It’s hard to believe that we’re at the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.” Very few programs in the history of television can claim to have run consecutively for so many years. Sure, there are franchises that come and go, but “SNL” has been the premier sketch comedy program, reliably being there every season. Just like with the 40th anniversary, one can expect there to be a pretty tremendous turnout in terms of guests. This anniversary proves to be no exception.
Immediately noteworthy are some of the original cast members that are coming back. It’s only fitting considering again, 50-year anniversary, and it’s coming off the back of the film, “Saturday Night,” which paid heavy homage to many of these stars. There’s Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, and Chevy Chase set to appear. Notably absent is Dan Aykroyd, considering he’s the only one of the surviving original cast members not listed. He was there for the 40th so maybe he’ll come back around to celebrate with the rest of his former co-stars.
Eddie Murphy is also listed as coming back, and we can only hope things go a bit better than what happened on the 40th anniversary, which just amounted to kind of an awkward cameo. Since then, Murphy had a full-fledged hosting night so it’s good to see him back in the fold and probably game for something more substantial than the walk-on from 10 years ago. He’s also the only representation currently being shown from that rough spot SNL had in the early ’80s.
Representing the early 90s, we have Chris Rock and Adam Sandler. This is an era where we lost a lot of great names including Phi Hartman, Jan Hooks, and Chris Farley. There are still some fantastic cast members from this era it would be nice to see pop-up, like Kevin Nealon, David Spade, and Dana Carvey. Carvey seems like a no-brainer considering his frequent guest spots earlier this season leading up to the election.
From the mid ’90s into early 2000s we’ve got Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell, Tracy Morgan and a lot of big hitters from the years where Tina Fey and Seth Meyers were writers in the mid to late oughts into the early 2010s. Even with some noticeable omissions, there’s a pretty damn good mix of people already. And again, this is just the first batch of headliners. It’s kind of funny they mark Kenan Thompson as a headliner too, despite the fact he’s the only listed cast member still on the show. What are they planning for good old Kenan?
Guess we’ll find out when the “SNL” 50th Anniversary Special airs on February 16th, 2025.
