Saturday Night Live Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary

On Sunday, February 16th, 2025, “Saturday Night Live” celebrated its half-centennial anniversary with a live three-hour telecast of satirical sketches and skits. Many previous cast members appeared, including Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, Andy Samberg, Chevy Chase, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, Jane Curtin, and more (NYPost.com).

To kick off the “SNL50: The Anniversary Special,” Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon opened the show with a performance of “Homeward Bound,” a song that Simon first performed alongside George Harrison on the show in 1976. With nostalgia thick in the air, Steve Martin, who has hosted the show sixteen times, gave his opening monologue, joking that it is “traditionally the weakest part of the show” (CNN.com).

With about 27 sketches, among the most notable are arguably the return of the internet-famous “Domingo” sketch, now featuring Sabrina Carpenter, Pedro Pascal, and Bad Bunny; the iconic “Weekend-Update” with Colin Jost and Michael Che, starring special guest Bill Murray; and a Q&A led by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler that, as Seth Meyers joked, was a way “to give some airtime to celebrities who aren’t in other parts of the show” (Boston.com). Among those celebrities were Keith Richards, Ray Romano, Ryan Reynolds, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Mamoa, Peyton Manning, and Cher. 

Ramapo Math teacher Ms. Vitale reminisces, saying, “I remember staying up late with my parents to watch SNL. I loved seeing familiar faces from past casts! The sketch with Kristen Wiig and the tiny hands gets me every time.”

  Scattered throughout the show were tributes commemorating the last fifty years of SNL, beginning with a “Physical Comedy” montage featuring old clips of original cast members like Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, and Dana Carvey. Other skits included a “New York 50th Musical” remembering fifty years of New York starring Kate McKinnon as Rudy Giuliani, Devon Walker as Eric Adams, Lin Manuel-Miranda as Alexander Hamilton, Nick Jonas as Marius from Les Misérables, and more (Playbill.com).

To close the show, Paul McCartney performed “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” and “The End” from the Abbey Road medley (NBCNewYork.com).

Saturday Night Live has been around for half a century and continues to be associated with witty humor and a talented cast, no matter the year. Aubrey Kwon, a Ramapo sophomore, comments, “SNL will always be relevant. There is no other multigenerational variety show that has been as successful.” We look forward to the next fifty years, and beyond!