Here Are the Unofficial, Fan-Ranked Top 5 Segments From ‘SNL50’
The Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special is in the books, and, through a half-century of classic sketches and iconic TV moments, one point remains perfectly clear — SNL fans still love Hamilton.
Last night, 30 Rockefeller Plaza pulled out all the stops and delivered a nearly three-and-a-half-hour variety show extravaganza featuring (almost) all of SNL’s most illustrious living alumni alongside the A-listers and Beatles who continue to be key figures in the sketch show’s storied history. As is tradition whenever SNL does anything at all, the online reactions to SNL50 from last night and this morning run the gamut from “this was so bad that Saturday Night Live should have ended 30 years ago” to “this was more culturally significant than the moon landing” and everything in between.
Don't Miss
Everyone who even vaguely follows SNL has strong opinions about the current cast, which era was the best and whether or not the show has ever really been funny, and SNL50 gave the cultural institution’s fervent fandom ample opportunity to do what it does best: discuss, argue and rank. In the Saturday Night Live subreddit, the show’s most meticulous fans catalogued each part of last night's special before voting on their favorite sketches and segments. Here are the fans’ top five moments from SNL 50, starting with:
John Mulaney’s Musical Theater Medley
Lorne Michaels gave hallowed SNL writer and stand-up superstar Mulaney a solid 10 minutes out of the roughly 200-minute anniversary show to tell the history of New York City in show tunes both bespoke and parodical, with nods to Broadway classics like Little Shop of Horrors and Hamilton accompanied by a healthy smattering of A-list guest performers. Personally, the highlights from this extended exercise in production value and audience patience were Mulaney roasting Sarah Squirm’s Bill de Blasio impression and Scarlett Johansson saying Colin Jost didn’t hit her — at least, “not this time.”
“Weekend Update” With Bobby Moynihan’s Drunk Uncle
SNL50 needed multiple “Weekend Update” sketches to properly honor its most celebrated recurring segment, and the return of Bobby Moynihan playing your rambling, vaguely conservative and internally collapsing drunk uncle for the 15th and possibly final time in “Weekend Update” history was an absolute highlight. A visibly pregnant Cecily Strong reprising her role of “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation with at a Party” was the perfect pairing for the lubricated legend.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Audience Q&A
With so many A-listers in attendance and so many SNL related and unrelated questions needing answers, it was only fitting that the show’s arguably most iconic two-piece act should help Quinta Brunson, Ryan Reynolds, Nate Bargatze and more guests with their pressing issues. But, for as much star power as Fey and Poehler packed into their segment, nobody came out of the Q&A session looking more dazzling than Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ emotional support dog.
Bill Murray on “Weekend Update”
SNL50 asked a lot of the elderly legends who first made the show a hit back in the 1970s, and many fans felt bad for poor, 83-year-old Paul Simon as he powered through the opening number. But, if we’re not going to worship the OGs with slow, nostalgic segments, then what’s the point of having a half-centennial celebration? And, for all the historic and well-documented acrimony between Murray and Chevy Chase, there was sweet sincerity in watching the former extol the impact and artistry of the latter — before Murray put him in fourth place on the all-time anchor rankings.
Adam Sandler’s Song
The Sandman has always been the most beloved song-and-dance darling on SNL, but this far into Sandler’s storied and spectacularly successful career, his charming little ditties are more than just amusing inspiration for unremarkable animated movies — they’re also bona fide tear-jerkers that will have the SNL fandom talking (and crying) about his newest bespoke ballad until he breaks out an even more emotional musical retrospective for SNL60.
