Saturday Night Live: 40th Anniversary Special
The special followed the format of a typical Saturday Night Live episode, extended to 3½ hours instead of the usual 1½, and included a cold open, a monologue, sketches, a short film, commercial parodies, and musical performances. The sketches, most of which were revivals of sketches that appeared over the show's run, made reference to the show and its four decades on air, with the original cast members who appeared in those sketches reprising their roles along with numerous guest stars. A handful of commercial parodies, including "Colon Blow" and "Mom Jeans," reran as they originally appeared on the show.
Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake appeared in the cold open, performing a "History of Rap"-esque musical number referencing famous sketches from the show's history. Rachel Dratch and Molly Shannon appeared as Debbie Downer and Mary Katherine Gallagher, respectively.
Steve Martin performed the opening monologue, with featured appearances from Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Melissa McCarthy, Chris Rock, Peyton Manning, Miley Cyrus, Billy Crystal, Paul McCartney and Paul Simon, with the latter two briefly performing a duet of "I've Just Seen a Face."
Dan Aykroyd and Laraine Newman appeared during the "Super Bass-O-Matic 2150" sketch, referencing a sketch originally done during the show's first season.
Will Ferrell (as Alex Trebek), Darrell Hammond (as Sean Connery), Kate McKinnon (as Justin Bieber), Alec Baldwin (as Tony Bennett), Norm Macdonald (as Burt Reynolds), Taran Killam (as Christoph Waltz), Jim Carrey (as Matthew McConaughey), and Kenan Thompson (as Bill Cosby) appeared during the Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch.
Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones introduced a montage featuring the auditions of current and former cast members, along with a few celebrities who never made the cast, including Jim Carrey, Stephen Colbert, Zach Galifianakis, and Kevin Hart.
Fred Armisen, Vanessa Bayer, Bradley Cooper, Bill Hader, Taran Killam, Laraine Newman (reprising her Sherry the Valley Girl character), David Spade, Cecily Strong, Taylor Swift, Kenan Thompson, Kerry Washington, Betty White, and Kristen Wiig appeared during the "The Californians/Total Bastard Airlines" sketch.
Emma Stone (as Roseanne Roseannadanna), Edward Norton (as Stefon), Bill Hader (also as Stefon), Seth Meyers, Melissa McCarthy (as Matt Foley), and Bobby Moynihan (as the Land Shark) appeared during Weekend Update, which was anchored by Jane Curtin, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler.
Norm Macdonald, Seth Meyers, Kevin Nealon, and Colin Quinn introduced a tribute to Chevy Chase, which also featured an appearance from Garrett Morris.
Maya Rudolph (as Beyoncé) and Martin Short introduced a musical medley featuring appearances by Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig (as Garth & Kat), Ana Gasteyer and Will Ferrell (as The Culps), Joe Piscopo (as Frank Sinatra), Dana Carvey (as Derek Stevens), Adam Sandler (as Opera Man), Kenan Thompson and Jason Sudeikis (as DeAndre Cole and Vance from the What Up with That sketches, alongside Cecily Strong and Sasheer Zamata), Steve Martin (as King Tut), Bill Murray (as Nick The Lounge Singer, alongside Paul Shaffer), and Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi (as The Blues Brothers).
Jerry Seinfeld led the "Questions from the Audience" segment, which included cameos from Michael Douglas, John Goodman, James Franco, Larry David, Ellen Cleghorne, Dakota Johnson, Tim Meadows, Bob Odenkirk, and Sarah Palin.
Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis appeared during the "ESPN Classics" sketch (reprising their roles as Pete Twinkle and Greg Stink).
Chris Rock introduced a tribute to Eddie Murphy.
Bill Hader, Chris Parnell, Andy Samberg, and Adam Sandler appeared during the SNL Digital Short "That's When You Break", introduced by Zach Galifianakis.
Bill Murray introduced an In Memoriam tribute to deceased SNL cast and crew members (which also jokingly showed still-living Jon Lovitz; the camera then showed Lovitz's reaction) and an obligatory mention of Francisco Franco.
Mike Myers and Dana Carvey appeared in the Wayne's World sketch reprising their roles as Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar. The sketch also featured a cameo appearance by Kanye West.
Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, Derek Jeter and Peyton Manning, and Louis C.K. introduced clips dedicated to New York City, politics, sports, and pre-recorded sketches, respectively.
The show included musical performances by:
Paul McCartney, introduced by Keith Richards, performed "Maybe I'm Amazed."
Miley Cyrus, introduced by Candice Bergen and Win Butler, performed "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover."
Kanye West, introduced by Christopher Walken, performed a medley of "Jesus Walks", "Only One", and "Wolves" (the latter with Sia and Vic Mensa).
Paul Simon, introduced by Jack White, performed "Still Crazy After All These Years."
comedy, humor, satire