February 15, 2015 – 40th Anniversary (S40)

84 Replies to “February 15, 2015 – 40th Anniversary (S40)”

1. Great review, and man what a tribute to 40 years.

   On your final note: I think it’s pretty shitty that Lorne invited every host ever but only invited cast members who lasted more than a season. I’m sure a few still managed to get on the guest list, considering a number of single season cast members were there, including Fallon and Dillon, as you mention, but they were the backbone of the show. Pretty crappy to skip anybody in favor of celebrity appearances.

   Reportedly Dick Ebersol was invited, but he skipped it and went to Hawaii for vacation. Jean Doumanian was NOT invited but gatecrashed, which is so hilariously in character. She apparently reunited with Eddie Murphy at the party (amusing considering her original reluctance to even cast him), but refused to talk to Gilbert Gottfried when he greeted her.

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2. Was Denny there? Gail wasn’t (she mentioned that in her recent interview). I think Gilbert was, wasn’t this where he was snubbed by Jean Doumanian?

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3. Watching it live, the 40th Anniversary Special was a fun show. It looked like a big high school reunion seeing all of the former cast members.

   The 50th Anniversary Special in 2025 might be depressing though.

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   1. Speaking of that 50th special, I’m wondering if that will be how SNL celebrates 1,000 episodes.

4. Thanks for the great and extensive review, Stooge. Especially for all the great screencaps.

   Random detail: They show Joe Piscopo’s audition for like 0.001 seconds during the auditions reel, and for some reason he’s doing it on what looks like the set of David Letterman’s old morning show.

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5. I’ll be back later with my full thoughts but just want to say big thanks for taking the time to review this Stooge. I know a lot of us wanted to talk about this, but this thing is a mammoth and I gotta give you props for tackling it. To your point about burnout, I understand the toll this site must take, and just wanted to reiterate how much we appreciate your work and how special this community is to a lot of us.

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   1. This is For Anthony And Stooge. I Want To Thank You Also Stooge ! I Took Several Hours Reading this Review And I was Saying Things out Loud like the Various Characters Did Through The years and I Had A Lot of Fun Doing That So I Really Enjoyed Reading Your Review !

6. Stooge, this was amazing. Like so many of us, I’ve been enjoying your writing and presentation over these past nearly three years, but to see something like this makes it all the more memorable.

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7. Great review; so glad you decided to go ahead and give this one a full write-up. It was worth the wait!

   I agree that they should have had separate music montages. I’ll make a separate post about that later.

   Bass-O-Matic was a tough watch.

   I had also heard about Carrey’s season 6 audition and would have preferred to see that… but it doesn’t look like they had any 6-10 auditions in the montage (except Piscopo)? Maybe they didn’t save them?
   I believe Joe said in a Playboy interview (October, 1983) that he had been in an unsold pilot commissioned by Brandon Tartikoff sometime around SNL season 5, and that a tape of it got to Jean? Could the network have then brought him back and used the Letterman morning show set for a proper audition? I may be mis-remembering exactly how he described it.
   I’m actually wondering if Ebersol ever did auditions after his month-long takeover/hiatus near the end of season 6. Seems like he just hired people based on word-of-mouth/reputation (the Practical Theater folks… Billy Crystal… etc).

   The NYC montage was one of the two genuinely moving moments of the night. Also, pretty amazing that while the picture quality might have changed throughout the years, New York was still instantly recognizable over 40 years.

   I heard that McCartney blew out his voice partying the night before. Anyone know?

   If you look closely at Betty White as she walks off stage, she seems to be saying “hey, I know you” or something to that effect to Bradley Cooper.

   Were Bill Murray and Christopher Guest in the WU montage? I don’t recall. I always thought Colin’s long pause in his joke was intentionally meant to add a little anticipation. I do agree he had better jokes which could have been used. Same for Jimmy’s hazelnuts and Norm’s Jerry Rubin jokes… they both had better stuff.

   Was Chevy as out-of-it during the red carpet pre-show as he was during the live show? I agree: it was very hard to watch.

   I recall hearing about the Marty & Maya show a few months after this special. So maybe this was a test to show their chemistry off to the network.

   When I heard later about Eddie’s decision not to play Cosby, I thought maybe they had to rewrite his “solo” segment at the last-minute… and that would explain why it was short and awkward. Very disappointing, especially given how often he would have to do quick killing time bits as a castmember that were much funnier than his SNL40 speech.

   Notably, no clips of OJ in the sports montage. If memory serves, we only got a single, quick glimpse of Bob Uecker, too (though for very different reasons than OJ).

   I think Ellen Cleghorne’s mic sounded like it got a little buried in her outfit, hence the odd sound of it and her voice. (Speaking of which, during the 1975-2015 highlights, my copy of this show has what sounds like an open mic being attached to someone’s lapel during the Lorenzo Macintosh clip).

   I know Paul Simon is heavily associated with SNL, but two of his songs were performed during this show… one by Miley Cyrus for some reason, and one which Paul himself had also done in SNL15. Just seemed a little… odd to me.

   Regarding Denny Dillon… you may have heard about a strange blog post attributed to her, which came out shortly after SNL40, where she complained about not getting to bring ribs from the green room to her seat in the audience (and some other nonsense). It was a hoax; so as of now, I don’t know that she was in the audience at all. Also, there was an overflow room according to Victoria Jackson (I think), so maybe the one-season rule was only for people to get into 8H itself as opposed to the overflow area (which Jackson, I believe, complained about being stuck in because she arrived late). Here’s an explanation of the Dillon blog. I interviewed her a few weeks before SNL40, and she was a delight… not at all like the goofball in the fake blog post:
   https://www.newsfromme.com/2015/02/23/old-business-3/

   Again, very glad you reviewed this one and that you provide these excellent reviews every day. Not only are they reminding me of many classic sketches, but I’m discovering new ones I didn’t know about. And thanks to you and all of the other commenters here, I’m learning a lot of trivia which I never would have found out about.

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   1. @Kubelsky, I THINK Ebersol auditioned people in season 10, as Geena Davis was considered as a cast member (so was Andrea Martin, but I’m not sure if she auditioned).

      Denny was interviewed a few months ago but I don’t think she mentioned whether or not she attended the anniversary. Given that Gail didn’t, I would assume she also wasn’t invited. Which sucks all around.

      I agree about Ellen – she sounds like herself in her podcast interviews.

      Beyond Bill, I see that Gail, BDM, and Mary and Christine also weren’t included. A part of me wonders if they were afraid of over-complicating the montage, and a part of me wonders if that’s down to Brian not being much of a Lorne fan.

   2. Christine Ebersole was present at the 40th, which is surprising. I would not expect her to have made Lorne’s cut. They could have included her in some way.

8. Great review, Stooge. The Californians and the Update stuff was rough but the show’s heart was right in the place and the starpower was just insane. It was great seeing how many people’s lives were touched by SNL.

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9. I get the feeling Eddie didn’t want to be there but neither SNL nor Eddie wanted the story to be about Eddie not showing up like at SNL25.

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10. I have no idea why I remember this, but Noel Wells commented on social media that she made Chevy laugh before the show by saying “Hey, I was only on for one season too!”. So they either relaxed the rule or had them at the parties, overflow but maybe not in the audience.

    Eddie’s comeback seemed to start when he got the Mark Twain prize later in 2015 and did a short bit of Cosby material that got people buzzing about how much they missed his stand-up. He turned it down here but I wonder if he regretted it and tested the waters.

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    1. Hello Chris. Maybe, They had to have Chevy, But People like Noel Complained because Chevy was only on One Season So Maybe Lorne decided to Let Noel ! IT Did Feel like AT First when Noel was in the Cast like She Would do Real Well ! IT Did not seem like Noel would have Left After One Season !

11. I really enjoyed Gary Kroeger’s blog entry about attending this special. He does make it sound like attending a HS or college reunion–good points, bad points, seeing people you like, people you only kinda like, and, like most of us at reunions, realize that you’re probably at the periphery of most of the big players.

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12. Norm Macdonald had an amazing Twitter thread about the week he spent at the show with his son.

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13. This whole things a bit all over the place. There’s some big highs and huge lows. There’s a sloppiness to it, almost as if it was made on the fly. It’s stuffed to the brim with talent, and yet it still feels too in love with itself. In other words, pretty much a perfect representation of SNL as a whole.

    It was, sadly, a bit of a harbinger however. Taran later said after the special Lorne had trouble coming down from the high and got impatient that no one on the show was a mega star yet, basically leading to… well, we’ll get there.

    Unfortunately I’m going to have to disagree with Stooge big time on The History of SNL open, as I thought it was just about the worst way I can think of to open up the show. This thing was hyped up for weeks as an epic celebration of America’s greatest comedy institution, to the point where there was already some backlash going in. Let’s face it, we all know a few people who think SNL is corny and represents hacky, pastiche humor, and that it’s far too self congratulatory, and this opening was the epitome of those things. I didn’t mind Jimmy as a cast member (or Justin as a host) but this opening also represents a lot of what I hate about his Tonight Show era (the 2014-2018 era at least. It’s not great now, but he’s toned it down since getting whipped in the ratings by Colbert & Kimmel. It’s a shame, his Late Night wasn’t bad, but he got too desperate for approval once he got the big gig.)

    Man, Steve Martin’s so good. You can see that “resounding no” punchline a mile away, and it still made me laugh.

    Gonna disagree a little on Dan in the Bass O Matic remake. His performance is slower, for sure, but I think he’s still selling it. He’s just doing a different take on sleazy salesman.

    Although I prefer Eddie’s Cosby impression to Kenan’s, something about him being Cosby in the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch feels like it wouldn’t have worked as well.

    Pete’s joke made sense, I’ve genuinely never seem him look more nervous than when he introduced the auditions segment.

    Jim has to be the biggest SNL “what if”? I always thought Steve Carell auditioned at one point, but I guess not considering we didn’t see him in the highlight reel. I know Donald Glover auditioned, but he wouldn’t have been notable enough yet to make the reel (having no radio hits yet, and having only really co-starred in 5 seasons of a highly acclaimed but little watched sitcom).

    I wondered why they chose the Californians, then realized if they wanted another sketch featuring all of that era’s cast it’d have to be the fucking Vogelcheks. Agree the Spade-Bradley back and forth was lame, but I did like Cecily’s ad lib (?) as Bradley walked away, “stop calling me.”

    Wonder why the hell they included almost every Update anchor in that montage but Bill. Seth and Dennis’s jokes were also like Colin’s where I thought they had a lot better jokes than what they chose. Interesting Dennis was one of the only big cast members not in attendance.

    I’m pretty sure Colin mumbling during the bit about his mumbling was intentional. I DID have the exact same thought about Seth, though. Say what you will about those other 3 guys tenure’s, but they ALL had such easy to define comedic personas that you could figure them out in seconds just watching that clip, having never seen them before. Seth, meanwhile offers what he offered, incredulousness and giggles.

    The OG cast was especially interesting to watch. Chevy and Dan obviously aged the worst, but the others all looked fantastic for their age. It was great seeing Jane at Update, as Stooge says she hasn’t lost a step. And after watching Chevy come off so awkward in the previous segment, it was pretty great to watch Bill basically flex right after that he can still bring the fucking house down. “Love Theme From Jaws” was the single funniest thing of the night, and one of my favorite Nick the Lounge Singer bits (and that’s saying a lot, I LOVE that character, and Bill is tied with Dan for my favorite of the OG cast).

    Believe Mulaney wrote the Seinfeld Q&A bit. Funny that when Michael Douglass complains about being a one time host, fellow one time hosts Kerry Washington and Edward Norton (who both curiously got something to do in this special but not another hosting gig) are in the shot. Palin’s appearance kind of taints the bit, especially the HORRIBLY aged Trump joke.

    Kanye’s performance was his last great SNL moment before his shit show in S44 (his S42 performances are fine). His oddly strained voiced mars the first 2 songs, but the “Wolves” performances is stunning.

    Though the dead bit great, wish Lovitz had a role in a sketch.

    I know Streeter is playing one of the bodyguards with Kanye, anyone know who played the other?

    Well, that was by far my lengthiest comment ever. If anyone read the whole thing, send me an E-mail with 3 pieces of info to prove it and I’ll send you $50 and some Schmitts.

    Onward from here. If memory serves Johnson’s episode is nothing special, though I do like the sketch with Kyle as a kid interviewer.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0XleMIKKNg&ab_channel=TheTonightShowStarringJimmyFallon

    Fallon talking about SNL 40

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14. THANK YOU for doing this review for those of us who asked. I’m very glad to hear that it was a way for you to reconnect to being a fan of the show and not having to feel this project is something to just get through. I do appreciate your need for completion, being the horrible procrastinator that I am, but I think if you need to take more breaks before you reach the end, you should – it’s better to enjoy what you’re doing then feel fed up and regret your haste later on. And while I don’t feel the last 3-4 years of the show have been the worst ever, I do think they will be more of a struggle to get through quickly.

    (as for this season’s Chappelle episode – the main problem is it just isn’t a patch on most of his 2016 episode; other than one particular sketch [a video game sketch] it’s mostly decent, and has a few sketches that are out of the norm for modern SNL)

    For episodes of the last 3 seasons I think you might enjoy beyond those you mentioned – I’d say Mulaney’s S44, David Harbour and Adam Driver in S45, and, for this season – there haven’t really been any standouts in either direction, but Bill Burr, Issa Rae and Timothee Chalamet are a good watch.

    As for the anniversary, I was on hiatus at the time, but I did watch this. I didn’t know who a number of people were, which didn’t help my mood, but I was mostly unhappy at who didn’t make appearances (some, like Nora Dunn, I only recently learned had good reasons for not being involved). Still, as much as I was disappointed at times, and as much criticism as some of the special received, I did truly appreciate some of the decisions, especially having Jane back at the anchor desk (which she has also said she appreciated and which left her with happy memories). I did not understand why the Update segment got such a mute response, beyond having a more “inside” crowd, until now, when I saw that it aired right after that crap Californians reprisal I skipped at the time.

    Dan Aykroyd is such a comic genius and so invaluable to making SNL everything – I wish his material here had shown that. At least Lorne did remember Laraine, and gave her some chances.

    Sometimes I wonder if they will have another anniversary special, but if this was the last it is probably for the best – this was the last time possible before Trump’s hosting and election, which really soured and solidified many negative opinions about SNL in a way that may make the huge ratings this special generated less likely now.

    I already posted this on some 91-92 era reviews, but this is a nice piece Dave Holmes wrote about the ladies of the early ’90s who generally did not get their due in the special.

    https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a33174/the-best-things-that-snl-40-forgot/

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    1. Couple of things off your post:

       1. I think Mulaney and Driver have been fantastic hosts and look forward to seeing his reviews on them. Driver especially, he has had a good half dozen skits that could be considered classics IMO.

       2. Chappelle’s first hosting gig was great (Me being a Tribe fan and having them appear after the death of Phife made it even more so), but his second gig was …odd. I think Dave was in like 2 skits and Baldwin/Rudolph appeared in other skits not political as if they were regular cast members. That show had a weird vibe to it.

       3. Alot can happen the next 4 years but unless we see a rash of passings from the cast, I would be shocked if Lorne does not have a grand 50th blowout on prime time. The Trump fiasco will be forgotten about/ignored and a retrospection of a comedy show that has bared witness to 50 years of American Society, History, Entertainment and Culture will be celebrated. Also, as it has been said before will give Lorne another chance to be bell of the ball.

15. I remember being surprised to see Jeff Richards at the goodnights, considering his suspicious mid-season firing. That and he’s had some of his SNL castmates on his podcast, I guess maybe there’s not as much bad blood between him and SNL as I would’ve thought. Also nice to spot some other not quite as veteraned players like the aforementioned Siobhan Fallon, Melanie Hutsell, and Finesse Mitchell in the goodnights as well.

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16. Bradley Cooper blew his line in the buh bye sketch which led to the awkward exchange with Spade. Cooper was supposed to say “the cow bell sketch” but instead said “cowboy sketch” . Spade said it threw him off and generally derailed the ending. Cooper later apologized

    Thanks for the review Stooge!

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17. Stooge,

    Love this blog. Look forward to reading it everyday since I found it right around the Tina Fey era. Being born in 1975 and growing up around NYC I have always been drawn back to SNL regardless of the casts, hosts, era..etc. Thanks for doing the 40th review…feels like yesterday it was just on and we are already 6 years past and close to the 50th. I am sure Lorne is already planning and talking about how the 50th will be even bigger and more glamorous.

    1. Someone said that no generation is as self-reverential and self-congratulatory like the Baby Boomer generation and SNL certainly fits that bill.

    2. Never saw that interview with Tarran about the high Lorne was on after this show and trying like an addict to hit it again which explains all the celebrity cameos taking over the show in the Trump era. And outside Kate, no one it seems the past 5 years+ has had the break-out, movie stardom that littered the cast the first 40 years. Becomes a Catch 22 theory…don’t have the breakout stars but then again not allowing the opportunity to be featured in big spots during political sketches to allow them opportunity to break out.

    3. I remember being so excited for Eddie to come back finally for the anniversary show and it was such an awkward dud. SO glad he came back to the show in 2019 and absolutely hit it out the park. I awaited watching that episode like I did a big sporting event. Can’t wait for that review. Sandler’s as well was an outstanding return.

    4. Pretty certain I remember reading the after-party with Prince was ridiculously good.

    5. Man, that Kroeger comment seemed pretty on the point. Lorne hanging with the cool kids (MArtin, Hanks, etc) in the inner circle and set up to party at an exclusive VIP location and then a circle of the former members who never hit it after the how congregating together having to show three forms of ID to get into 30 Rock and then eating at a late night diner afterwards.

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    1. “2. Never saw that interview with Tarran about the high Lorne was on after this show and trying like an addict to hit it again which explains all the celebrity cameos taking over the show in the Trump era. And outside Kate, no one it seems the past 5 years+ has had the break-out, movie stardom that littered the cast the first 40 years. Becomes a Catch 22 theory…don’t have the breakout stars but then again not allowing the opportunity to be featured in big spots during political sketches to allow them opportunity to break out.”

       Outside of the original cast, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, and Will Ferrell, most of the breakout movie stardom tended to be one or two flukes in a very limited period, bookended by a number of flops. Breakout stars in the context of SNL itself often tend to be people that Lorne, a number of fans, or a number of media names tend to fixate on, but this often does not translate outside of SNL (like Molly Shannon, who, wisely, never really even tried to play those games after she left the show). The late ’00s cast, who also never “broke out” in consistent film success, basically created the blueprint for those who have followed – occasional strong film roles, and a lot of steady television work. The closest to a film breakout seems to have been, in the long run, Pete Davidson, given his frequent film work and how it has gotten a stronger critical response than Kate’s lead roles did, but even he isn’t trying to take the same path that a lot of past ‘movie stars’ of SNL did – probably because there really are no movie stars now, and haven’t been for a good while.

       For the most part, I tend to see many of the cameos as less of a way of Lorne trying to be cool (does he really get a high bringing in Matthew Broderick for 5 minutes?) and more of him trying to put a Band-aid on ratings and quality struggles. It’s easier to just throw a name in there to help fill time, and to get people to pay less attention to the writing. The cameos ramped up heavily in 1993-1995 when SNL was having those problems, started again in the late ’00s when those problems began to kick in again, and have generally stayed with the show since, aside from the current COVID-induced pause.

    2. I would agree Pete has honestly ended up being a bigger star than Kate (at least for now).

    3. “ Outside of the original cast, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, and Will Ferrell, most of the breakout movie stardom tended to be one or two flukes in a very limited period, bookended by a number of flops.”

       Not sure I agree with this statement that lumps Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, RDJ, Ben Stiller, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Tracy Morgan, Kristen Wiig & Jimmy Fallon together as flukes and flops.

    4. There was also Adam Sandler, Chris Farley and I think David Spade ! ! ! There Was Also Tina and Amy In The Movies Like Baby Mama And Kristen Wiig In Brides Maid And Maybe Other Movies ! Television Had Amy And Bill Hader Is in Barry And Happens to be With the Fonz Even Though The Fonz was On a different Show ! Tina Was Of Course On 30 Rock ! Taran was On An ABC Show Where I Did NOT Watch The Show, But Taran Was The Principal OR Possibly A Teacher ! Bobby Is on Mr. Mayer With Ted Danson AND Holly Hunter ! Kenan Is about To Have His TV Show And We will see How That Does !

18. Couple of things off your post:

    1. I think Mulaney and Driver have been fantastic hosts and look forward to seeing his reviews on them. Driver especially, he has had a good half dozen skits that could be considered classics IMO.

    2. Chappelle’s first hosting gig was great (Me being a Tribe fan and having them appear after the death of Phife made it even more so), but his second gig was …odd. I think Dave was in like 2 skits and Baldwin/Rudolph appeared in other skits not political as if they were regular cast members. That show had a weird vibe to it.

    3. Alot can happen the next 4 years but unless we see a rash of passings from the cast, I would be shocked if Lorne does not have a grand 50th blowout on prime time. The Trump fiasco will be forgotten about/ignored and a retrospection of a comedy show that has bared witness to 50 years of American Society, History, Entertainment and Culture will be celebrated. Also, as it has been said before will give Lorne another chance to be bell of the ball.

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19. SNL40!! Gotta break out the champagne glasses for the occasion… Just seeing the length of this post and all the many screencaps really made me realize what a massive undertaking this review must have been, so thank you so much for choosing to do this. I’m sure we all appreciate your hard work, and I’m glad that this has revitalized the project a bit for you.

    So much to comment on here, I love this special. The opening is super fun, I love the rapid-fire references and the choreography, and Jimmy & Justin have fun chemistry as usual. Didn’t love Jimmy’s delivery though, it got a little shouty. There’s something chills-inducing about the credits montage… could be the little touches they added to the music, or just hearing one famous name after another. It steadily builds excitement throughout.

    There are several moments in this special where I feel like the concept was good, but the content just wasn’t there, and the monologue’s the first instance. There were a few good jokes but I didn’t find it too memorable. I think I would have preferred it if they’d stuck with just Steve Martin, or him and a couple others (maybe the most frequent hosts all together), but that probably wouldn’t have seemed fair.

    I saw the Bass-O-Matic reprise BEFORE the original Bass-O-Matic, and honestly, I don’t hate it. Doesn’t match the energy of the original, but that’s understandable, given how much time has passed. I got a kick out of Laraine Newman reprising her one line. I will say, after I saw the original, I was surprised that this was a straight remake, without a new spin on it like the Bat-O-Matic.

    This Celebrity Jeopardy sketch is one of my favorite sketches in general, mostly because it became a thing with my friend group- we quoted “Bonjour, mademoiselle, I’d like to see le tits now!” at each other for a while. That line still makes me laugh when I rewatch it… actually, never mind, pretty much all of it still makes me laugh. Even (especially?) the camera gaffe. Agreed that this was a great way to get the former cast members and hosts involved (much better than The Californians).

    I wish that more full auditions would be released someday. The reel just left me wanting more. Especially for those who auditioned but didn’t make the cut. If it was between Carvey and Carrey, I’m glad Carvey made it, as I feel like he was made for the show, but I would have loved to see what Jim Carrey could bring to the table. I too did not recognize Zach Galifianakis when his audition was shown, so I’m glad I’m not alone on that.

    I wanted to like Paul McCartney’s performance more than I did, but I couldn’t get past his voice, sadly. I haven’t heard him perform live very much in recent years, so I was afraid his voice was permanently shot, but then I heard that he blew his voice out the night before, as @Kubelsky mentioned, so I’ll try not to base my current opinion of him on what was probably an off night.

    Until this review, I didn’t make the connection that Laraine was playing her character Sherry in The Californians. And I too thought she looked like Stevie Nicks. Though the content of the sketch was meh, it was fun seeing more and more celebrities join the scene, particularly when they all crowded around the mirror during the transitions. It was awkward how little laughter Taylor Swift got from her performance- I’ve never thought she was a good actor, though. Betty White’s appearance saved the moment, for me. I’m glad you liked the Buh-Bye section. I loved that moment of two sketches colliding, despite the horrible back and forth that David Spade and Bradley Cooper got into. It seemed like Cooper delivered his line at the wrong time, or maybe Spade forgot he had the line, because it seemed unnecessary.

    So nice to see Jane Curtin at the Update desk again. She’s become one of my favorite Update anchors and it made me happy to see her receive that honor. I thought this edition of Weekend Update deserved more of a reaction from the audience than it got, and I would have loved to hear more jokes and less character commentary, especially because the character tributes weren’t all that great imo. I did love seeing Emma Stone doing Roseanne Roseannadanna, as I’ve heard her mention her love for Gilda Radner before, but why did they cut the actual punchline from that commentary? Edward Norton may have been dressed as Stefon, but he didn’t quite pull off being Stefon (I did like Hader’s line, “you make a teepee for your secrets!”), and there was something kind of off-putting to me about Melissa McCarthy doing Matt Foley… I dunno. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. I heard David Spade say in some interview that he also felt put off by that moment, though he respects McCarthy. The Land Shark moment was poorly done.

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20. So much to comment on, I decided to make another comment so my initial one wouldn’t be as long as the review itself.

    Love seeing the Update anchors together at the end of the montage. I was annoyed with Seth for cracking up though- Norm’s gag with the introduction flew over my head. I would say, the lack of a distinct comic personality that you noticed is exactly what Seth Meyers brought as a comic personality… still love the guy, though. The moment with Chevy was just uncomfortable- Garrett Morris really did save it.

    Martin Short and Maya Rudolph have surprisingly great chemistry. This segment makes me want to seek out their variety show, though on paper, the premise was not something I’d be interested in. This was a surprise highlight of SNL40 for me- I had no idea there were so many music-themed sketches and characters, and it was fun to see them all in one place. Agree that the ending of “Choppin’ Broccoli” was awkward. Dana Carvey said somewhere that he didn’t want to do it. The Jaws song was definitely a highlight. And while the Blues Brothers reprise might have been awkward too, I can’t imagine a better way to end the segment than with SNL’s most beloved music-based characters (or, certainly the ones most well-known).

    The Eddie Murphy tribute was a bit like the Chevy tribute- in both instances, I found it weird that they received a glowing introduction, only to basically say “thanks” and that was it. At least Chevy did the “News for the Hard of Hearing” bit, though. I can imagine what a letdown this must have been for Eddie Murphy’s triumphant return. Fortunately the episode he hosted recently makes up for it.

    After having the opportunity for so many years to discover Miley Cyrus’ talent, THIS was the performance that made me realize she’s actually a pretty great singer/performer. The song choice was odd, though, if only because Paul Simon himself was in attendance and it made me wonder why he didn’t perform the song himself. Funny to see Fred Armisen playing percussion in the back.

    I heard that Jerry Seinfeld’s bit was the only part of the special that John Mulaney wrote (though I’m guessing he also had a hand in the Stefon commentary). I didn’t really care for it, except for the hilarious interaction between Jerry & Larry, and Ellen Cleghorne’s part.

    The second time I watched this special, I skipped over Kanye’s performance. Not a big fan.

    “That’s When You Break” is my FAVORITE moment from the special. The lyrics are hilarious, I find the clips charming, and the song gets stuck in my head constantly. The Fallon-and-Sanz verse and the Lorne breakdown especially get to me.

    Wayne’s World is, well… excellent. Then again, as a huge fan of Wayne’s World, that’s always going to be my opinion. Love the bits of improv from Myers & Carvey (and Kanye!), and the recognition of the crew at the end is classy and deserving of its applause. I like this reprisal better than the one from the last episode that Dana Carvey hosted.

    Speaking of classy, “Still Crazy After All These Years” was a beautiful way to end the night. And seeing such a packed stage for the goodnights is nice.

    SNL40 almost feels like a crossover episode, if the show can cross over with itself. I can’t wrap my head around the idea of any future anniversary shows… who knows what they’ll do then. It’s hard to imagine it feeling more epic in scope than this one. Though if there’s a next time, it will be nice seeing the current cast be featured and honored.

    Thanks again for putting in the time and effort to review this! It was very fun to read and reflect on!

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21. Aaaa, thanks for this Stooge! This was awesome to rewatch along with your reviews. Also, thanks to all the commentators, I love reading all the fun facts and opinions you all share on this site. 🙂

    I didn’t know that was Zach Galifianakis (in auditions) to this day, always thought that was either Kevin Connolly or someone else I can’t remember right now haha. So, thanks for clearing that up for me.

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22. 1-I felt they should have shown the old clip of Bass-O-Magic, Roseanne Roseannadana, and Chris Farley, not remakes, especially with Emma and Melissa. I read David Spade was actually taken aback by seeing McCarthy dressed in drag as Farley, and upset by it. I wonder if there is hesitancy to show non-HD footage b/c it may look weird on HD TVs, but who cares, I watched b/w shows in my color TV as a kid. Also original Bass-O-Magic had such great energy that made it much funnier.

    2- Eddie Murphy was a let down, bc there was such immense ridiculous hype about his return in this episode. he redeemed himself when he hosted last season, the best show of the season in my opinion. he killed.

    3- Eddie Part II- Bill Cosby was a jerk to Eddie early in his career, as detailed in RAW. I gained so much respect for choosing not to “get some revenge” for that mistreatment by not doing the impression during Jeopardy, though that would have been amazing.

    4- I also at the time felt they should have had a normal audience instead of celebrities in the studio audience. I believe that normal people, real fans of the show, would have laughed more and cheered more, that would have added a better energy.

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23. I’ve only replied on Twitter before now, but I just couldn’t help but prattle on far too much for that this time, with some notes on things that weren’t called out in the review (eh, I also go over a couple things that were):

    -Steve Martin: “How do you possibly, in just 3 and a half hours, honor all of the hundreds of people who have passed through the portals of SNL? Here’s how: We leave them out. We make them feel that their lives don’t matter.”

    -Hanks comes in REAL hot with his, “Hey, comedians? Steve, now what about actors?!” He has some downstairs-eating-No-Doze-for-about-four-hours energy in that “monologue.”

    -The first time around, I felt that the opening, 40-seasons-spanning clip reel (and the subsequent ones, to a lesser extent) blazed by *too* fast and cut the show’s history down to the bone *too* much, to the point that it couldn’t renew appreciation in the more casual viewer. When I watched the special a second time a couple months ago, I didn’t *entirely* change my mind, but I eased up; I don’t know about the casual viewer, and I might like some of the clips to be a *little* longer, but this is a show and it can’t be all clips. Between the Justin & Jimmy number and the ’75-’15 highlight reel, the show is kind of front-loaded with catchphrase comedy, but it’s not like we can deny that that’s a big part of SNL.

    -Maybe we overstate how rough it is to watch that “Super Bass-o-Matic” reprise, because I don’t think it’s AS bad as I did at first…but it’s a drag to see the contrast when you know the original so well. Here’s what bothers me the most, and I’ve tweeted about it before but here I go again: In the original, Laraine’s line is, “Wow, that’s terrific bass!” In this reprise, she says, “Wow, that’s good bass!” I will keep insisting that “terrific bass” is much better than “good bass,” as “terrific” is a FAR funnier word choice for that infomercial exuberance.

    -I remember a piece about the writing of this “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketch in which Norm lamented it drifting off into an impression parade, and it might have been better to stick to, say, Connery/Bennett/Reynolds (er, Ferguson) as the contestants – but it’s also a pretty good impression parade.

    -Do we ALL wish Eddie *had* played Cosby in that sketch? We kind of have to, right? Thing is, not only is it all right that it went to Kenan, I’d say Kenan’s Bill Cosby is the more noteworthy in sketch comedy, and a generation or two has seen a lot more of it than Eddie’s Cosby.

    -Some (most? all?) of the best-of DVDs include the audition of the given cast member as an extra, but it’d be cool if each one we see a clip of in this were released on the SNL YouTube channel and elsewhere.

    -After McCartney’s performance, there’s a bumper with Rudolph, Dratch, and Wiig that’s a reminder that, though Wiig feels like she’s of another era (and is), there was that one season where all three of them were in the cast.

    -It’s nice that they put Laraine in the Californians sketch, because you should put Sherry the proto-Valley Girl character in there, but…boy, a Californians sketch for the big 40th anniversary show? This thing goes on for so long, when it ends, it’s time for the *50th* anniversary show (cha-cha)! Not exactly showing off SNL at its best…but then again, having a recurring dud among some traditional classics is very SNL.

    -David Spade re: being on the show with a “Total Bastard Airlines” bit: “It was this or nothing.”

    -Cecily is a natural fit with Spade in a “Total Bastard Airlines” sketch but the idea is better than the end result.

    -It would be great to see Jane Curtin as Weekend Update anchor alongside Tina Fey and Amy Poehler no matter what – and I’m a fan of the Fey/Poehler Update – but considering that Jane wasn’t at the 25th anniversary show and hasn’t appeared in an actual episode since her last as a cast member, (and wasn’t in the Women of SNL special, which Laraine was), it’s particularly exciting. Her glee at being there is one of those moments where the special, bringing 40 years together the way it does, is at its most emotional. I didn’t want it to end either.

    -I’m with you on the “celebrities playing their favorite SNL characters” Update segment; it’s a nice thought, it’s…a nice thing -but I don’t know, there’s something unappealing about seeing cover versions of the show’s characters on the show itself, although it’s nothing against these actors, and Jane’s, “Available for parties and corporate functions!” line about Emma Stone is funny. Edward Norton quips, “The witches of Eastwick are back,” when he sees Tina, Amy, and Jane there, sort of as a little roast joke (I guess?), and it gets a “hoo-hoo!” from Jane, but…Stefon’s not really catty like that, Edward Norton. Maybe it’s more like Stefon calling Che and Jost Barack and Mitt. Aaaaaanyway., it’s a real, “THIS is how it’s done” moment when Hader (and then Seth) come on.

    -We think of a Dennis Miller Update joke as being obscure/esoteric, but that “Crocodile Gandhi” joke in the clip reel is, uh…not.

    -I love seeing Seth (and Colin too, actually) take such delight in Norm’s delivery as he’s introducing Chevy; I’m there with him, leave it to Norm to make *that* funny, but I didn’t even see it as Norm “intentionally ruining” that intro, I just took it as Seth laughing at Norm’s cadence and…very Norm MacDonald delivery. This will sound insane to some, but Seth did remind me of Norm as an Update anchor at times, particularly at first, because he, like Norm, had a knack for staring the audience down after a joke and seemed to be influenced by the Norm MacDonald pause.

    -I hoped and expected that you would point out Martin Short saying he only hosted once. Yeah, that got on my nerves. He does that for the Robert Blake punchline, of course, but…come on, man, facts.

    -Maya’s Beyoncé is funny, but she does some of that “drifting from the impression to do a “funny voice” throughout that segment that I never enjoy.

    -I understand why Garth & Kat are included in the musical acts segment – though they did not *have to* be, SNL – but their bit stops the show dead in its tracks.

    -It’s nice seeing Piscopo play Sinatra (which I doubt he would be doing if Hartman were around), I just wish he’d gotten something funny to say. (Could’ve been fun to bring Eddie out as Stevie Wonder to sing with him, and not necessarily to redo the “Ebony & Ivory” bit.)

    -There are a number of fun eras-colling moments over the course of the special, but a small one that’s pretty fun is hearing Martin Short laugh a few particularly vocal laughs during the Opera Man bit.

    -Nick’s “Love Theme from JAWS” really is that kind of “oh yeah, they’ve still got it!” moment you want to see from this kind of show. His opening number at the 25th anniversary was a highlight of that show, and this is for this one.

    -On the other hand, we have The Blues Brothers. I’ve likely complained about this on Twitter before, because I both complain and repeat myself, but: I liked BLUES BROTHERS 2000 when I was a kid, but I wish Aykroyd had retired The Blues Brothers after Belushi’s death. I’m not saying I wish he’d stopped performing music, I’m not saying he should’ve stopped performing all of those songs, there’s a genuine love for the music there and not just a brand, but replacing one Belushi with the other, and/or bringing in John Goodman, and continuing to call it The Blues Brothers…it doesn’t sit right with me. As for this performance, I’d like to defend it – particularly “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” is maybe my favorite performance in the original movie, which is one of my favorite movies ever – but…I mean, Aykroyd and Jim Belushi aren’t even on the same page with all the lyrics. It is, at least, fun to see Joe Piscopo and Jim Belushi onstage here, as part of that cool capper with everyone gathered together.

    -Eddie Murphy has teased a return to stand-up for ages – and talked about the difficulty of that because he would have to work out his material in clubs, but people seeing him in a club would greet him as EDDIE MURPHY, not so much as a comic – and seeing him come back to the SNL stage only to say thank you and then nothing funny (other than that little “magical evening, always gonna be a part of my life” thing after the going-to-commercial gaffe) was one more reason for me to say, “Yeah, Eddie’s not going back to stand-up.” Forget about the Cosby thing, I imagine they could have worked him into the musical acts segment (again, maybe Stevie Wonder, but maybe Buckwheat, or maybe James Brown – hey, if they can bring back Sinatra…), or I don’t know, maybe he could have told the joke of his that Chris Rock recounted? Maybe Gumby could have stood up during the Q&A and Statler-and-Waldorf’d the show? Something. Ultimately, it’s easier to wave away after his 2019 return.

    -No no, Jeter, Peyton’s episode is better.

    -Jerry Seinfeld: “I didn’t mean that it’s *bad* that you’ve hosted a couple of times — ” John Goodman: “13 times! That’s a Goodman’s Dozen!”

    -Goodman’s “unlimited hand soap” line is, uh…not irrelevant today (I mean, I hope we were all using hand soap before these plague times, but you get the point).

    -Was Julia Louis-Dreyfus not there? I’d think if she were, they likely would’ve extended the Jerry Seinfeld/Larry David bit to include her.

    -Part of me wants Tim Meadows to read that whole list. (You can hear a funny dejected “alright” from him when Jerry’s going to the next question, too.)

    -I believe my feelings on Palin’s moment, but especially the, “What if I were to choose Donald Trump as my running mate?” “joke” can be expressed with the following: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

    -I did not catch this the first time, but, early in “That’s When You Break,” is there not a clip of the Bill Brasky sketch with Ferrell, MacDonald, and Farley that didn’t make it to air in season 23?

    -I usually don’t want to hear any applause from the audience during an In Memoriam montage – I don’t like tha “ranking of the dead” like that – but it was nice to hear the reactions during this, as I didn’t notice any spots where people weren’t clapping because they didn’t recognize that crew member or something like that. On the contrary, we heard recognition of many crew members, and I always enjoy hearing recognition of the crew who keep this unique and uniquely tricky show running. The In Memoriam segment also does a fine job of letting a bit of comedy in, not only with the great Lovitz and “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead” callbacks, but with the clip of Audrey Peart Dickman from the “Show Us Your Guns” short.

    -It’s always a little affecting hearing Phil’s voiceover in a post-1998 sketch, and hearing his voice introduce the “Wayne’s World” sketch right after the In Memoriam segment makes it even more so.

    This special is nooooot perfect – of course it’s not, SNL is the most consistently inconsistent show on TV – but when I look at the whole of it, at the generations it gathered, and having come to appreciate it more and more having heard several alums talk about the experience of it, I feel like a real crank for grousing about some of it. We got a cool thing here! Is SNL self-congratulatory? Yep, it can be! Does it/does Lorne self-mythologize? Sure! But I want this kind of celebration, and Jane talking about how it was done in part to honor the original cast makes me value it more, as does the idea that this may very well be the last anniversary special. Each new special has had more material produced *for it* than the last, and I applaud that, too.

    Because of some unpleasant aspects about working on the show after this that some cast members have discussed, and because of what begins six months after this, and the show being obliged to cover for 5+ years after this, I feel like this special is almost a dividing line – but I can’t be so dramatic as to say the show is so different after this, because some eras are just more challenging than others.

    I am , as all your readers are, glad you decided to cover this. I’ve seen this twice, once when it originally aired and once on Peacock a couple minutes ago (where you better believe you won’t find those musical performances, comedic and otherwise), and rewatched a lot reading along to this, but there’s stuff I still didn’t catch, so those screencaps come in handy (hey, Finesse! Look, Melanie Hutsell!).

    On a recent episode of the “Good One” podcast, Bobby Moynihan talked about a fantasy 50th anniversary season, or at least a special, with an all-star cast (and he name-checks David Spade, Melissa Villaseñor and Tim Kazurinsky, which I find FASCINATING). Needless to say, I could get behidn a special like that.

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    1. John Ananias: “I did not catch this the first time, but, early in “That’s When You Break,” is there not a clip of the Bill Brasky sketch with Ferrell, MacDonald, and Farley that didn’t make it to air in season 23?”

       Yes – unless Farley appeared in a cameo in some other Bill Brasky dress rehearsal that got cut, which seems doubtful.

       I’ve never found a list anywhere of the “That’s When You Break” sketches, so here is my best effort along those lines. I couldn’t have put this together without many of the comments that Stooge and some others here have made. Thanks to them, and thanks in advance for any corrections.

       1. Weekend Update: Garth and Kat Sing Hanukkah Songs – S40E10, 12/20/14 
       2. Dr. Beaman’s Office – S25E10, 1/15/00 
       3. Brasky Buddies w/ Chris Farley – S23E04, 10/25/97 (dress rehearsal; sketch cut)  
       4. Succinctly Speaking – S13E08, 12/19/87 
       5. Right to Extreme Stupidity League – S02E10, 12/11/76  
       6. Riding My Donkey Political Talk Show – S23E13, 2/14/98 
       7. Weekend Update: Stefon on Spring – S37E17, 3/10/12
        8. Perspectives S22E05, 11/2/96 (dress rehearsal version)
       9. Barnes and Noble Firing – S38E15, 3/2/13
       10. This Is Your Afterlife – S09E11, 1/28/84 
       11. The Lovahs with Barbara and Dave – S27E03, 10/13/01 (dress rehearsal version) 
       12. Matt Foley with Christina Applegate – S18E19, 5/8/93 
       13. AAA Aquarium Repairmen – S28E09, 1/11/03 
       14. Jeffrey’s with Pierce Brosnan – S26E18, 5/5/01
       15. Jarrett’s Room with Hugh Jackman – S27E08, 12/8/01 
       16. The Leather Man with Brittany Murphy – S28E06, 11/16/02
       17. Father and Sons – S29E16, 4/3/04 
       18. Zagat’s II – S20E20, 5/13/95
       19. Scared Straight – S37E16, 3/3/12 
       20. Hypnotism By Fire – S10E10, 1/12/85
       21. Tina Fey and Jacob Silj (Will Ferrell) – date unknown? (dress rehearsal version) 
       22. Bird Family – S25E12, 2/12/00 (dress rehearsal version)  
       23. Bronx Beat with Tony and Lou  S37E15, 2/18/12 
       24. Focus on Beauty II, S18E19, 5/8/93 (dress rehearsal version)
       25. Gus Chiggins, Old Prospector, S27E03, 10/13/01  (dress rehearsal; sketch cut) 

    2. JLD was there. Not sure if I saw her in audience or on the red carpet going to 30 Roc but she was there.

       If you ever saw Eddie on “Comedians in Car…” it sounds like he was going to start doing standup and working out in clubs but I would imagine COvId interrupted that.

       Also regarding Eddie/Cosby, Eddie had as white hot rocket stardom as one could get in the 80’s and I am sure he had the entourage and ego to go with it. But impression I get from reading about him now that the past 20 years he became a homebody/family guy and by accounts a relatively nice and mellow guy. I imagine that goes into the “kicking a man when he is down.”

       Emma Stone doing Rosanna was fine, McCarthy doing Foley was perhaps not as appropriate? Farley was/is a raw nerve I think for a lot of the cast that knew him.

24. In my interviews with various cast members and writers, it seems the two year rule was for the writers, not the cast members

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    1. Gail Matthius said in her That Week on SNL interview that that’s why she wasn’t there (but then, Siobhan Fallon was there, and if Denny Dillon was there, it doesn’t quite fit together).

25. Here’s Randy Quaid’s reaction to Jerry Seinfeld’s comment, delivered in his own unique way:

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26. I love the “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketch – Kate’s Bieber impression and Alec’s Tony Bennett impression have never worked better than here, IMO.

    But what about that one woman’s laughter in the audience? My God. Does anyone know if that’s canned laughter?

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27. Stooge — my very casual attempt to parasitically review SNL musical performances on your blog is giving me a newfound appreciation for the hard work you’re doing (not that I didn’t before). I can guarantee that barring some sort of prolonged illness or injury that knocks me on my ass for months (with nothing to do but be online), there is zero chance I will ever review even half of the SNL musical performances. (thus, I encourage other commenters to pick up the slack whenever and wherever they want to). Sometimes it’s actually very tough to come up with things to say about each and every performance, and I’m sure it’s the same with skits.

    If you’d ever feel like you need to stop entirely and/or take a break, even this close to the finish line, I’m sure all of us here would understand. Though I know this is a labor of love for you, I hope you are taking the time you need for your own mental and physical health, and for those close to you.

    Also, I hope folks who are officially affiliated with SNL are taking note of this blog. It certainly deserves to have some sort of at least quasi-official recognition at this point.

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28. I had mentioned in my earlier comment about musical montages. After studying the ones from SNL15 and SNL25, plus the acts in the SNL40 general highlight montage, I figured I’d list everything and then make predictions for SNL50 (assuming the montages return).

    SNL15’s montage had clips from: Fine Young Cannibals, Cowboy Junkies, Bobby McFerrin, Tracy Chapman, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Randy Newman, Keith Richards & the X-Pensive Winos, 10,000 Maniacs, Randy Travis, Cher, Simply Red, Sting, Roy Orbison, Los Lobos, Suzanne Vega, Anita Baker, Eddie Van Halen (cameo), The Pretenders, Buster Poindexter, Paul Simon, Laurie Anderson, Al Green, Simple Minds, The Cars, Spinal Tap, Huey Lewis, Men At Work, Stevie Wonder, Joe Cocker/Jennifer Warnes, Squeeze, The Clash, Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, Rod Stewart/Tina Turner, Prince, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Blondie, Bette Midler, Linda Ronstadt/Phoebe Snow, Ricki Lee Jones, The Chieftains, Eubie Blake/Gregory Hines, Talking Heads, Peter Tosh/Mick Jagger, Devo, Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Leo Sayer, The Band, James Taylor, Leon Redbone, Simon & Garfunkel.
    I was surprised at the time that Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, and Frank Zappa didn’t make the cut — though I didn’t know about Zappa’s notorious hosting sting back then, and I think Harrison and Wonder since were already represented elsewhere with non-musical clips).
    SNL25 had three montages – one per decade — and naturally used some different clips. For the montage introduced as “1975-79,” they added Billy Preston, Janis Ian, ABBA, Patti Smith, George Harrison with Paul Simon, The Kinks, Jimmy Buffett, Jackson Browne, Eddie Money, B-52s, J. Geils, and Marianne Faithfull… though why not just introduce as the first five years (since some of the acts were from the 1980 half of season 5)? They also added Belushi-as-Joe Cocker here, but not Joe Cocker himself. Looks like the SNL25 montage removes The Chieftains, Eubie Blake/Gregory Hines, Linda Ronstadt/Phoebe Snow, Willie Nelson. (Incidentally, going to commercial, they prominently showed a still of Ringo in the scrolling photos).
    SNL40’s 1975-2015 highlights montage included season 1-5 performance clips from: Billy Preston, Blues Brothers, Paul Simon & George Harrison, and Elvis Costello.

    Moving to the 80s, SNL25 omits the following from SNL15: Rod Stewart, The Cars, Huey Lewis, Joe Cocker/Jennifer Warnes, Johnny Cash, Fine Young Cannibals, Suzanne Vega, Anita Baker, Simply Red, Cher, Randy Travis, Los Lobos, Cowboy Junkies, Bobby McFerrin, Tracy Chapman. Stevie Wonder is also missing, but again I’m sure there’s a non-musical clip of him elsewhere in the show.
    SNL25 added a lot to the 80s montage (which is probably the best-edited of the three): Hall & Oates, Meat Loaf, The Go Go’s, John Cougar, Queen, Lionel Richie, Duran Duran, Stevie Nicks, Kool and the Gang, Loverboy, Billy Idol, Thompson Twins, Tina Turner, SRV, George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, Run DMC, Lou Reed, Bryan Ferry, Randy Newman w/Knopfler (this is the same appearance as in SNL15, but it seems they picked a different clip to show Knopfler more prominently). New adds for season 15 itself: Tom Petty, Don Henley, Eurythmics, Aerosmith, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Neil Young.
    (Going to commercial here, they prominently showed a Gregg Allman still in the scrolling photos).
    SNL40’s 1975-2015 highlights montage included performance clips from 80s for James Brown, Prince, and Neil Young, plus non-musical clips of these MGs (some of whom also pulled hosting duty in the same episode from which the clip is taken): Madonna, Stevie Wonder… and there’s also a non-musical clip of Ringo, who hosted but was NOT musical guest.
    Moving to the 90s, SNL25’s montage had Vanilla Ice, REM, Whitney Houston, The Time, Mariah Carey, INXS, Garth Brooks, Annie Lennox, Bruce Springsteen, (MC) Hammer, En Vogue, Nirvana, Public Enemy, Pearl Jam, Arrested Development, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, McCartney, Sting, Sinead O’Connor, Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott/Timbaland/Magoo, Counting Crows, Janet Jackson, The Pretenders, Nirvana, Seal, Hole, Green Day, Beastie, TLC, Dave Matthews Band, Smashing Pumpkins, Coolio, Alanis Morissette, Tupac, Sheryl Crow, Spice Girls, David Bowie, Beck, Jewel, Jamiroquai, Oasis, Sarah McLachlan, Metallica, Hanson, Bjork, Puff Daddy, Natalie Imbruglia, Lauryn Hill, Garbage, Ricky Martin, Backstreet Boys, Pavarotti/Vanessa Williams.
    For SNL40, these 90s acts were shown: Nirvana and Tupac, plus non-musical clips of Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger (though his clip is from 2001). There’s also a non-musical appearance by Barbra Streisand, whose sole appearance on the show has been a cameo.
    Finally, the SNL40 highlights montage included musical clips of these post-season 24 MGs: U2, J. Lo, Adele, Kendrick Lamar, and non-musical clips of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus.

    For SNL50, with an added push to be inclusive (and perhaps more time to devote to montages), it might be nice to see the following, who have not made any montages as far as I know: Gil Scott-Heron, Jimmy Cliff, Santana, Carly Simon, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Keith Jarrett, Chuck Berry, Chicago, Zappa, Van Morrison.
    From the 80s: Olivia Newton-John, Jr. Walker, Herbie Hancock, The Honeydrippers, Elton John, Captain Beefheart, Allman Brothers, Cheap Trick, Peter Wolf, Chaka Khan, Power Station (because of Robert Palmer), Dolly Parton.
    90s: Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, Neville Brothers, Black Crowes, Michael Bolton, Morrissey, Bon Jovi, Mary J. Blige, Peter Gabriel, Cypress Hill, Stone Temple Pilots, Salt-N-Pepa, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dwight Yoakam, Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine (despite the trouble!), The Cure, New Edition, Dr. Dre, Fiona Apple, No Doubt, Rollins Band, Jane’s Addiction, Ben Folds Five, Busta Rhymes with The Roots.

    Incidentally, one last thing about SNL40… when they used “Working For the Weekend,” it would have been cool if they’d used Loverboy’s actual performance (from season 9). I realize the whole thing wouldn’t have synced with the entire Chippendale’s sketch, but it could have worked for a few seconds.
    Two personal notes… watching the musical montages was quite emotional knowing that most of these people were doomed in real life. Also, my phone kept changing Run DMC to “Run RNC,” which is very different.

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    1. I should have prefaced my last comment by saying I’m well aware there are probably errors in my lists but with all the copying and pasting to write this up, I’m sure I missed something (such as saying Stevie Wonder was omitted from SNL 15)

29. I forgot Sandler. Knew I had forgotten one. The others had one or two popular films in a quick period or did not ‘break out’ due to being on SNL. Did Fallon ever lead a hit movie?

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    1. Apparently Taxi and Fever Pitch did turn a profit, but neither led a weekend or anything like that.

    2. Thanks. That’s something, but didn’t seem to do him much good in terms of a movie career.

       I tend to see Jimmy as one of the primary examples of why there is no “breakout” in terms of what some still expect from SNL, or what Lorne may or may not expect. If anyone was ever primed to do well – and while his films weren’t classics, they didn’t seem to be on the level of some of the dross that SNL alum have put out in their cash grab periods – it was Jimmy, and it just didn’t happen.

       Tina may be the closest to a film breakout of those years, with a big hit that has remained a pop culture icon for nearly 20 years, followed by several other films to varying degrees of success, but Tina, always a very intelligent and reasoned person in terms of her career, chose to anchor herself in television (only leaving SNL once she had 30 Rock ready to go), rather than try for film stardom. She was essentially telling future hyped SNL names not to try to cling to old patterns.

       I also wonder just how much Lorne actually DOES expect that pipeline anymore, considering he has worked with Kenan, Aidy and Cecily, who [in Kenan’s case mostly talking about recent years] never seemed to put an emphasis on breaking into film outside of some support roles, and have instead moved into television shows.

       I’m not doubting Taran’s view that Lorne was disappointed at going back to basics after a starry anniversary, but given how savvy Lorne is, and how willing he has been (and has generally always been, with NBC being the ones to force firings in 1995 and 2006) to keep a lot of longtime players around, I’m not sure he cares as much in recent years about only wanting ‘breakout’ performers.

    3. Fair enough on your points. I would say Kristen is the other one closest to traditional film star outside Tina. One huge, beloved hit she co-wrote, and a few other big or modest hits she starred or co-starred in, plus she’s led quite a number of indie flicks and just played the antagonist in a major studio blockbuster. It would seem she had a bit of a stalled career, however. Considering how huge she was on the show and that Bridesmaids came out when she was still in the cast, I (and I’m sure many others) thought we were going to be seeing A LOT of her in the next few years. She’s mostly chosen to do quit indies, though, with Ghostbusters being her only real flop, so I’m going to guess that was more of an intentional choice to avoid the spotlight. Hell, Barb and Star honestly seems like her first true follow up to Bridemaids, as the only other major studio release I can think of where she stars.

       Jason also had 2 big hits during his tenure with Horrible Bosses & We’re the Millers, but oddly hasn’t done much big film work since.

    4. Jason has maintained a very interesting post-SNL career. A couple comedy hits that played right in his wheelhouse, but Ted Lasso is probably his masterpiece and the artistic venture that will garner him the most credibility.

    5. I think remember years ago that Wiig turned down a Bridesmaids sequel not too long after the original. Wonder how her film career goes if she had agreed to it

    6. I don’t know if I’d go as far as “masterpiece” (I might for Bill’s show Barry though) but Ted Lasso was definitely really strong and a great showcase for Jason.

    7. Goddamn I love Ted Lasso. I stand by what I said. Honest to God, Sudeikis is the best actor of his cast and Ted Lasso is his finest showcase.

    8. I love Jason, but I’m sticking with Bill being the best actor of that group. Some of his scenes in Barry have truly blown me away (Kristen’s a fantastic actress, too.)

    9. Also, Bill Hader has Won Emmys for Barry And Bill Is working With Fonzie ! I DO Love Jason though And I Will Always Think his Joe Biden IS the Best !

    10. Speaking of Barb & Star, we got our first trailer today, and… yea, looks like I was right when I theorized it would be “Bad Kristen Wiig Sketch: the Movie”.

        https://mobile.twitter.com/BarbAndStar/status/1354791809013043206

    11. Although on the plus side, Vanessa! Always love seeing her pop up in stuff, especially with other former cast.

30. The Following were notes that I took when this show first aired; surprisingly, not a lot of my opinion has changed on it in the 6 years this aired, save for maybe one or two minor things (Which will be noted):

    Fallon/Timberlake – Solid Start, reminded me of the “Evolution Of…” stuff Fallon does on “Tonight”. MKG & Debbie Downer were nice bonuses (ESPECIALLY Dratch speaking for the rest of us on Musical Numbers). And I’m honestly surprised the word “Dick” was uncensored at 8PM.

    Montage – THIS is the kind of montage I wish they went with for the year (or at least a variation of it) instead of what they went with (and kept) for 4. Lots of Detail involved, and it’s a shame this was wasted on this one show only–Thank god for digital preservation.

    Monologue – Star-Studded & Surprisingly Subtle—if not a little hammy. Just about everybody had a quick line that worked (yes, even Miley), and we’re off and running.

    Series Timeline Montage – Random chronology in some places, but still pretty effective…and Fast! This certainly beats looking at 5 years of clips at a time, doesn’t it?

    Bass-O-Matic 2150 – Pointless. Utterly, utterly Pointless; Aykroyd has somehow morphed into the “Yeeeeesss” guy from the Simpsons, He & Laraine must’ve swallowed a lot of shit (or Bass in this case) to do this again, and this was (Thankfully) one of the few lowlights of the night—a shame since I consider the Original version The Gold Standard of “Live” Commercial Parodies. There wasn’t even ANY Modern Twists, it was Just a Lazy re-creation & Embarrassing to watch.

    Jeopardy – Brilliant, as always…especially with “Turd Ferguson” and the Cosby Punchline. Everything else was Gravy. Bonus points to Jim Carrey for his much improved McConaughey (Must be the beard).

    Audition Tapes – Good to see practically everybody represented here…and THANK! MERCIFUL! GOD! They FINALLY Showed (at least one of) Jim Carrey’s Tape(s) Colbert & Galifinakis’ too.

    New York-centric Clips – Having worked in the city for almost 6 years now (save for this ongoing pause where I can’t return to my office until It’s safe to do again), I actually “Get” just about everything in this montage—except the “Jim Belushi getting Mugged” clip, that hasn’t happened to me…yet…Either way, Heartwarming & Hard-Hitting at the same time.

    Paul McCartney – I’m Always gonna love Macca; but even as a Die Hard Fan, he needs to start pacing himself before his voice gives out once and for all. Sidebar: Keith Richards Introducing him…You have better odds of the planets aligning during a thunderstorm filled shark attack than ever seeing something like this happen ever again.

    Political Clips – Good Selection…save for the fact that (except for the Jesse Jackson clip) they skip everything from 1979-1986. Couldn’t have been THAT few political clips in Ebersol’s time, were there? VERY Surprised they showed a “Farley as Gingrich” clip.

    The Californians/Buh-Bye – Surprisingly (and I know you’re gonna think I’m crazy), NOT the Lowest of the Lowlights to me. The ONLY Things that makes this satisfying are All of the Guest Stars (Betty & Ms. Swift were my favorites), and the fact that they Didn’t applaud for Fred or Wiig. As for the “Buh-Bye” ending, Well…I’ll give ‘em credit for this being a transition at the end of the sketch (A Rarity). But truth be told, I never cared for “Buh-Bye” even the first time.

    Update – Jane STILL has the chops (Especially on that “Fox News” slam). The overall theme of this intro is Celebrities doing impressions their favorite characters; I’m sure Ms. Stone meant well, but there’s only ONE Gilda (Same goes for Ms. McCarthy who is giving me a horrible “If They Mated” vibe between Foley & “It’s Pat”). Edward Norton as Stefon was mercifully brief, but thankfully Bill & Seth came in to pick up the slack.

    Update Clips – Nice of them to acknowledge Charles Rocket & the Ebersol anchors for a Microsecond. Having said that, another solid collection of clips, no complaints.

    Update Men – Norm’s SO Drunk, Kevin is Mr. Subliminal, Seth is Seth, Colin is Colin. But of course, the moment belongs to Chevy (and Garrett), and is also—thankfully—brief.

    Musical Sketches Tribute – OK, this is probably my Longest diatribe of the show, partly because there was WAY too many things to keep track of. First, Yes, Marty hosted 3 times, but perhaps the person who wrote this is a little too young to know better……and it shows, because Maya’s here to poison us all with her Queen Bey (thank God Martin is a suitable antivenom). This brings us to reason #6703 why I want to fire a missile into Fred & Wiig’s homes (Welcome to Lowlight Position #3, Garth & Kat!). Thank you, Will & Ana, Freakin’ Piscopo, Derek Stevens [!], Operaman [!!] an all-too brief King Tut [!!], Dan Shaving his Mustache (or was it a Falsie?) so he & Jim can finish things off, And of course Bill Murray for Saving the God Damn Day (and yes, I’ll even forgive Kenan this one time)! This Could’ve been SO Much better if Fred & Wiig just stayed home for the night, but at least it redeemed itself mid-way through.

    Chris Rock – I never thought I would tell Rock (though funny here) to Shut the Hell Up and get to you-know-who; but seriously, Shut the Hell up and get to…

    EDDIE – Doesn’t he look so Natural up there on Home Base? Who cares if it was just a 30 second “Thanks for Everything” moment, I’m just satisfied he showed up (NOTE: 2019 can’t come soon enough).

    Sports Clips – I’ll give them credit on these clip packages; they’re quick cuts, they’re not drawn out, and I’m seeing a lot of clips that I haven’t seen in years or in previous clip reels. The Sports clips are still another solid collection that doesn’t linger on too long, and that’s fine by me.

    ESPN – Just a transition piece with a joke that I’m STUNNED made it in to Prime Time…but I always liked these sketches, so I’ll give it a pass.

    Miley – You DO NOT Take on ANY Paul Simon Song, Ever, Miley Cyrus! I don’t care if he gave you permission to do it, You Haven’t Earned the right to do it Yet! At the same time, you don’t waste a Candace Bergen/Guy from “Arcade Fire” appearance on introducing Cyrus. Lowlight #4; I’m sorry, but you Can’t do that to a classic (NOTE: Like I said, I originally had these thoughts in 2015, back when I could only barely Tolerate Cyrus. Now that she’s matured considerably since then, seeing her perform the song makes a little bit more sense, but still feels a little “Off”).

    Audience Questions– “BriWi” Zing notwithstanding, Seinfeld does a carbon copy of Tom Hanks c1999. Douglas set the pace, Goodman was decent, Franco was weird, Loved that Larry David Finally got his revenge, Holy Shit…Cleghorne’s Alive! Dakota Johnson’s bit was just a cheap plug. TIM! So good to see Tim defending RDJ’s honor…but not as good as Bob showing up—in general! Palin was a throwaway (as is most politicians), and the whole thing ended awkwardly.

    Alec & Tina – Yes, Give it Up for Tracy, Please…though I’m surprised they’re giving him the Memorial treatment…especially since He’s Not Dead yet. Regardless, I’m just glad they took a little time out for him.

    Kanye – What a waste of Walken…though not as big a waste as the next 4 minutes; yeah, I know Kanye always puts on a show whenever he’s on SNL, but he’s STILL Kanye West no matter how you slice it (Also, glad Sia has begun to phase out the whole “Hair covers her face” gimmick in recent years).

    Short Film Clips – Glad to see Albert Brooks & Mr. Bill get some love, also, P.T. Anderson Did Short films for SNL?! Nice! Oh, right, Adam McKay’s films existed (Thank GOD for Anchorman). Also, “Dick” is Uncensored at 8PM, but NOT near 11PM……Good to know.

    Digi-short– A (Long-Overdue) Tribute to Corpsing…Still a better Sandler/Samberg Collaboration than “That’s My Boy” (which they bring up). Funniest part was the whole Fallon/Sanz run.

    In Memorium – The “Big 5” are represented of course, who I’m guessing are a part of this because they’ve already had sizable tributes to them done before in years past, so why be redundant? Various Crew Members, one-seasoners & Writers are included too; and because it HAS to end on a Joke, Lovitz is in there too—as well as James’ Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather Francisco Franco. The only thing that would’ve made this more fitting is if they included Deceased Hosts as well…but this is really more about the show & those who inhabit it. The Hosts are there just to look after the place for the week.

    Wayne’s World– Oh, Why wasn’t this put on in the “Californians” slot? Kanye jokes aside, it’s always nice to see them again (Especially once they take the requisite shots at the boss). Sidebar: is it me, or is Robert Smigel secretly Nostradamus? Seriously, he Predicted this (and an aging Paul Simon singing “Still Crazy…”) would happen 15 years earlier on the 25th

    Paul Simon – We close things out the same way we closed out the 15th Anniversary, Paul singing “Still Crazy After All These Years” (Thankfully minus the Turkey outfit).

    FINAL THOUGHTS: It’s a little unfair to compare this Special to the 15th & 25th shows, especially because of the size and scope of this one. 3 & ½ hours seems like a little much, I would’ve trimmed the sketches down to size and they still would’ve been able to get everything done in just 3. Bottom line, the Show was Awesome despite a few Glaring errors; but thanks to the long running time, there was plenty of room for those errors to be allowed & somewhat forgiven.

    And Stooge, I said this elsewhere on my own blog, but I guarantee you, some day all the stuff you have done here (Still with 6 seasons to go before you’re caught up) will wind up as the “Library of Congress” of SNL Material. It’s certainly an invaluable resource to diehard fans, casual ones, and even those who simply want to know what the show is if they’re diving into it for the first time. Your work will not go unnoticed, and all I (and others) can say is that you keep up the good work.

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    1. @Doc Sorry for being this a dumb question, but who are the “Big 5” are you talking about?

    2. Those in the Main cast who passed away; John, Gilda, Farley, Hartman & Hooks

31. I’m pleasantly surprised that this is on Peacock and can’t wait to watch later. This also makes me nostalgic for the SNL Behind the Scenes of the ‘90s and ‘00s specials that aired on VH1 – I don’t think those are available anywhere. (they were like the “I Love The __’s” specials with commentary from the cast and writers, and excellently placed musical interludes)

    It’s weird to me that my strongest feelings are about Sarah Palin. I liked that she was there, especially since in her book she was so complimentary of Tina and Amy, and then later she kind of changed her tune (not sure if that was before or after this special). Of course, anything after Donald Trump actually being President makes you look at anything political with a strange hindsight.

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32. Here’s a list of celebs in the audience, but weren’t in the program. It included alumni (Oteri, Kattan, Sanz, Ricards, Breuer, Schneider, Hutsell, Silverman, Smigel, Jackson, S. Fallon, G.Kroeger) and multiple-time hosts (Gould, Rudd). The only big-time past alumn not able to make it at all were Joan Cusack, Harry Shearer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Dennis Miller.

    https://mashable.com/2015/02/17/snl-anniversary-celebs-list/

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33. As an always big fan of both Eddie and Joe, not only was I disappointed that Eddie didn’t say or do much, but also that there was no reunion between him and Joe! And I felt the same when Joe didn’t show up when Eddie hosted but I had a feeling he wouldn’t after Tracy Morgan said his name as a punchline! Other thoughts-No, Dan and Larraine shouldn’t have done that Bass-O-Matic sketch again, I did wonder if JLD was there (as well as hubby Brad Hall), and both revivals of Nick the Lounge Singer and Wayne’s World were the most awesomest things on the show! If there’s a 50th anniversary special, I hope some of what I just complained about is rectified.

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34. (40th Anniversary Special): 6.6

    I should probably go back and rewatch the 50 Ways performance. I grew up watching Miley on Disney so I was at the age when this aired where it was “cool” to hate on her, to the point where I felt her appearance was tainting the special. That feeling started to die down when she hosted later that year, however, and I began to appreciate her as an artist. (The part in the monologue where they explain the concept of Host/MG double duty while acting like she was the only person to ever do it is still a bit cringey though)

    Besides that, anything else I would say about this milestone event has already been discussed on this page. Congratulations on reaching this point in the project, Stooge! I wasn’t sure how you would feel about reviewing this special, but it appears to have been a great service for you and the readers. The work you put in to the site is appreciated by everyone, but feel free to pace yourself at any point if necessary. This blog has really been something to look forward to during these times in addition to being a valuable resource to everything SNL.

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35. I saw alot of comments here about the possible event of 50th anniversary. If there’s an another big celebration, it should be on the exact same day when SNL started which is happens on Saturday, October 11, 2025 (!!!). If the show finally reach its 1000th episode on that day, it would be a very great timing!

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36. That would be great for a 50th!
    I did the math, and if COVID hadn’t knocked out the last 6 episodes of last season, and if the show had continued its 21-show schedule of recent years, they would have hit 1000 shows at the end of season 50 (2024-25) — during May sweeps of 2025, the perfect time for a special. I assume that’s why SNL40 aired in February and not September (like the previous specials).
    So I’m hoping the 3 SNL At Home shows do count toward the total… then all they have to do is add one extra show for 3 of the next 4 seasons (including the current season) to his 1000 in May, 2025.

    For the 4 high profile absent people:
    didn’t Julia disclose some kind of family issue (maybe a parent passed away or something) right around this time? So maybe she wasn’t up for a party. I don’t think it was her cancer, because I just looked it up and that was in 2017.

    I remember someone tweeted at Harry during the show and asked how he felt about SNL… Harry’s response was something like “loathing” and that was it.

    Dennis explained a whole back that he missed SNL40 because it was the last weekend that he and his family were spending and there a long time home, where his kids grew up.

    https://youtu.be/6klpsAgz-hI

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    1. FWIW The three at home shows are counted as regular episodes in the SNL app and the NBC website.

37. I remember Harry Shearer was being interviewed about a separate project on a local New Orleans radio talk show (pretty sure he was in-studio with the host), and the topic of SNL’s 40th Anniversary airing the night before was brought up. From what I can recollect, Harry did rehash his “creative differences” line as to why he had no desire to attend the gala.

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38. Oh, I also remembered that Sasheer Zamata was not among the names Darrell Hammond mentioned in the opening credits so it was a treat to see her in the show anyways when she did! Even though it was basically a background singing extra in that What Up with That! sketch!

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39. I’ll start with the accolades. Stooge, this is the best blog on the Internet. Glad we all get to be a part of it. I admire your perseverance with this project. I also greatly admire your ability to parse the show for exactly what it is. We all have our favorite eras, but you do a great job if digging into what works and why it works (with big assists from the community you have built). I remember the dire final days of Voy and how the negativity felt suffocating. This site is a soothing balm.

    Now…for some of that vintage Voy negativity!

    I despise the opening of this special. It just feels so hollow and empty – all showmanship, nothing on the page. But I guess if self-congratulations is the name of the game (which it has been for SNL for the last…10 years? 20 years? 50 years???), then you need to go with the masters in the field. It’s kind of amazing how much more effort was put into this intro compared to the 15th and 25th anniversary specials, but how much fewer laughs there are. Energy though!

    The Update segment obviously irked me with more Fey-Poehler hagiography, but Curtain’s involvement is a charmer. The celebratory spots, however, are anything but charming.

    The most fascinating think to witness is the Update anchor intro to the ghost of Chevy Chase. The personalities of the four anchors is highly evident, particularly the dichotomy between the untameable Norm Macdonald and beacon of middle management Seth Meyers. That distinction was made even further when Norm went on Twitter to talk about the Eddie Murphy experience. Meyers then went on to Stern to lightly chastise Norm for sharing some inside baseball. That led to this epic moment:

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    1. Man, that “I’m Not Norm” channel is one of my favorite on YouTube in terms of content, but on every video that comment section is insufferable.

    2. Yeah, a bunch of “very edgy” dudes repeating the same inside jokes. It’s…a lot. Makes it hard to enjoy.

       “It’s not the band I hate, it’s their fans.”

    3. Yea, Norm’s “anti-PC” shtick (the saddest thing to me was when he defended Shane Gillis on Twitter as some “great comedic mind” that SNL didn’t have the balls to have on) has invited some annoyingly “edgy” fans, and the whole anti-establishment thing has brought in a swarm of “intellectuals” and the mix is…as you say, “a lot”.

       But the Norm content can’t be beat, so I’d still recommend the channel to everyone here.

40. Didn’t Nora Dunn say no to reprising her Sweeney Sister character because she didn’t want to do it without Jan Hooks after her passing? I also heard Nora thought Jan deserved a better tribute on SNL40.

    I will add that I liked seeing the highlights and the Q&A with Seinfeld. Celebrity Jeopardy!, The Breaks Were The Best, Wayne’s World and Eddie Murphy were the best. Seeing Jane on Update was great.

    The lowlights were Garth and Kat, The Californians, Bass-O-Matic redux, Dakota’s part, Palin and anything with Miley.

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41. I also didn’t care for seeing Stone and McCarthy in the Update segment. It was more cute than funny. Some things should not be brought back.

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    1. Funny you mentioned McCarthy & Stone specifically, because, much as I love him, Norton’s impression was definitely the most embarrassing of the segment (none were great, but I thought Stone fared the best, because her’s seemed to be the one coming the most from a place of genuine adoration.)

    2. That said, I think the point that Emma’s a fan was made with less effort when she posed as Roseanne Roseannadanna in a bumper photo.

42. Still remember watching this when it aired. I loved everything except for the Bass-O-Matic sketch and the Californians (Which I had never seen before because I wasn’t watching SNL at the time). I also hated that Eddie barely did anything.

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43. Loved this special, a great retrospective of the show and most of the iconic sketches were represented. Class move bringing back some of the legendary SNL house musicians – Paul, Cheryl and G.E., and watching Steve play those shells (go find his Sanctified Shells album – I’ll wait) is always a treat. One opportunity missed was to bring back the only other living person to solo on the opening theme, Lou Marini. (Dearly departed Mike Brecker did it for Season 10.)

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    1. I also loved the special, RIP Howard Johnson, he was there. There are photos of Ron Blake with some of the former SNL band members. Lenny killed it during Paul Simon’s song. I was also glad to see Paul, Cheryl, and G. E. (who) sat in with the SNL band, perform with them.

44. Did that photo of Herb Sargent (with Jane) came from the opening montage of Season 5? That looks familiar to me.

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    1. Yep

45. Besides the whole Eddie thing – that’s been discussed to length here – my only disappointment was the missed opportunity with the original cast. For the first time since the 70’s they had all the surviving members of the original cast present in 8H. If only they did a tribute to them and cut the separate depressing one for Chevy.

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46. IIRC, Conan O’Brien declined the invitation to attend the anniversary because he was granted permission to film his show in Cuba the same week.

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47. I saw that Cuba show online and reviewed it on IMDb as tavm. I remember enjoying it immensely.

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48. Laraine recently talked about this sketch, confirmed she was playing Sherry, and mentioned that she had a gag planned out where she would seemingly be using “the c word,” but decided before the live show to not do it.

    https://ew.com/tv/snl-laraine-newman-the-californians-sketch/

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49. This is an amazing comment, Carson: The personalities of the four anchors is highly evident, particularly the dichotomy between the untameable Norm Macdonald and beacon of middle management Seth Meyers.
    Bravo.

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