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Celebrating 50 years of Saturday Night Live was an impossible task, but how well did they pull it off? As a huge SNL fan, Damon Amendolara breaks down the SNL 50 anniversary special on Watch D.A. Live—highlighting the moments that hit and the ones that missed the mark.
D.A. loved Adam Sandler’s heartfelt song and Eddie Murphy’s hilarious return in Black Jeopardy, but not everything landed as well. Was it even possible to honor five decades of comedy while still delivering fresh content?
Get D.A.'s full review of SNL’s milestone episode!
#SNL50 #SaturdayNightLive #AdamSandler #EddieMurphy #Comedy #WatchDALive #DAShow
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0:00
I have always really admired the
0:04
institution of SNL so I am going to be I
0:10
think more in line of just appreciating
0:14
getting a lot of the folks back together
0:18
and waxing
0:20
nostalgic my favorite era was late 80s
0:25
early 90s shocking I'm sure this was my
0:29
favorite cast this is Carvey leading
0:33
into Sandler and Farley and Hartman and
0:37
Jan Hooks and Kevin nean Dennis Miller
0:41
as my update guy that's my window right
0:44
there like 88 to 93 Mike Meyers is in
0:47
there this is the peak of Wayne's World
0:50
this is the peak of Dana Carvey as
0:51
George Bush This is those years and I'll
0:57
Always Love SNL always now I don't want
1:00
watch it much anymore I catch some clips
1:02
on YouTube I obviously will see whatever
1:04
is trending on social media I've seen
1:07
the Domingo sketch I thought the beus
1:09
and Butthead sketch from earlier in the
1:10
season was absolutely fantastic or last
1:12
season in fact we had Vanessa Jackson
1:14
one of the writers on the show done
1:16
watch Da live over the summer talking
1:18
about that sketch so I just love that
1:21
they got everybody together I do think
1:23
by and large it's an impossible
1:25
task to look back at an institution
1:29
while also trying to create new content
1:32
last night and trying to kind of
1:35
shoehorn in old cast members new cast
1:39
members current cast members celebrities
1:42
who have hosted musical acts even if you
1:46
have three three and a half hours I
1:47
think it's it's nearly
1:49
impossible I thought the mistake they
1:51
made was I think they stacked it a
1:53
little weird The Lawrence Welk Show
1:55
early was kind of like a eh I thought
1:57
leading off with Paul Simon and Sabrina
1:59
car penter it's a low energy song I
2:02
think you get to start off with
2:03
something high energy I know why they
2:04
brought it together you have Paul Simon
2:06
who was the you know one of the original
2:09
sounds and voices of SNL and 75 and you
2:13
pair him with somebody contemporary who
2:15
is hotter right now than Sabrina
2:17
Carpenter but I just I think it needs to
2:19
be a little bit more celebratory and
2:21
upbeat but I just think you had you
2:24
stacked it a little weird I think the
2:26
Lawrence Welk Show is kind of
2:27
unnecessary there's definitely a
2:28
different way to get CHR wig and will
2:30
Farland of the same sketch totally
2:33
unnecessary to have Kim Kardashian you
2:35
know in any sketch I think you also
2:39
Black Jeopardy is good because Eddie is
2:42
doing Tracy Morgan the rest of the
2:45
sketch is a little bit like a eh and
2:47
then again you're shoe Harding Tom Hanks
2:49
into the end of that because he was in
2:51
one of the original ones and it's just
2:53
it's not going to hit the same way
2:54
because you kind of know the bit the
2:56
reason that the first one works with Tom
2:58
Hanks you you don't know the bit yet
3:01
you're going to the well on Domingo
3:03
again a little bit of a Twist here but
3:05
you we've really now started to soak
3:07
Domingo for everything that it's worth I
3:09
get it it's popular does it need to be
3:11
an SNL 50
3:13
um but again I think it's kind of an
3:16
impossible ask what are you you're
3:18
asking to look back on 50 years of
3:21
Comedy while also making new comedy it's
3:25
like you're serving two masters
3:27
here I thought of all the things last
3:31
night that worked
3:34
best Adam Sandler doing the song about
3:38
50
3:39
years because Adam Sandler is remarkable
3:43
in this way Sandler has this kind of
3:46
effortless Everyman thing he's wearing
3:48
sweatpants all the time ball caps it
3:51
looks like he's always just rolled out
3:52
of bed so whatever his humor is it is so
3:56
you know it is so just kind of there and
3:59
lap together seemingly and just whatever
4:01
it is it is and yet nobody hits
4:06
silliness and punchlines with a wistful
4:11
Nostalgia like Adam Sandler and when
4:15
Sandler
4:17
pauses for Farley and for
4:21
Norm it's like the whole room gets
4:23
choked up because there's the
4:25
significance here the significance of
4:26
last night is not to make new content
4:30
the significance of last night is to
4:32
remind us that all of us
4:34
watching for 50 years have had people
4:38
from that show enter our lives and
4:42
become pop culture
4:45
phenomenons and we've seen them be born
4:49
as celebrities and some of them die as
4:52
celebrities and that the institution of
4:55
SNL is so unreal that it could birth
4:59
bill Murray and Chevy Chase and Chevy
5:03
Chase is 80 years old that the same show
5:07
at the same time slot doing the same
5:09
exact thing the same format would birth
5:13
the celebrity career of a guy who's 80
5:17
years
5:19
old I mean just that so how do you weave
5:22
that together Sandler did it best
5:26
Sandler did it best that song was
5:28
powerful and it was like you
5:32
know Billy Crystal gave us just a year I
5:35
thought it was like wow it's an
5:36
interesting way to put it he gave us
5:38
just a year but you know it was but Arma
5:42
we got 11 of Arma you know once you
5:44
started thinking about it in those ways
5:46
it was almost like a baseball player's
5:49
career how many years did you get to
5:51
enjoy that player that athlete Sandler
5:55
nailed it he was phenomenal he
5:57
absolutely nailed it I thought the other
5:59
guy nailed it unsurprisingly was Bill
6:02
Murray doing the ranking of the Weekend
6:05
Update anchors I thought that was
6:06
brilliant I thought it was great you
6:08
know I frankly I thought Dennis Miller
6:10
was too low I love Dennis Miller but the
6:12
way that he did it kind of teasing Colin
6:14
Joost about the whole thing and you know
6:18
where was he who was he gonna put number
6:20
one ultimately it was his brother
6:22
obviously a little tongue and cheek all
6:24
of it was I thought smart and funny the
6:27
timing was great you know was Amy and
6:30
Tina beat Amy and Jimmy um or Tina and
6:34
Amy versus Tina and Jimmy the way that
6:36
he phrased it was really funny the whole
6:38
the whole thing was really good I
6:40
thought those two things worked and
6:41
again what did it do it wo everything
6:43
together it stacked or identified why
6:46
this matters because for 50 years the
6:49
same format created all these stars and
6:52
moments and sketches and characters and
6:55
celebrities nothing's been a star maker
6:58
quite like SNL and to contextualize it
7:01
as Sandler and Murray
7:05
did that's what we were there for we
7:08
were there to kind of see through the
7:10
Looking Glass what 50 years of this
7:13
looks like through that through that
7:16
plane through that prism through that
7:18
that
7:19
lens if you knew it's all Now 50 years
7:22
what does that look like which is why I
7:25
I I didn't love the Andy Sandberg video
7:30
because while of course it's making fun
7:32
of the fact that as as happy as
7:34
everything seems everybody's anxiety
7:37
ridden I thought you know in many ways
7:40
that was pretty self-indulgent it was
7:43
like okay yeah we did all this great
7:46
stuff but everybody was kind of
7:48
miserable while doing it where we as the
7:51
audience we we don't want to hear how
7:53
miserable it is we just want to enjoy
7:55
the fact that it was done all these
7:57
characters
7:59
all these pop culture
8:01
phrases you're watching all the things
8:04
that Will Farrell did or Eddie Murphy
8:06
did and you're like or Dana Carvey data
8:08
and all of those people all those
8:09
characters last
8:11
forever and you know it's like you you
8:15
can identify where you were your age
8:18
watching that episode what have you
8:20
still how many years later that's what
8:23
we wanted last night instead of kind of
8:25
I thought some of the insular stuff
8:27
which it's like okay but we're kind of
8:30
there because it's we're looking back at
8:33
this monstrosity of time that has gone
8:37
by and Everything's changed and yet
8:39
nothing's changed there's still an
8:42
opening monologue there's still a
8:44
celebrity host it's still an hour and a
8:46
half on Saturday nights with a musical
8:48
guest and that doesn't change and that's
8:51
pretty special because what else in life
8:54
hasn't changed at all since
8:57
1975 nothing there is absolutely Nothing
8:59
in life that hasn't changed since 1975
9:02
except for SNL in many
9:03
ways so that's my overall thought on SNL
9:07
50 I liked it I thought that it was an
9:10
impossible task but that they pulled it
9:12
off well enough I would have made some
9:14
changes like I said some of the stuff
9:16
but overall I thought it was better than
9:19
I expected and I'm just I'm kind of
9:23
wondering like it's such an institution
9:24
now how can you ever disassemble it
9:27
Lord's not going to be there forever
9:28
he's 80 but if you just gave the job to
9:30
Seth Meers or
9:32
whomever how could you ever disassemble
9:34
this it's just a machine that lasts
9:37
forever so it's like Steve Martin's
9:39
probably gonna be at SNL 70 I what you
9:42
know it's like it just it just keeps
9:45
recreating itself in the same exact way
9:49
almost Wallace is asking why didn't they
9:52
wait until the actual anniversary in
9:53
October because February is sweeps month
9:57
because this is where you make your bank
9:59
with ratings so that's why the Winter
10:02
Olympics are always during February this
10:04
is why the Grammys and the Oscars and
10:07
your award shows are during February
10:09
it's why SNL 40 was in February SNL 50
10:12
is in February it's why you know the NFL
10:15
loves that the Super Bowl is in February
10:17
because this month is when you've got
10:20
the most people inside watching TV not
10:23
distracted and then you sell these
10:26
numbers for the spring and then even for
10:29
for the fall potentially on television
10:32
ad Revenue
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