21 Must-See Moments You Might Have Missed From SNL’s 50th Anniversary Celebration

Saturday Night Live’s year-long 50th anniversary celebrations reached their pinnacle over the weekend, with an epic one-off special reflecting on some of the long-running comedy show’s best moments and most celebrated performers.

Over the course of the three-and-a-half hour special, there were A-list surprises, nostalgic sketches and some seriously impressive musical guests, each with their own tie to SNL history.

While SNL is a huge institution in the US, here in the UK, not all of its most prolific moments and performers have quite cut through, so we’ve rounded up 21 big moments from the SNL festivities that are most relevant.

Here’s what you might have missed from the massive celebration event…

Before it had even begun airing, Emma Stone stole the show with this epic red carpet moment

SNL regulars Steve Martin and Martin Short kicked things off with a timely monologue poking fun at everything from the return of Donald Trump to the White House to the threats of AI

Even the most casual of SNL viewers would be happy to see Rachel Dratch back in character as “Debbie Downer”

Kristen Wiig also revived “Dooneece” with a bit of help from her “sisters” Ana Gasteyer, Kim Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson

“Black Jeopardy” was also revived for the night, with Eddie Murphy impersonating Tracy Morgan… alongside the real Tracy Morgan

And a more recent sketch was also revisited, with some added Sabrina Carpenter and Pedro Pascal

Seriously, how has Meryl Streep gone this long into her career without appearing on SNL until this weekend?

Meanwhile, Tom Hanks was on hand to reflect on some of SNL moments that might not belong in the history books

Ryan Reynolds poked fun at the ongoing Justin Baldoni drama, while seated next to his wife Blake Lively

Adam Sandler performed a surprisingly emotional musical number about SNL’s history and legacy

He was introduced to the stage by Jack Nicholson in a rare public appearance for the three-time Oscar winner

Aubrey Plaza also appeared on the SNL special – her first public appearance since the death of her husband, Jeff Baena

The Parks And Rec star introduced Miley Cyrus’ cover of Nothing Compares 2 U – notable as the late Sinéad O’Connor made a now-infamous protest on SNL back in 1992, and was never invited back. In her lifetime, she also had a public back-and-forth with Miley over her Wrecking Ball music video

Another of the night’s musical guests, Sir Paul McCartney, had the crowd in the palm of his hand

This musical number about New York City was one of the most ambitious moments in SNL history

Laraine Newman and Jane Curtin made sure the late, great Gilda Radner had her moment to shine too

And some people were a little miffed that the special clashed with the return of The White Lotus in the schedule

We have to shout-out the SNL special concert which also took place over the weekend, giving us the collab we didn’t know we needed in our lives…

…Cher bringing back If I Could Turn Back Time in a big way…

…and Meryl Streep flipping the bird

And while we know she and Martin Short have repeatedly denied they’re an item, we can’t deny we’re still holding out hope