SNL at 50: Like ‘Buttah!’
By • February 18, 2025 One Comment 283
As Robert De Niro said Sunday evening, “I came here for a little friggin’ break from our world right now.” De Niro was, of course, referring to Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary extravaganza, which technically started off Friday night with a Homecoming Concert. Sunday was the main event and celebrated the longstanding live comedy show’s half century birthday.
Now stylized as “SNL,” the show has managed to transcend generations. My parents were 20 and 21 when the show began and spent their 20s watching sketches like “The Coneheads” (I was unfortunately dressed as one with my parents for Halloween as a baby), “The Loud Family,” and countless others. My siblings and I grew up on “Debbie Downer,” Chris Farley’s Motivational Speaker Matt Foley and more.
Sunday’s 50th anniversary special sought to provide the perfect blend of comedy, tragedy and nostalgia, and it achieved just that. Many like to say how tired they are of anniversaries, but I prefer to celebrate anniversary specials or milestones of events, buildings, etc. We live in a chaotic, often messed up world, and being able to survive to celebrate these milestones should be celebrated.
SNL’s nostalgia Sunday included favorites like “Debbie Downer,” which included a cameo by De Niro, Drew Barrymore and Ayo Edebiri, one of the stars of “The Bear.” There was also a mash-up of Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph’s “Bronx Beat” with Mike Myers’ “Coffee Talk,” where Poehler’s Betty and Rudolph’s Jodi meet Myers’ Linda Richman. Richman quickly got “a little verklempt,” much to the audience’s delight.
There was also pure comedy, like Kate McKinnon’s popular alien abduction sketches. This time, the great Meryl Streep was brought out to play McKinnon’s mother, alongside fellow abductees Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson. Believe it or not, it was Streep’s first time appearing on SNL! Many speculated it was because she is most likely dating SNL alum Martin Short (which, if true, is a Boomer romance match made in heaven).
There was a Scared Straight too, with Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson, and a hilarious Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell in hot pants referencing their movies like “The Nutty Professor” and “Elf.” Murphy and Thompson were also in a Black Jeopardy sketch, which included a cameo by Tom Hanks as a MAGA supporter and Murphy doing a spot-on Tracy Morgan impression—next to Morgan himself. Gen Z was in the spotlight too, playing off a recent viral sketch starring Marcello Hernandez’s “Domingo” character (alongside Martin Short and Molly Shannon).
Tragedy was also sprinkled into the special, with Adam Sandler singing a poignant “50 Years,” where he paid homage to cast members throughout the years, touching on “six years of our boy Farley, five of our buddy Norm,” referring to of course the late, great Chris Farley and Norm Macdonald.
The beginning of the show featured singers Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter singing 1966’s “Homeward Bound,” by Simon and Garfunkel. It was emotional to see Simon, 83, and Carpenter, 25, on stage together singing, as they were a visual representation of the passage of time. Carpenter did quip at the beginning though, mentioning that when Simon first played “Homeward Bound” on SNL in 1976, she wasn’t born yet, and neither were her parents.
At the end of the show, casts past and present crowded onto the stage for a family portrait of sorts. Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman, both part of the original cast, made a small but moving tribute to their late friend and fellow castmate Gilda Radner, who died at the age of 42 of ovarian cancer. The two held up Radner’s headshot from her time at SNL, making sure she was a part of the celebration.
The most important thing to come out of the show was to remember that comedy is uniting, comedy can be nostalgic, and comedy can be tragic too. As Steve Martin mentioned in his opening monologue, don’t abandon joy.
So don’t get too verklempt that you become a Debbie Downer and work hard so you don’t end up living in a van down by the river, and most importantly, don’t forget to laugh every now and again.
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