'SNL50' Anniversary Special Announces Final Round Of Guests
This had so short-notice the shelf life might not be long but still I had to make it
Here we are, the day of SNL50: The Anniversary Special, celebrating 50 years of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, and the final round of guest performers has been announced. Of course, with Friday’s homecoming concert having had its own celebrity audience with an array of guests and over 100 SNL alums, one could say the hand was largely played, as most of those listed here did attend, but there were still a few surprises.
Alec Baldwin, Ana Gasteyer, Billy Crystal, Cher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Leslie Jones, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mike Myers, Miles Teller, Rachel Dratch and Reverend Al Sharpton have all been confirmed for appearances this time, with more guests to be revealed on-air. It could be as they happen in sketches, or even during either red carpet show. Jones was a castmember from 2014 to 2019, having first been a writer who made Weekend Update correspondence so well-received it got her that promotion to cast member. She’s cohosting NBC and Peacock’s red carpet show for the special with Willie Geist and Matt Rogers, so it’d be weird if she didn’t have a place in the main show or she was relegated just to the audience. The next most obvious performer is easily Gasteyer, a cast member from 1996 to 2002 who was surprisingly the busiest non-host performer of the evening, as a backup singer for Bill Murray’s Nick Valentine alongside Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong, doing another medley as Bobbi Mohan-Culp with Will Ferrell (their 24th!) and reprising Martha Stewart to introduce Snoop Dogg. Cher also performed at the Homecoming Concert, singing “If I Could Turn Back Time” having only ever been musical guest on the November 21, 1987 episode hosted by Candice Bergen.
Alec Baldwin has hosted SNL a record 17 times between April 21, 1990 with musical guest The B-52s and February 11, 2017 with host Ed Sheeran. He also played Felon President in 47 or 48 episodes between October 1, 2016 (Margot Robbie/The Weeknd) and November 7, 2020 (Dave Chappelle/Foo Fighters), earning an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2017. He also made more than a few cameos before then when he was doing 30 Rock with Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan. Even as his Rust controversy was ongoing, he has made three further cameos, including October 19, 2024 (Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish) as Bret Baier and November 16 (Charli XCX) as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A bit too forgiving for my taste but whatever. Billy Crystal, who was also at the concert, infamously was cut from the show’s first ever episode, but finally got to perform in the April 17, 1976 episode. He hosted twice in 1984, March 17 with musical guest Al Jarreau, and May 12 alongside Ed Koch, Edwin Newman, Don Novello, and Betty Thomas with musical guest The Cars. It was also the last appearance of future Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Joel Hodgson. He then became a cast member for season 10 that fall, which was the last for Louis-Dreyfus, who had been there since season 8. She’s come back to host three times: May 13, 2006 with musical guest (and the also-appearing) Paul Simon, March 17, 2007 with musical guest Snow Patrol, and April 16, 2016 with musical guest Nick Jonas. Dratch was a cast member from 1999 to 2006, and has made over a dozen cameos. Sometimes in support of a contemporary alum host, and five times as senior Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. One such instance was the February 29, 2020 episode hosted by John Mulaney, followed by a Debbie Downer sketch on Daniel Craig/The Weeknd the week following, the last in-studio episode before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Mike Myers was a cast member for exactly 6 years, from January 21, 1989 to that day in 1995, and returned to host on March 22, 1997 with musical guest Aerosmith. He has six cameos to his name from 1997 to 2015.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of In The Heights and Hamilton, reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton in the cold open of the Timothee Chalamet episode on January 25, presumably as part of the musical’s tenth anniversary celebrations. He hosted on October 9, 2016 with musical guest Twenty One Pilots, and his subsequent cameos also include as Julian Castro in October 2019. Teller hosted the October 1, 2022 season 48 premiere with musical guest Kendrick Lamar (which hopefully won’t be his most recent appearance for long). Al Sharpton hosted on December 6, 2006 with musical guest Pink and made two cameos in the 2010s.
They join original cast members Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, and Laraine Newman, Rudolph, Fey, Morgan, Adam Driver, Ayo Edebiri, Bad Bunny, Dave Chappelle, former writer John Mulaney, Kim Kardashian, Pedro Pascal, Peyton Manning, Quinta Brunson, Robert De Niro, 5-time hosts Woody Harrelson and Scarlett Johansson, double-digit hosts Steve Martin and Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Amy Poehler , Andy Samberg, Eddie Murphy, Fred Armisen, Jason Sudeikis, Jimmy Fallon, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Molly Shannon, Pete Davidson, Seth Meyers, and Will Forte are all also confirmed. Paul McCartney, Miley Cyrus, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, Paul Simon, Lil Wayne, Sabrina Carpenter, and The Roots are all set to do musical performances.
As for those surprises, a New York Times photo of Lorne Michaels seems to confirm even more names. Omitting the already announced guests and current castmembers (because they should be no-brainers but Colin Jost and Michael Che didn’t do Weekend Update at the 40th), the unannounced guests are Nate Bargatze, Beck Bennett (2014-2021), Aidy Bryant (2012-2022), Steve Carell, Ellen Cleghorne, homecoming concert performer Lady Gaga, Zach Galifianakis, concert attendees Jon Hamm and Jon Lovitz (1985-1990), Tim Meadows (1990-2000), Kyle Mooney (2013-2022), Steven Spielberg, concert attendee Meryl Streep, aforementioned concert performer Cecily Strong (2012-2022), and Owen Wilson. While Bill Hader (2005-2013) did reprise his Californians character with Wiig and Armisen for a Volkswagen commercial, he “politely declined” the anniversary invite, while Dick Ebersol is experiencing health issues and cannot attend. Original cast member Dan Aykroyd “could not attend” either. There’s very little time before we find out more as the show goes on.
Source: Variety, LateNighter