'Saturday Night Live' celebrates 50th anniversary with three-hour special
Live from New York, the classic sketch-comedy show “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) celebrated its golden anniversary with a three-hour special on Feb. 16. "SNL50: The Anniversary Special" paid homage to the iconic show and the talent that has graced its sound stage by melding together old and new cast members.
The lineup was bedazzled with stars: John Mulaney, Steve Martin, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler and more were featured heavily in the program, displaying the old and new talent that the show has produced.
The focus of the night was paying tribute to all of the cast, writers and sketches that made the show so diverse, controversial and most importantly, hilarious.
SNL first aired on Oct. 11, 1975 and instantly became a trailblazer of the comedy scene. By recruiting lesser-known, raunchy and hilarious comics from the New York City area, Lorne Michaels, the producer and first writer for the show, created a brand-new idea of what comedy could be.
What started as Michaels' dream, “SNL” has become many modern comics’ lifelong dreams. Comedians and writers often travel to New York for the sole purpose of trying out for the show. It’s even inspired a spinoff program at FSU, Friday Night Live, where student comedians follow the traditional format while catering their comedy to college students.
“I think that ‘SNL’s’ biggest impact is that it is often the first example of a sketch comedy,” Anna Seymore, president of Friday Night Live said. “There have been other sketch shows… but none have had the widespread cultural impact of SNL.”
The first cast of “SNL” contributed to trailblazing this sketch comedy, with each member having a special flavor they brought to the show’s palette. The anniversary special focused on their impact for the past 50 years, especially that of John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd.
The adaptable format of “SNL” made the anniversary special intimate, as the show incorporated old and new sketches with recent cultural events. This made the special feel like an inside joke that everyone in the audience could understand.
Classic skits like “Debbie Downer,” “Black Jeopardy” and “Close Encounter” featured both new guests and celebrities who have been on the show several times. There were also notable first-timers, like Meryl Streep, who made uncharacteristically crass jokes as an alien abductee.
“SNL’s” cast and crew contributed to its nostalgic 50th special, reminding audiences that it is still growing and changing while honoring all the people that came before.
“I have been watching ‘SNL’ since I was really young,” Kelsey Johnson, a first-year student at FSU said. “They didn’t try to make [the special] something that it wasn’t in an attempt to ring in a new era. They just stuck to what they know and what we all love.”
Celebrity guests Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted a very funny Q&A session, poking fun at recent pop culture controversies such as Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni. The duo balanced humor with honor, thanking the behind-the-scenes crew members who have dressed, served food, constructed sets and aided “SNL” every Saturday for the past 50 years.
Other classic sketches, including the “Weekend Update” and Sandler’s tribute song “50 Years,” highlighted the behind-the-scenes crew as well as cast members who contributed to the popularity and legacy of the show. Most notably highlighted was Norm Macdonald, who was fired and blacklisted from NBC for making controversial jokes about OJ Simpson.
The special didn’t shy away from the most “cancellable” moments from the show's past. In a clip reel, they showed problematic sketches and jokes that crossed comical lines, such as blackface, racial slurs and homophobia.
In classic “SNL” fashion, these videos were spliced with jokes that poked fun at themselves, like the classic “Jane, you ignorant sl*t!” line that Aykroyd says as an example of sex shaming. Some fans of the show feel that the risks taken are what made it stand out over the years.
“The new cast doesn’t get as much leeway to do their own thing, which results in a pretty sanitized and boring show,” Jack Gianchetta, a political science major said.
New talent and pop culture events will continue to challenge and reinvent the show’s ideas of what comedy can be. For the foreseeable future, “SNL” will continue to test the bounds of comedy every Saturday night.