Celebrating 50 Years of SNL: A Night of Nostalgia, Tributes, and Legendary Performances

Bethany Whitehead

Music Journalist

Saturday Night Live, NBC’s long-running comedy sketch show, celebrated its 50th anniversary on Feb. 16th. The event hosted some of music and comedy’s biggest performers and was viewed by 15 million people, making it the network’s most watched prime-time telecast, according to AP News.  

I have always been a big fan of Saturday Night Live, so I was stoked for the 50th anniversary. The four main music performances were by Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon, Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard, Adam Sandler, Lil Wayne and the Roots, and Paul McCartney. 

Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon 

All episodes of SNL begin with what is known as a cold open, or a brief comedy sketch before the title sequence. However, instead of this tradition, SNL’s 50th anniversary kicked off with a performance of “Homeward Bound” by Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon. This was done as a homage to Simon’s performance of the song with George Harrison. 

“I sang this song with George Harrison on Saturday Night Live in 1976,” Simon said. 

“I was not born then, and neither were my parents,” Carpenter joked.  

I was pleasantly surprised when I heard this performance. I wasn’t completely sure how it would go, especially with the performance being in place of a cold open. However, I enjoyed it. I felt that Carpenter’s and Simon’s voices meshed together perfectly, and I could also tell that the performance meant a lot to Simon, since it could have been seen as a small tribute to George Harrison. 

Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard 

The next performance was by Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard. The duo, who also performed at SNL’s Homecoming Concert Feb 14, did a cover of  “Nothing Compares 2 U.” This song was seen as a tribute to both the late Prince and Sinéad O’Connor. One interesting detail I found during the performance was that Howard played a Fender Telecaster. 

They were backed by The Roots, who were also the backup performers for Lil Wayne later that evening. Cyrus’ and Howard’s performance was introduced by Aubrey Plaza. This was the actress’ first appearance since the death of her husband, director Jeff Baena.  

This was quite the moving performance. Not only did Cyrus and Howard pay tribute to O’Connor and Prince, but Aubrey Plaza paid tribute to her husband by wearing a tie-dye shirt. According to an interview with Drew Barrymore, Plaza and her late husband got married in tie-dye pajamas. 

Adam Sandler 

SNL alum and actor Adam Sandler performed a heartfelt song called “50 Years” for his contribution to the show’s 50th anniversary. 

“Everyone in this room has something else in common…none of us were allowed to use the little bathroom in Lorne [Michaels]’s office,” Sandler began after singing about how the show changed the lives of the star-studded audience. 

The performance was riddled with inside jokes about life at SNL, including “Tuesday late-night pizza,” “the cast looking straight at the cue cards,” and SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels “not laughing at one of their [the writers’] sketches that he obviously hated.”  

Sandler’s tribute was equal parts humorous and sentimental. At one point, the camera panned out to include a monitor behind Sandler, playing clips of the first cast before transitioning to some of the shows’ most well-known alumni, including Michael Che, Fred Armisen, and Rachel Dratch. Sandler also choked up a bit while paying tribute to the show’s late performers, such as Chris Farley and Norm MacDonald, both of which Sandler performed with during his time as a cast member. 

“Thank you, Lorne!” Sandler shouted at the end of his performance, which received a standing ovation. 

Lil Wayne and The Roots 

Lil Wayne’s performance brought the mood up compared to the previous performances of the evening. The rapper performed a medley of career-defining songs, including “Uproar,” “Lollipop,” “6 Foot 7 Foot,” “Mrs. Officer,” and “A Milli,” to name a few. He was also backed by The Roots.  

Despite what people say, I really liked this performance. Not only did this specific performance have a more intimate feel than his live shows, but I think this is the cleanest that Wayne has sounded in a while.  

Sir Paul McCartney  

The final performance of the evening was by none other than Sir Paul McCartney. Like Lil Wayne, McCartney also performed a medley of his own, all of which were off of Abbey Road by The Beatles. McCartney began his performance with “Golden Slumbers” before seamlessly transitioning into “Carry That Weight,” which brought the audience out of their seats.  

For the final song of the medley, “The End,” McCartney emerged from behind a brightly-colored piano and joined the band. McCartney played his signature left-handed Gibson Les Paul, and McCartney’s performance was my favorite performance of the evening. All I could think about the whole time while watching this was how lucky I was to see one of the Beatles perform in real time. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is how so many other teenagers felt when Beatlemania was at its peak in the 1960s. His performance truly felt like it was part of something bigger. 

All in all, SNL’s 50th anniversary delivered an unforgettable lineup of performances that honored the show’s legacy while embracing its future. From heartfelt tributes by Paul Simon and Miley Cyrus to Adam Sandler’s nostalgic humor and Lil Wayne’s high-energy set, each act brought something unique to the celebration. Paul McCartney’s closing performance felt especially historic, a reminder of how deeply music and comedy intertwine in shaping pop culture. As a longtime fan, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate five decades of Saturday Night Live.