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Top Comments: SNL50 Weekend, I Needed That Edition [1]
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Date: 2025-02-17
I had expected to be sharing with you my experience at today’s 50501 No Kings on President’s Day event outside my local City Hall. But when even the goes-out-in-any-weather-but-rain dog refused to go outside because it was 20F with 30mph winds (gusting to 50+), I made the decision that unfortunately standouts will be needed in warmer weather too, so I stayed home. I can report from friends that even our little city had an excellent turnout of people warmer than I. But hrmmm, what to talk about tonight?
For the past month, almost all of my attention and energy has been focused on ::gestures around::. Truth be told, it’s been incredibly hard to come here each week and find something to talk about because I’m just SO exhausted by simply making it through the day. With last Friday being Valentine’s Day, Mr. Brillig and I did our usual celebration… by which I mean noping out of Hallmark Holiday Romance and doing our own thing (and going out to dinner when all the hoopla dies down). We ordered takeout sushi from a local favorite and settled in to watch “for a bit” the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Homecoming Concert.
Well, ‘for a bit’ turned into watching the ENTIRE thing, rapt. Radio City Music Hall was filled… ~6000 people… ALL of whom had a connection to the show. Cast member, special guest, musical act, crew, etc. And all of the musical acts had appeared on SNL at some point. But it got better… it had musicians paying tribute to others no longer with us. collaborations between artists. And there wasn’t a bad performance the entire set.
Saturday evening, NBC treated us to a broadcast of the very first episode… Oct 11th 1975 [Available to stream in its entirety here]. I was too young to have seen it back then, as I wasn’t in high school and able to stay up that late for another few years. It was so cool to watch the Original Cast, with George Carlin as special guest and Billy Preson and Janis Ian as musical guests. To see what had stayed the same and also how the show had evolved in just a few short years to what I remember as ‘my SNL’.
Sunday rolled around and OF COURSE we watched the entire 3.5 hour SNL50 special. We laughed, we reminisced, we saw sketches (NOT SKITS!!) we knew and ones clearly from seasons we missed. We relived SNL ads in a montage, and laugh-cringed at the In Memoriam segment — which was not departed cast members but rather sketches that did NOT weather the test of time. And got sniffly when, during the closing moments when the cast is all on stage (you know that moment), Laraine Newman and Jane Curtin held up a photo of Gilda Radner.
For nearly 8 hours over the weekend, we put down everything that’s happening in the outside world and simply enjoyed. To be fair there were some pointed bits delivered in true SNL fashion but not enough to jar us back into checking our phones to see WTF happened that hour. I did NOT realize how badly I needed it, until I noticed my shoulders weren’t so hunched up near my ears. Today I’m back at it, but dayyum, it was good to laugh and relax and remember that feeling. I recommend it :).
There’s far too much for me to share it all, but Youtube has a zillion clips. If you missed it, go check them out (and if you are a Peacock subscriber, they have an entire section devoted to this and full replays of everything).
From Friday night’s concert (there aren’t a lot of full-length pieces, so some clips):
Jimmy Fallon opened with Soul Man, then introduced the evening while trying to regain his breath!
The B-52’s and Love Shack, with Fred Armisen on drums. Fred also sat in with DEVO.
Post Nirvana (Post Malone & the surviving members of Nirvana) in what was an incredible version of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
And in the biggest OMFG moment I had all evening, Cher. For the naysayers who said she should have dressed her age, if you can rock THAT at 78, go for it.
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