Saturday Night Live is getting ready to celebrate its impressive 50th-anniversary milestone with a three-hour live special.
This Sunday, NBC’s long-running late-night sketch show will welcome back a stacked ensemble of series alums and former hosts, as well as four of the original cast members.
It’s expected that several big-time artists will also appear as the evening’s musical guests, though the list hasn’t been announced yet.
Read below for all the details about SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration.
When is the ‘SNL’ 50th-anniversary tribute show?
NBC will air SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration on Sunday beginning at 8 p.m. EST/ 5 p.m. PST. It will also stream on Peacock.
Which ‘SNL’ alums are slated to appear?
On Monday, the show released a list of former cast members who will once again take the famed 30 Rock stage. The roster includes a mix of original cast members such as Laraine Newman, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin and Garrett Morris to more recent alumni Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler, Eddie Murphy, Fred Armisen, Molly Shannon, Kristen Wiig, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, Pete Davison, Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Will Forte, Kate McKinnon, Andy Sandberg, Seth Meyers, Kenan Thompson, Jason Sudeikis and Chris Rock.
However, the omission of Bill Hader was not lost on fans who begged for the Barry actor to return.
Who is hosting the show?
The special will also feature celebrities who have previously graced the stage as guest hosts. Adam Driver, Ayo Edebiri, Bad Bunny, Dave Chappelle, John Mulaney, Kim Kardashian, Martin Short, Miley Cyrus, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Pedro Pascal, Peyton Manning, Quinta Brunson, Robert De Niro, Sabrina Carpenter, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks and Woody Harrelson are all set to appear.
Is there a regular edition of ‘Saturday Night Live’ this week?
No, the show is on a break this week. Timothée Chalamet hosted the most recent Saturday Night Live broadcast, on January 25. He did double duty, performing Bob Dylan songs — Chalamet plays Dylan in the Oscar-nominated film A Complete Unknown and spent years preparing for the role.
But fans tuning in Saturday night during the regular time slot can see the show’s very first episode, from October 1975 and hosted by George Carlin, beginning at 11:30 p.m. EST/ 8:30 p.m. PST.
What musical guests will appear during the ‘SNL’ 50th anniversary tributes?
Music is a huge part of SNL and a mix of global artists are scheduled to make an appearance on SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration.
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Lovers of music on SNL have other chances to celebrate. NBC has scheduled SNL50: The Homecoming Concert for Friday night. It’ll stream live on Peacock, beginning at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST.
The Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga, Post Malone, Bad Bunny, Jack White, Cyrus, Robyn, Bonnie Raitt are some of the planned performances.
The musical legacy of SNL is also explored in the documentary Ladies and Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music, from Oscar-winner Questlove. It’s currently streaming on Peacock.
“Watching SNL those first seasons gave me a musical vocabulary that I don’t think would have happened on its own,” he told The Associated Press last month before the special aired.
Who was in the original ‘SNL’ cast and why won’t all of them appear?
The first Saturday Night Live cast was known as the Not Ready for Prime Time Players and consisted of Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Laraine Newman, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris and Jane Curtin.
Radner and Belushi have since died. Aykroyd’s absence from the list of returning cast members was unclear, though he posted enthusiastically about the 50th anniversary on social media last week.
As part of its anniversary celebration, Peacock is streaming a four-part documentary series, SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, about the show.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
