‘SNL 50’ put on a concert for the ages Friday night in NYC … as several superstar musicians and former cast joined forces to celebrate ‘Saturday Night Live’s half-century milestone!
Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon and Bill Murray were some of the highlights in the packed” SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert” show … which also featured performances by Bonnie Raitt and Chris Martin, Arcade Fire, David Byrne, St. Vincent and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Post Malone.
Miley worked the stage — and the audience — as the three-time Grammy winner performing at Radio City Music Hall early into the multi-hour celebratory event. MC belted Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” with Brittany Howard, as well as her Grammy-winning hit, “Flowers.”
Miley did her thing … very much entertaining the crowd with quippy remarks throughout her performance, including calling out to actor Paul Rudd in the audience mid-chorus of “Flowers.”
“I love you Paul Rudd,” Cyrus declared, with the camera cutting to a touched Rudd.
At one point, Cyrus also told the celebrity-filled audience at Radio City: “Are y’all doing that Grammys thing where you guys are famous and s**t and you don’t sing along, excuse my language?”
Lady Gaga lent her award-winning vocals to an iconic (and a little naughty) “Saturday Night Live” tune at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Friday, — alongside Andy Samberg — where the pair kicked off a star-studded tribute to Samberg’s beloved comedy troupe, The Lonely Island.
After a pitchy rendition of Gaga’s “A Star Is Born” hit “Shallow,” the pop star pivoted Samberg to something more in his wheelhouse: 2009 SNL super popular parody song, “D— in a Box,” which Samberg originally performed with Justin Timberlake.
Gaga took on Timberlake’s vocals while playing the piano, giving the comedic hit a soulful twist. They also segued into “Motherlover,” another Timberlake and Samberg pairing from SNL in 2009.
The fan-favorite ‘The Culps’ returned to catch us up on the past 20 years in music (and more recent music feuds) during the homecoming concert.
Alums Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer reprised the hilarious music-teaching couple they portrayed from 1996 to 2002 … complete with a cover of Kendrick Lamar‘s ‘Not Like Us’!
In addition to Britney Spears’ ‘Work Bitch’, Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ ‘Unholy’, Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Body’ and Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck Babe’, the duo gave their rendition of Lamar’s diss track against Drake.
“Are Kenny Lamar and Drake Graham in the house, by the way? Maybe you two can hug it out tonight in the name of love and fellowship,” Ferrell’s Marty Culp joked. “No? Not in hell?”
Of course … the evening would not have been complete without a visit from ‘The Californians’ … “Stuart? What are you doing here?”
The familiar phrase was heard again amid the ‘SNL 50’ celebration as Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Fred Armisen reunited to reprise their roles from the classic Californians sketch series.
The trio was part of a commercial for Volkswagen, which sponsored the specials celebrating ‘Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary.
For the uninitiated … ‘The Californians’ was a recurring sketch on NBC’s late-night comedy show that mocked the California accent in a soap opera setting.
Wiig, Hader, and Armisen formed a love triangle in the series of sketches that featured the characters naming all the streets and freeways around the Los Angeles area … ’cause you have to know how to get around!
How do you possibly follow Miley Cyrus and Bad Bunny during the ‘SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert’? With a classic sketch character.
SNL alum Bill Murray graced the stage at Radio City Music Hall … reprising his smooth-talking character Nick the Lounge Singer (aka Nick Valentine), accompanied by Paul Shaffer on piano.
Following a humorous monologue about “an increasing acceptance of different types of families, different types of relationships,” before introducing “three of the most beautiful ladies a man could ever hope to meet.”
Murray, who created the character during his 1977-1980 run as an SNL castmember, was then joined by fellow alums Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong in ’60s chic backup singer attire, accompanying him with a performance of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “You’re All I Need to Get By.”
Jimmy Fallon had the honor to kick things off at the ‘SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert,’ alongside The Roots to pay tribute to The Blues Brothers.
Following the performance, Fallon revealed he was “out of breath” and thanked the “collection of talent” who attended the homage.
The ‘Tonight Show’ host then took a jab at himself, answering why he was hosting the special, saying, “Well, it’s award season, which means I got nothing going on right now.”
JF noted that he has two things in common with SNL … they both turn 50 this year, adding, “And if we’re being honest, we both peaked around 25.”
Jimmy clarified that the three-hour show would only present musical guests and not hand out awards … which resulted in the hilarious moment of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson getting up and waking out.
And, the fun ain’t over yet … the ‘SNL 50: The Anniversary Special’ three-hour telecast will take place Sunday night.
