On Feb. 16, 2025, long-running Saturday Night Live released the episode for the 50th anniversary. The show has been admired by many and for many years. The special was a mix of brand new sketches and also a revival of older sketches that were fan favorites, like the famous sketch with the Maharelle sisters, famous with Kristen Wiig’s character, Dooneese.
As a fan of the popular show, I really enjoyed the way that this special was organized. The audience was filled with many A-list and upper B-list celebrities who attended the event, but they were also involved in the show as well, as there was lots of audience participation. One example was Julia Louis-Dreyfus having a service dog that actually “needed her” and she then explained the setting to the dog, which led to her telling him about Adam Driver, who sat right next to them. The way that the special had been organized felt as if it was a high school reunion, it was set up for all of the old cast to reunite, like Laraine Newman, who was on the original cast of the show, was able to visit the set with a hilarious interruption from Pete Davidson. It was not only the original cast like Newman, for example, the famous duo Amy Pohler and Tina Fey got to go back on the SNL stage in a hilarious skit since they had left the show. As someone who really likes to watch movies and TV shows, specifically comedies, I feel like comedies have not been as funny as they used to be because humor isn’t taken as lightly, so it was very easy for the sketches to get boring real quickly. But for SNL50, I felt that this was never an issue, I felt that I was always engaged and it was funny, I think that I laughed a lot of the time because it was genuinely comedically sharp – I really enjoyed it.
Overall, I felt that this anniversary was really well thought out. I felt that the writers did an incredible job and the actors with their delivery, it was all really well prepared. A couple of my favorites were the Weekend Updates with Micheal Che and Colin Jost. They are an incredible duo and always very funny. I also really enjoyed the sketch of Martin Short and Molly Shannon as a married couple giving speeches for their daughter’s wedding. And finally, the sketch of the ‘Close Encounter’ with Meryl Streep, Kate McKinnon, John Hamm, Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson. This was a very enjoyable show, and although it was long, lasting about two hours, I was never bored of the show, and I watched the entire thing. I highly recommend this, especially to anyone who has been a fan of Saturday Night Live. 
