The “Saturday Night Live” 50th Anniversary episode aired last week, delivering a hilarious yet nostalgic celebration of half a century of comedy. The three-hour special consisted of several all-star sketches and notable guests. While not every segment of the episode was laugh-out-loud-worthy, I think SNL did a great job with the special and was not overly repetitive or too similar to SNL40.
The night started with an opening monologue by Steve Martin, which featured Martin Short and John Mulaney—an entertaining start to the night that offered several ridiculous jokes and references to current events. After the monologue, “Lawrence Welk” and the Maharelle Sisters returned for yet another performance featuring Kristen Wiig, but this time alongside Ana Gasteyer, Kim Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson. While I can appreciate SNL paying homage to an iconic recurring sketch, this one felt somewhat redundant and inexplicably long.
Kenan Thompson would return to his role as the host of “Black Jeopardy!” for the next sketch—arguably one of the best of the night. It featured Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, Eddie Murphy as Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock and Tom Hanks reprising his role as Doug from a previous “Black Jeopardy!”
The rest of the show was a mixed bag of content. In addition to the several sketches to follow, there was a nearly 10-minute Q&A featuring the celebrities in attendance, a few retrospective montages and multiple musical guests. However, of the remaining sketches, I felt that only a few were successful and the rest fell short in terms of enjoyment.
“Digital Short: Anxiety” was surprisingly one of my least favorite parts of the night. I am a huge fan of Andy Samberg, and “SNL Digital Shorts” used to be one of my favorite recurring segments; while this short was entertaining enough, it wasn’t as funny or enjoyable as I had anticipated.
“Domingo: Vow Renewal” also left me unimpressed; personally, I was not a major fan of the first Domingo sketch, and considering this was the third installment in just a few months, I definitely would have preferred to see a different iconic sketch reprised instead. I did, however, appreciate the touch of including Sabrina Carpenter as a nod to the use of her song “Espresso” in the original installment.
I was also not a major fan of the return of “Debbie Downer.” While I understand she is an iconic character responsible for several memorable sketches throughout the years, this sketch simply felt like a placeholder and missed the mark comedically.
The “Moving to New York” sketch was one of my favorites of the night; I love the recurring Broadway performances that occur each time John Mulaney hosts, and this was one of the most ridiculous yet. There were guest appearances from Adam Driver, Nick Jonas, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph and several more who performed parody numbers to music from a variety of Broadway shows.
“Weekend Update” was as enjoyable as usual, with Cecily Strong, Bobby Moynihan, Vanessa Bayer and Fred Armisen all reprising iconic characters, and Bill Murray hilariously ranking his favorite “Weekend Update” anchors.
My favorite sketch of the night was undoubtedly “Close Encounter 50th” which featured Kate McKinnon reprising her iconic role of Colleen Rafferty, this time alongside her mother, played incredibly by Meryl Streep. While I doubt I will ever not find this recurring sketch absolutely hilarious, this version stood out to me as the best of the night.
