It ran three-and-a-half hours and for some, I’m sure, it might have been a bit much. But the 50th Anniversary Saturday Night Live Extravaganza, which aired last night on NBC, was, for this fan, a blast! Unlike the superb SNL 50 Years of Music documentary, which was broadcast on January 27, and which featured many clips from the past, last night’s live special brought back scores of former castmates and celebrities who have appeared on SNL through the years. Folks will disagree about what worked and what didn’t, but I found the special entertaining and nostaligic.
The audience that was present in Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza was rocking, from the moment Paul Simon took the stage to sing “Homeward Bound” with Sabrina Carpenter. Steve Martin provided a sweet opening monologue, with lots of help from previous guest hosts, John Mulaney and Martin Short. Mulaney showed up again later, leading us on a 50-year tour of NYC history, which ended with the unfurling of a banner stating: “New York to Ford: Who’s Dead Now?” For those who don’t get the reference, it’s a play on a New York Daily News headline from October 30, 1975, ripping into President Gerald Ford, who vowed to veto any NYC bailout: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” Ironically, it was only two weeks earlier, on October 11, 1975, that SNL premiered, with guest host George Carlin. NBC replayed that episode on Saturday night.
The floodgates of hilarity opened with skits featuring the likes of Eddie Murphy in “Black Jeopardy” (doing a killer impersonation of Tracey Morgan, who was standing right next to him) as well as an uproarious take on the “Scared Straight” series. Mike Myers’ Linda Richman made an appearance, getting all Verklempt, as did Rachel Dratch as Debbie Downer. But the sentimental moment of the night went to Adam Sandler, who was introduced by the great Jack Nicholson. Sandler’s musical kaleidoscope of SNL’s 50-year history was both funny and poignant. There was also plenty of music, in addition to the Simon-Carpenter duet, from Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard (“Nothing Compares 2 U”) to Paul McCartney‘s musical medley. (And yes, all those links are to YouTube!)
Bravo to Lorne Michaels, the cast, and the crew. Happy 50th to SNL!
Notablog 