short: Anxiety. We have gotten a lot of SNL digital shorts this season, which I love. One of the main golden years of SNL was Andy Sambrrg/ The Lonely Island era, so getting to see Samberg work with the current cast is super cool. This was the only original sketch that came from this anniversary special, and it delivered. The sketch talked about how everyone who works at SNL has anxiety. The screaming, strange graphics, and horrifying edits of old sketches honestly made this sketch feel like an anxiety attack, so props to them. The song is also extremely catchy.
Intro. I really loved seeing Aubrey Plaza, she’s such a funny and sweet person. She actually was an intern at SNL, and an NBC page after. It was so sweet to see her after her husband’s passing, I actually teared up a bit.
Musical Performance: “Nothing Compares 2 U”. Miley Cyrus and Brittney Howard did a really good job with this cover, they both are amazing performers and work well together! This song was originally sung by the late Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor. In 1992 O’Connor was a musical guest and performed a cover of Bob Marley’s “War”, and at the end of the performance she ripped up a photo of the pope. This is one of the most controversial moments on SNL. She basically ruined her entire career and SNL continued to make fun of O’Connor. Turns out she her intentions were good after a lot of child abuse was exposed within the catholic church, and SNL never apologized and continued to make fun of her. So for them to perform this song was honestly a very sweet moment, but it still makes me feel bad that they never did something like this when she was alive.
Weekend Update. Kind of strange that they only had Colin Jost and Michael Che, and Seth Meyers, anchor and not have past anchors show up. I like Bill Murray’s bit of ranking former anchors. Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer bit pretending to know Lorne Michaels ( the creator of snl) was good too.
Sketch: Close Encounter. Another sketch that gets extremely repetitive, but Kate McKinnon always sells.
Film: The Stagehand. I love seeing the original cast members in newer sketches, Larraine is my favorite of the original cast, so seeing her lead a sketch made me so happy.
Intro. Jack Nicholson, what are you doing here?!
Musical Performance: “50 Years.” Adam Sandler did a good job at paying homage to former cast members.
Musical Sketch: New York Musical. This is the seventh version of this sketch that they have done. They are starting to get a little stale but I do think that this one holds up. David Spade leaving the sketch halfway through to go sit back down in the audience was funny. Also Jenna Ortega and Kevin Costner getting squished by Will Forte and Jason Sudekis was hilarious.
Intro: My favorite joke was the after update caffeine pill to keep you awake after Weekend Update. They could make a lot of money if they made something like this in real life.
Clip Compilation: Commercial Parodies. Another great montage of clips, my favorite of the old commercials is called Colon Blow which I highly recommend you to watch.
Show: Bronx Beat. This was a good sketch. I loved the crossover between Bronx Beat and Coffee Talk.
Musical Performance: “Uproar” / “Lollipop” / “6 Foot 7 Foot” / “Mrs. Officer” / “A Milli.” Lil Wayne did a good job performing and so did The Roots.
Intro. Tom Hanks did a good job at the bait and switch. I like the fact that SNL can be socially aware of the things that have not aged well.
In Memoriam. There’s a lot of questionable moments in SNL’s history. As someone who has watched the older episodes I can say that there is worse stuff than what was in this compilation.
Sketch: Debbie Downer. I loved the shock from Drew Barrymore when Robert DeNiro showed up. This sketch wasn’t that good though, there were no new jokes at all, so it just felt boring.
Sketch: Scared Straight. One of my favorite recurring sketches ever! The main premise of these sketches is that teens get caught doing something illegal and they send in two people who are in prison to convince them not to continue down this path or else they are going to end up in jail. These prison members give stories of what happened to them in prison, but they turn out to be movie plots.
Intro. Again I love seeing the original cast members.
Encore Presentation: Don’t Look Back In Anger. This is a sketch from a season 3 episode and it features John Belushi dressed up as an old man visiting and dancing on all of the original cast members’ graves. To many this sketch is somewhat unsettling, seeing as John Belushi was the first in the cast to pass away. It’s already a dark sketch (literally it’s filmed in black and white) but that added fact makes it so much darker.
Musical Performance: Golden Slumbers” / “Carry That Weight” / “The End.” Paul McCartney (Singer) is such an amazing performer, even at his age. These songs were a great way to end the night.
Goodnights. Laraine Newman and Jane Curtin holding up a picture of the late Gilda Radner made me actually cry, it was so sweet.
