“Saturday Night Live” Season 49 Cast Shot — Pictured: (top row l-r) Andrew Dismukes, Punkie Johnson, James Austin Johnson, Marcello Hernandez, Ego Nwodim, Michael Che, Colin Jost, Mikey Day, Molly Kearney, Chloe Troast, Devon Walker; (bottom row l-r) Heidi Gardner, Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, Michael Longfellow, Kenan Thompson.
Happy (almost) birthday, “Saturday Night Live!”
NBC's legendary live sketch comedy show, which aired for the first time in October 1975, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025.
The network announced May 10 that they will be celebrating the milestone anniversary with "SNL50 Primetime Special," a three-hour show.
Though limited details have been released, Mikey Day previously told TODAY.com that the anticipated special by Lorne Michaels, the creator and producer of “SNL,” “is going to be insane.”
Here's what we know so far about 50th anniversary “SNL” special.
When will the ‘SNL’ special air?
The 50th anniversary "SNL" 3-hour special will air live on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025 from 8-11 p.m. ET, NBC announced in a release.
Entertainment News
Ahead of the special, the network said they will have a “seven-month long party” to celebrate the 50th season. This celebration will include an election special in November, a documentary series, music specials, host a "SNL" cocktail party and a comedy special at Radio City Music Hall.
Who will host the celebration?
NBC has not yet revealed who will host the February 2025 special, but noted in a release that the primetime show will “welcome stars of the past and present to Studio 8H.”
This season has featured a wide variety of hosts and musical guests, including Timothée Chalamet, Jason Mamoa, Emma Stone, Kristen Wiig and Ryan Gosling, among others.
Should Michaels decide to invite his "Five-Timer's Club," stars who have hosted the show at least five times, the following celebrities would be at the blowout event: Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, John Goodman, Tom Hanks, Chevy Chase, Christopher Walken, Elliot Gould, Danny DeVito, Drew Barrymore, Tina Fey, Scarlett Johansson, Candice Bergen, Bill Murray, Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Melissa McCarthy, Dwayne Johnson, Jonah Hill, Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, John Mulaney, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Kristen Wiig.
What has been said about the 50th anniversary show?
In June 2023, "SNL" comedian Mikey Day stopped by TODAY and dropped a couple hints as to what fans can expect from the hours-long special.
“Oh my gosh, it’s going to be insane,” Day told TODAY co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. “I haven’t heard that much. I know Lorne’s slowly putting it together.”
He continued, “I believe every famous person in the universe will be there. It’s wild.”
During a red carpet interview at the 2023 Emmys, Entertainment Weekly asked Michaels who he could see succeeding him when he's ready to retire, to which the "SNL" creator spoke about the 50th anniversary.
“We’re doing the 50th anniversary show in February of ’25, so I will definitely be there for that, and definitely be there until that, and sometime before that we’ll figure out what we’re gonna do,” he said at the time.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from Today:
