saturday night live

Three hours of prime time real estate, more than 30 musical acts bookended by lightly rehearsed comedy bits and a Radio City Music Hall’s worth of huge stars. What could go wrong?
Potentially everything, actually. But somehow, SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert director Beth McCarthy-Miller not only managed to land the plane with the February special, but she corralled some of the biggest stars in the world for one of the most dazzling, surprise-filled nights of music in recent memory.
And, not for nothing, it all happened with way less rehearsal time than you could ever imagine.
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“They called me a year and a half ago and asked me and I absolutely said ‘yes’ right away. … I’m a total music and comedy nerd,” Emmy-nominated director McCarthy-Miller tells Billboard about her return to multi-cam TV after a career that has included stints behind the camera for episodes of Veep, The Good Place, Modern Family, 30 Rock and an 11-year run as SNL‘s director. “I would do anything for [SNL creator/producer] Lorne [Michaels], who was so instrumental in my career. It was like going back for a high school reunion.”
Sure, if your high school class included Lady Gaga, Eddie Vedder, Bill Murray, the Backstreet Boys, Miley Cyrus, Bad Bunny, Post Malone, the living members of Nirvana, Snoop Dogg, Jelly Roll and Cher.
Those are just some of the acts that McCarthy-Miller juggled on show night in the penultimate prime-time celebration of the beloved sketch series’ 50th anniversary. The programming also included the three-hour SNL50: The Anniversary Special that aired two days later, as well as the earlier mind-bending Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music documentary directed by The Roots’ Questlove and the four-part SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night docuseries on Peacock.
In other words, tons of competition for booking and viewers’ eyeballs.
Beth McCarthy
Barry Goldenberg
McCarthy-Miller knew it was a monumental task, but she was up for it and, frankly, after working with Michaels to see who was available (and not) and putting the million little pieces together, she can now confidently say that “there is nothing I would change.”
Billboard hopped on the phone to chat with McCarthy-Miller about the show and to find out why she is now fully convinced that The Roots can play any song ever recorded.
You worked on the legendary MTV Unplugged with Nirvana, but whose idea was the surprise Post Nirvana performance with Post Malone and the living members of the group?
Dave Grohl was involved early on, and there was always interest in the Foo Fighters and possibly [Nirvana bass player] Krist [Novoselic] joining them. I know during COVID, Post did a YouTube Nirvana show with Travis Barker, and I think it became a natural segue. Dave and Krist had used St. Vincent and other singers before for the FireAid show and the guys just really enjoyed playing with him. After rehearsal, I went back to check on everything with [guitarist] Pat [Smear] and Dave, and they were like, “That was fun!”
The unexpected collabs really ruled the night. You also had Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard doing a Queen cover (“Crazy Little Thing Called Love”) at the top. How involved were you in piecing those together?
The Miley thing was a combination of everyone asking, “What would you want to see?” I think Miley wanted Brittany, and that was a Lorne and Miley thing. … [show co-executive producer] Mark Ronson had a lot do with the pace of the show and where people should go and when. It was definitely a combined effort.
I have to ask, were there any of those collabs that didn’t happen that you went for? Frequent SNL guest Justin Timberlake couldn’t make it because he’s on tour, but who else did you reach out to?
There were people who were just not available who would have been great. Timberlake, not available and also for the Sunday show. I think Bruce Springsteen wasn’t available and people who were asked who made their mark on the show but were just not available. It was definitely tricky to try to represent as much as you could without being able to represent everybody obviously and represent different genres. I thought it all kind of worked out beautifully.
I saw someone ask, “Why didn’t they have Ashlee Simpson come back for a redemption arc?“
[Laughs] I’m sure Ashlee wouldn’t have enjoyed that phone call either. Or just have her come out and do a little hoedown dance during someone else’s number? I think we left the comedy to the comedians on that show, which was great. Everyone was having so much fun and would show up early for rehearsals to watch. Bill Murray hung out almost the whole day when he was rehearsing. So he rehearsed his [Nick the Lounge Singer bit] all day with the girls [Maya Rudolph, Cecily Strong and Ana Gasteyer], and then he came out and was just hanging out watching the rehearsals when Backstreet Boys were rehearsing and he was singing at the top of his lungs in the empty Radio City Music Hall along to the Backstreet Boys. Everyone was so happy to be there and be part of the show.
Another highlight was Lady Gaga doing “D–k in a Box” with Andy Samberg. Did Gaga need convincing to join in on that? It was also fun to see cast members incorporated into musical numbers, like Fred Armisen playing drums for Devo and the B-52s.
Gaga was in for that and she was not necessarily performing. She was definitely doing the “D–k In a Box” bit and we had somebody fall out and she then performed [“Shallow”]. We had T-Pain and Bad Bunny, and Eddie Vedder was so funny as Captain Jack Sparrow.
What was the rehearsal time to swap Gaga in for that bit?
You mean besides no rehearsal? We rehearsed that whole show in two days. So we had about 45 minutes to rehearse that [Lady Gaga] bit. I had pre-blocked it with stand-ins just so I knew where we were going. Then we literally got everybody [Gaga, Samberg, Eddie Vedder, Lonely Island, T-Pain, Bad Bunny] up there for 45 minutes and they did a run-through. I think T-Pain didn’t even come to the run-through.
Were there any worries about catching a stray by dipping into the Drake/Kendrick beef with the Marty and Bobbi bit singing “Not Like Us” with Will Ferrell and Ana?
No. I thought it was hilarious. If anyone is gonna take that as a diss, they need to find a sense of humor somewhere because that was so funny. Will and Ana threw that together with [longtime SNL writer] Paula Pell in about 24 hours.
More than 600 musical acts have performed on SNL over the years, so how do you start cutting down the list for your show?
Well, you start cutting it down by the people who say no. [Laughs] No, but it’s really hard and thank God they had done that great documentary that Questlove did, because it really encompassed how important music is to SNL. Because everyone was really represented quite well in that. So then it was just decisions on what was going to be on the main show and what was going to be on Friday night show. I thought the Paul Simon/Sabrina Carpenter thing was perfect for the Sunday show. I think for a minute that was on the Friday show, then it went to the Sunday show, and Paul on the Sunday show was perfect, just where it should have been.
Who was your must-have? Who did you chase to no avail?
A few, of course. There were definitely people who weren’t able to be there who would have been great: Mick Jagger, Springsteen, Stevie Nicks. But the other side of it is, you couldn’t get everybody and I thought every genre on music that’s been on SNL was represented in that show.
Jimmy Fallon worked his ass off in that opening “Soul Man” bit.
He was working very hard and very out of breath.
Did it feel mean in retrospect to make him host and talk so much right after that?
[Laughs] It was always his idea to do some opening number, and I thought that was the perfect representation and Jimmy does stuff like that better than anybody else. It was a little difficult for the poor guy to do that, but he did do it in run-through, but I don’t think he hit it as hard. He was, literally, out of breath. But every comedian or musical performer, you put an audience in front of them and they take it up to 11.
Tell me about something we didn’t see onscreen that blew your mind. Or something that really captured the vibe of the moment for you.
In general, the whole thing felt like a family reunion. People were sticking around to watch other people rehearse, and people were coming over from 30 Rock to Radio City to see other people rehearse. The unsung heroes of that Friday night show were The Roots. Those guys worked their butts off and were literally thrown into the fire a couple of times and having to work out and learn songs in 15 minutes, get off stage and then come back in half an hour. And then, on the live show, Brittany Howard’s guitar went out and stopped working and the guitar player from The Roots [“Captain” Kirk Douglas] picked up that guitar solo on the fly. It was amazing. They can pick up a song in five seconds and they were also playing in all the musical comedy bits too!
There were so many A-listers in the audience that it could have been a typical stuffy awards show vibe. So were you surprised by their freakout over Backstreet’s “I Want it That Way”? Tina and Amy were singing like high schoolers, Adam Sandler, Paul Rudd were shouting along. Even Jerry Seinfeld got in on it.
When they rehearsed and they do what they were gonna do, and they said, “Now you sing,” I was like, “Oh no! It’s an industry crowd, I hope they’re gonna sing!” But literally every person knew every word. Paul Rudd, Pedro Pascal, Jerry Seinfeld was singing with Brian [Littrell]. It was nuts. Every time I cut to the audience, I’ve never, ever had a better cut-away experience in my life where every time I cut to a shot there was some incredibly famous person singing at the top of their lungs having the greatest time of their life.
What do you think it was about them that go everybody so excited?
I think everybody was so psyched for that experience. I said to Lorne, “You’re literally watching your legacy in front of your eyes.” It’s kinda nuts. I think everyone has a deep appreciation for Lorne and what he’s accomplished, and I think everyone just came to have fun.
One of the things that really grabbed people was Pedro Pascal just losing it to DEVO. When you saw that, were you like, “Oh, we need to cut that immediately”?
Yes, it was nuts, it was crazy. Every time I cut to the audience they were having the time of their lives. Pedro literally gyrating to DEVO was, I think, my favorite cut-away of the whole night.
Was there anything that did not go as planned that was a pleasant surprise or an “oh sh–” moment?
I think almost everything happened the way it was supposed to happen magically, which I will tell you did not happen in run-through. The fact that on-air it all happened the way it was supposed to was a Christmas miracle. We made every changeover, but there was one really big changeover where we had Jimmy in the audience and he was supposed to go over to talk to Sandler, and Sandler wasn’t in his seat because he’d just done the Post Nirvana intro and he was backstage talking to people. So then he just freewheeled it, which was amazing, and we were able to make the turnaround a little faster on the night of the show so he wasn’t there laying with egg on his face for too long. Other than that, everything happened the way it was supposed to happen.
I still sing “Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars” all the time, so tell me how the Bill Murray lounge singer bit came together?
I think [longtime SNL writer] Jim Downey wrote it for Billy, and then Billy asked for three of the girls and they tried to get who was available. Ana, Maya and Cecily agreed to do it and they rehearsed it in the lobby of Radio City and then came onstage and rehearsed it the day before the show.
The four-part series showed you how tight rehearsal and writing is on the show, but it sounds like your show was just as harried, if not more.
It was crazy nutty. It was two days of rehearsal and then show day, and we did a little rehearsing on show day before we did a run-through. We ran through the whole show just once.
It seems like you tried to pay tribute to so many through the song choices, like Eddie Vedder tipping his hat to Tom Petty with “The Waiting,” or David Byrne doing “Heroes” or Chris Martin with Bonnie Raitt…
It was definitely a conscious decision and Eddie [Vedder] was going to do “The Waiting” and we asked if he could say something about Tom [Petty] at the end of the song. He said he would do it in the middle during the break and then he said something completely different at run-through than he did during the show! He mentioned more of the musical artists on the show [during run-through], and then on air he did a tribute to the cast members.
What does it take to get Cher to put on those assless chaps again?
C’mon! How crazy is that? That she looks like that at her her age. I’m embarrassed of myself because I don’t look like that and I’m a lot younger. And how amazing did she sound?
The cast are used to staying up all night writing and long hours to get the show on air each week. But when you think about putting together this show, what was the biggest challenge now that you’ve had time to think about it?
The most challenging part was just getting the show rehearsed and on the air without any disasters. Also the difference between an hour and a half and three hours and also the difference in doing it at Radio City and having these huge band changeovers. It was logistically a lot more difficult… just putting all the pieces together. It was like a Tetris puzzle, so if one piece fell out you were in big trouble. Like when Brittany’s guitar stopped working, I said, “Oh God, I hope this doesn’t keep happening to us tonight.” And it didn’t and we were all good.
Kenan Thompson is teasing the possibility of casting changes for the next season of Saturday Night Live. Following the conclusion of the iconic sketch comedy show’s 50th season on May 17 — hosted by Scarlett Johansson with musical guest Bad Bunny — the 47-year-old comedian and longtime SNL cast member called the season’s end “bittersweet” […]
Scarlett Johansson kicked off the season 50 finale of Saturday Night Live with a musical monologue set to the tune of Billy Joel‘s “Piano Man.”
The Jurassic World Rebirth star, who hosted the May 17 episode alongside musical guest Bad Bunny, opened the iconic sketch comedy show with a heartfelt cast singalong celebrating the show’s five-decade legacy.
“It’s 11:30 on a Saturday, finale of season 50,” Johansson sang. “It’s chaotic and crazy, the whole week is hazy, but there’s no place I’d rather be.”
The 40-year-old actress was soon joined by cast members Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day, Ego Nwodim and Chloe Fineman, who harmonized with her. “Sing us a song, it’s your monologue, sing us a song tonight, as we made 50 years of great memories, every Saturday Night,” they all sang.
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Johansson then teased a surprise appearance by the Piano Man himself, saying, “Ladies and gentleman, Billy Joel… wrote this song.” Day, visibly disappointed, responded, “I thought Billy Joel was going to come out,” Johansson, a seventh-time SNL host, said, “Oh, Mikey. So cute, so simple.”
The monologue took a comedic turn as Fineman expressed her love for musical monologues, while Gardner noted her preference for audience questions. Kenan Thompson, pretending to be a fan in the audience, asked the Jurassic film actress to introduce him to a dinosaur, prompting Johansson to jokingly regret calling on him.
New season 50 cast members Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline made cameo appearances, singing about their gratitude for joining the iconic show — only for Johansson to hilariously forget their names. She also gave shoutouts to cast members Marcello Hernandez and Devon Walker, calling them her friends, and acknowledging Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson.
Toward the end of the number, Johansson dropped a surprise bombshell, singing that season 50 would be Sherman’s last. “We’re all gonna miss you next year,” the cast sang in unison. A stunned Sherman replied, “Wait, what? Did you guys hear something or…?” The joke about the comedian’s departure was not mentioned again during the episode.
Elsewhere in the show, Bad Bunny delivered performances of “NUEVAYoL” and “PERFuMITO NUEVO,” both from his sixth album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Watch the performances here.
Watch Johansson’s SNL monologue below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.
Ever wondered what a reunion between Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Mike Myers might look like nearly 20 years after their infamous Hurricane Katrina telethon moment? Saturday Night Live has the answer.
In a hilariously awkward sketch during the SNL season 50 finale on May 17, the Austin Powers star finds himself trapped in an elevator with the embattled rapper — and does everything he can to escape the uncomfortable encounter.
The four-minute skit, titled “Mike Myers Elevator Ride,” opens with Myers (playing himself) stepping into an elevator alongside two star-struck passengers, played by host Scarlett Johansson and cast member Marcello Hernandez. After a few stops, Ye (portrayed by Kenan Thompson) enters mid-phone call, complaining about Spotify pulling his controversial new track “Cousins.”
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“Oh, my God. Is that Kanye West,” Myers whispers in horror as Johansson’s character quickly exits. “You can’t leave me alone in here with him,” he pleads.
Once alone, West turns to Myers, noting it’s the first time they’ve seen each other since their 2005 Hurricane Katrina telethon — when West famously declared on live TV that then-President George Bush didn’t care about Black people, leaving Myers stunned on screen.
You “had to stand there looking stupid,” Thompson’s West reminds him. Trying to shift the mood, Myers asks, “So what have you been up to?” “Oh, me? I’m in the KKK now,” the rapper replies.
The awkward exchange continues with small talk about their kids, before Ye abruptly shifts topics to Diddy, who’s currently on trial for sex trafficking.
“This Diddy stuff crazy, right?” West says. “Diddy, he’s on trial right now for, like, a bunch of stuff. It’s so crazy, man. You think you know a guy. Turns out to be a full crazy monster.”
When Myers asks, “So what happened to you?” Thompson’s West seeks clarification, only for Myers to quickly brush it off.
The encounter spirals further as Ye questions whether Myers’ last name is Jewish, the elevator appears to get stuck, and the hip-hop star takes a hit from a canister of nitrous oxide. Moments later, Myers bolts for the exit.
Watch SNL‘s “Mike Myers Elevator Ride” sketch below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.
Bad Bunny helped close out Saturday Night Live’s milestone 50th season with a memorable appearance on the show’s May 17 season finale, hosted by actress Scarlett Johansson. The 31-year-old Puerto Rican superstar took the stage twice during the NBC sketch comedy series, performing a pair of tracks from his history-making album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos. […]
Bad Bunny is ready to take summer by storm, but first, he’s performing as the musical guest during the season finale of Saturday Night Live this weekend. In promos for the May 17 finale of season 50 shared on Thursday (May 15), the superstar appears alongside host Scarlett Johansson and SNL mainstay Kenan Thompson, with […]
Arcade Fire returned to Saturday Night Live on May 10 to perform new songs from their upcoming album. The Canadian quintet — led by frontman Win Butler and his wife, Régine Chassagne — took the stage at Studio 8H ahead of their forthcoming seventh studio album, Pink Elephant. Arcade Fire opened their set with the […]
It’s Walton Goggins’ world, we’re just living in it. The actor who has been on a red hot streak lately thanks to his dual over-the-top roles in The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones is hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend and things are, honestly, off to a rough start.
In one of the promos for Saturday’s (May 10) show, the veteran character actor gets a little taste of what it’s like to be super recognizable, for… something. “I’m Walton Goggins and I’ll be hosting SNL this week with musical guest Arcade Fire,” Goggins says. Cast member Ego Nwodim can’t hold in her excitement, fangirling to Goggins that she loves his “music.”
“I… what… you think I’m Arcade Fire?” Goggins says a bit peeved. “Oh shoot, my bad,” Nwodim replies, embarrassed. “You thought Walton Goggins was four people?,” the host huffs while surrounded by members of the band. “We hung out at the Met Gala! Also, I literally said my name at the beginning of this!”
Not willing to endure the indignity any longer, Goggins says “screw this” and walks off. “We’re still cool, right Walton?” Nwodim asks Arcade Fire, as singer Win Butler waves goodbye to “Arcade Fire.”
Nwodim gets it right, kind of, in another promo.
“Walton, I hear you’re a pretty serious actor. So how do you prepare for the role of ‘Walton Goggins?,’” she asks. “I dunno, I just try to have fun and… um, wait a minute. Oh God. Oh Jesus, this is the role of a lifetime,” Goggins realizes, haunted. “How do we honor that which we have lived so directly, for he who can’t truly be himself is a fraud,” the actor continued as Nwodim and musical guests Arcade Fire slowly, nervously slip out of frame while the Righteous Gemstones star gets into serious method mode.
“… And… they’re gone,” he laments as he’s left alone on stage.
Finally, Nwodim tells Goggins she loved him in The White Lotus, while Butler adds that he also loved him in the holy roller Max comedy Righteous Gemstones. “Ah, much obliged,” says Goggins, who has been killing it for more than 30 years in films including Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, Ant-Man and the Wasp and dozens of TV series before turning into a global sensation over the past six months.
“And I liked you in that other thing you were in,” Nwodim adds, at a loss to name the exact project. “Oh yeah, and that one episode of that… one show,” Bulter says, as Goggins blushes at the non-specific plaudits. “Wait a second, didn’t you also play that guy that…” Nwodim begins, as Goggins completes her thought with, “… in that thing with the other guy.”
“Yes!” Nwodim and Butler say in unison.
Watch the promo below.
In a promo for this weekend’s new Saturday Night Live, it seems like Walton Goggins still has White Lotus on his mind as he teases his hosting debut.
Paired with SNL cast member Marcello Hernandez, the promo finds Goggins poking fun at the weekly White Lotus-style “who’s gonna die?” fan theories, applying them to the penultimate episode of season 50.
Hernandez attempts to rein in Goggins’ death theories, saying, “It’s not that kind of show, man. It’s SNL, no one’s gonna die.”
Goggins presses on regardless, confidently adding, “Colin Jost, Michael Che, murder-suicide,” to which Hernandez replies, “No! These are real people, they’re not characters… no one is dying.”
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Goggins pushes further, insisting, “That’s exactly what someone who’s about to die would say,” and proceeds to theorize about which cast member might be responsible for Hernandez’s fictional demise. He cycles through Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman before fixating on Bowen Yang, exclaiming, “It’s Bowen! It’s always been Bowen. It would always ever be Bowen, because he hates you.”
In classic SNL fashion, the sketch culminates with cast member Michael Longfellow sneaking up to dramatically stab Hernandez, revealing himself as the killer. “I should have been Domingo,” Longfellow says, referencing Hernandez’s viral recurring SNL character. Goggins, fully immersed, concludes with, “Wow, I did not see that coming! Prestige television!”
Fresh off his debut at the Met Gala on Monday, Goggins will continue a month of firsts as he makes his Saturday Night Live hosting debut this weekend, alongside musical guest Arcade Fire. SNL airs Saturday night at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and streams live on Peacock.
Sabrina Carpenter and Quinta Brunson teamed up for a catchy musical tribute to short people during Saturday Night Live on May 3.
In her opening monologue, the Abbott Elementary creator and star joked about her height before the “Please Please Please” singer joined her for a playful performance celebrating “shorties” everywhere.
Brunson, hosting SNL for the second time, noted that she was “proof you can do anything you put your mind to even if people look down on you.” She continued, “Whether it’s because of where you come from or literally because you’re only 4’11′ — yeah, that’s right, I’m short … But I love being short, and I want other short people to know the sky’s the limit. So shorties, tonight, this one’s for us!”
Brunson then launched into a humorous song about her stature, noting that she’s a cheap date who gets “wasted off of one glass of wine,” and name-checked other famously petite celebrities including Simone Biles, Kendrick Lamar and Tom Holland.
Carpenter — who’s around five feet tall herself — soon joined Brunson on stage, exchanging jokes with the host about eating short ribs and reading short stories. The performance culminated in a group number joined by SNL cast member Marcello Hernandez (5’6″) and former NBA star Dwyane Wade (6’4″).
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“It’s how we like our movies, and how we like our margins,” they all sang together. “We’ve been the same height since kindergarten. Life is just more fun when you’re fun size.”
Elsewhere in the episode, pop star Benson Boone made his SNL debut, performing two tracks — “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” and “Mystical Magical” — from his upcoming sophomore album, American Heart. The new project is scheduled for release on June 20 through Night Street Records/Warner Records. Watch Boone’s SNL performances here.
Check out Brunson’s SNL monologue below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.