Yeah, I guess it was, although he was going through list so fast it was hard to keep up.
It would take the entire 3 hours to recognize every passing of someone connected to SNL over the last 50 years. The weekly shows already do a good job of that not long after an alum s death.
Just as an aside: Did anyone else feel like the 40th anniversary special was maybe “five years ago”? Lord, the years are fleet.
For some more perspective, someone just posted on Reddit incomplete summaries of the 15th, 25th and 40th shows (all being 5-10 years ago of course 
)
SNL 15th Anniversary
Laraine and Jane introduce a Gilda tribute
Aykroyd and Jim Belushi introduce a John Belushi tribute
Robin Williams does the audience interaction bit
SNL 25th Anniversary
David Spade introduces a Farley tribute
Mike Myers, Jon Lovitz, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, Kevin Nealon, and Dennis Miller introduce a Hartman tribute
Molly and Cheri O’Teri introduce a Gilda tribute
New Hans and Franz
Aykroyd and Lorraine Newman introduce a Belushi tribute
Weekend Update Reunion with Chevy, Norm and Dennis Miller
Tom Hanks does the audience bit
SNL 40th Anniversary
Tina, Amy and Jane do Weekend Update
New Bassomatic
New Wayne’s World
Bill Murray does a proper in memoriam tribute a la the Oscars or Grammy Awards
Norm Macdonald, Seth Meyers, Kevin Nealon, and Colin Quinn introduce a Chevy tribute who appears with Garret Morris
When I watched last night, I was expecting another of Sandler’s clever, funny songs, like “The Hannukah Song”, and when he started singing I was kind of disappointed and didn’t really pay attention. Now, rewatching the clip, I realize it was really just a (very) touching tribute sorta kinda set to music. It wasn’t meant to crack the tv audience up; it was for the cast and crew and actually very sweet. Also, is his pronunciation of “show” mocking Lorne? The first time he said it, right at the beginning, I thought “Ed Sullivan? What does he have to do with anything?”. When he did it again, I figured it’s some kind of inside joke and with Lorne being Canadian, that must be it.
Yeah check out the intro to Saturday TV Fun House. It depicts Lorne as a cartoon and they use the same affectation on “show.”
I do not get this at all. It is a celebration of the last 50 years. Not the next 50 years.
Remind me why the show has been on the air for 50 years.
Have I seen those old bits? Sure. But they are why I like the show which has been inconsistent. Remind me why it is a cultural icon.
At my 50th birthday friends and family remembered good times we have had in the past. They did not try to wonder what the future will bring beyond best wishes it was a good one.
I don’t think the show was primarily for people who need to be reminded why it’s a cultural icon.
At my 50th birthday we hung out and had a good time, played some board games, and yakked about whatever. At most there were one or two stories from the past,and my history isn’t as pervasively and repetitively available as SNL (for one thing, there aren’t daytime infomercials on my history) (though that would be both interesting and terrifying).
I think people tuned in for a number of reasons, and I’d guess that for some of them it was “I like to wallow in familiar past sensations, please deliver that”, and for some it wasn’t. That first group was understandably disappointed; I wasn’t.
On what planet are anniversaries not a time to remember the past?
If we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Word War II are we meant to remember WWII or ponder what WWIII will be like?
I only saw the show in short bits but this was the only one I found funny. I missed the intro to the skit but saw Will F in lil shorts, lol, then Eddie Murphy said the filthiest thing I’ve ever heard on television.
Instead of Santa coming from the North Pole…
Lol
Splain Lucy.
Nah that’s not it. This is more like honoring the 50th anniversary of the Marine Corps, an ongoing institution. You don’t just talk about what happened in the first 10 years of the Marine Corps. You leave plenty of space for talking about the previous 10 years too.
If you have a 50th birthday party with all the same folks as attended your 40th birthday party, and your grandchildren aged 1-5, you don’t completely ignore the grandkids. You talk about what has happened since you all got together 10 years ago.
That skit was after 11:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Probably the dirtiest thing I can remember seeing on network television. Funny, but filthy.
Watch from 1:36 - 2:40 and then from 6:35 - 7:10. You’ll be caught up.
I thought they threaded the needle pretty well. I definitely agree anniversaries are about celebrating the past.
Here, the new skits were all based on old established characters/skits - some going back decades, some more recent (Domingo; Mulaney skit). Like any SNL show, some worked, some not as much. Overall, fun for me and definitely felt like an Anniversary show.
It is nice to see Eddie Murphy in sketches again.
I really wish he’d just do another stand-up hour-long special. He did a short bit of material at the Mark Twain awards and it was still very funny. I think he is a great stand-up comedian who never really put out that much material.
Were Mike Myers and Dana Carvey there? I can’t believe they didn’t come out and do a Wayne’s World bit.
Wondering if that top 10 hosts of Weekend Update was conceived as a Wayne’s top 10 list and changed when they didn’t do their bit.
I don’t remember seeing Dana, but Mike did a Linda Richman Coffee Talk bit.
You know, that’s a reasonable supposition.