The comedy show that has been a staple throughout four decades of television celebrated its long life on Feb. 15. “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) brought back many of its star hosts and cast members for a special edition of the show’s satirical, witty skits. In the show, many previously or currently popular skits made reappearances. From “Wayne’s World” to Weekend Update to the Lonely Island, anything and everything that has made the audience laugh on Saturday nights for 40 years resurfaced.
The mix of past and current cast members—such as Will Ferrell (“Elf”), Jim Carrey (“Ace Ventura”) and Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids”)—made for a sincere and genuine back-and-forth between those who paved the way and those who likely looked up to the original stars of the show.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the show came from the hands of more recent stars who showed their appreciation for their predecessors with honest admiration. Likewise, the stars of years past made their mark by showing appreciation for the creator of the show, Lorne Michaels, as well as recreating some of the great skits of their times while obviously enjoying their return to SNL.
A number of greats took to the opening monologues—the standard opening of the show. The monologues were similar, but still special compared to the normal, weekly edition.
Often times, they turned from monologues to dialogues so as to include more familiar faces and even to pay tribute to cast members unfortunately not present. The audience also reguarly engaged with those performing on the stage with to recognize even more notable names or faces. This banter was well-written and well-performed, allowing for inside jokes and other wise cracks in classic SNL style.
The special edition not only renewed popular past and present skits with new, live editions, but also recognized a few of the classic moments from the past with compilations of some of the funniest moments on the show. The compilations of the best of the best were certainly hilarious, despite lacking the timeliness that has made the show’s live humor so relevant on a week-to-week basis.
In particular, Chris Rock’s introduction for Eddie Murphy was extremely heartfelt and sincere. A renewed edition of “Wayne’s World” was greatly appreciative of the creator of the show and many other individuals who make the show possible. Likewise, The Lonely Island’s digital short “That’s When You Break” was a true ode to all many hysterical moments. Lastly, the special edition of “Weekend Update,” featuring Emma Stone, Edward Norton and Melissa McCarthy playing their favorite “Weekend Update” recurring characters was a wonderful tribute to the show.
As always, the show held no prisoners and often found ways to poke fun at itself. This banter led to sincere reactions from those present, and showed the audience just how much the performers love the show and what it has meant to many of their careers. Time on the show clearly impacted many comics not only due to quality performances and careers origins, but also to friendships made along the way, such as the well-known relationships between Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Adam Sandler and David Spade and many more.
The reunion was ripe with excitement and evident enjoyment from the cast, making it easy for the audience to even further appreciate the quality of the show and its history. For the more recent viewers of the show, some of the nostalgia of the older skits was transformed into newfound laughter. The ability to create value for audiences of all ages certainly makes it clear as to why and how the show lasted and thrived for so many years, and will continue to do just that for many years to come.
