It’s been nearly half a century since Saturday Night Live premiered and changed the course of television history, and NBC is planning a very big birthday party for the beloved sketch comedy series indeed.
When will the SNL 50th anniversary special air?
The special will air on February 16 from 8 to 11 p.m. ET on NBC.
Who will host the celebration?
The network has not announced a host for the 50th anniversary special. However, prior anniversary specials did not feature a designated host. In 1989, for the 15th anniversary special, there were many tributes and performances from some of the show’s original stars — including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, and more. Then, for the 25th in 1999, the cold open featured Bill Murray addressing an audience full of A-listers, with Chris Rock delivering the opening monologue and additional performances from the likes of Adam Sandler, Christopher Walken, and Tom Hanks, to name a few. Then, the 40th anniversary special in 2015 featured a cold open with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake, a monologue from Steve Martin with a bevy of celebrity cameos, and sketches with more of the show’s all-timers. So there’s certainly a chance there could be no specific host for the 50th either, with it instead featuring a parade of other individual and group performances.
Who will perform at the 50th anniversary SNL special?
While no cast list has yet been announced, the special is expected to celebrate all 50 years of the show, with NBC promising in a press release it will “welcome stars of the past and present to Studio 8H.”
If the special brings back the show’s original castmembers, only Aykroyd, Chase, Curtin, Garrett Morris, and Laraine Newman are still alive.
And if it recruits some of the other biggest names to come out of the show, that could include — in addition to the names mentioned above — stars like Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Maya Rudolph, Billy Crystal, David Spade, Rachel Dratch, Jon Lovitz, Molly Shannon, Kate McKinnon, Jason Sudeikis, Jimmy Fallon, Kenan Thompson, Tracy Morgan, Tim Meadows, Will Forte, Al Franken, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and more.
And if the show decides to pay homage to some of the show legends who have since passed away, that might include Norm MacDonald, Chris Farley, Gilda Radner, Phil Hartman, Andy Kaufman, Jan Hooks, Gilbert Gottfried, and John Belushi, among others.
Finally, the special could also honor the living members of the Five Timers Club, which includes Chase, Martin, Hanks, Murray, Fey, Ferrell, Timberlake, Wiig, Elliott Gould, Paul Simon, Candice Bergen, Danny DeVito, John Goodman, Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Melissa McCarthy, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Paul Rudd, John Mulaney, Jonah Hill, Woody Harrelson, and Emma Stone.