SNL40 brings together generations of comedy

Saturday Night Live (SNL) made it’s debut in 1975, giving my mom, who was 17 at the time, a reason to stay in with her friends and family on a Saturday night.  It was THE THING to do, then.  I grew up watching SNL with her.  It was a show we didn’t turn off when my grandparents entered the room, sleepy-eyed yet sleepless. I stopped watching for a little while when I didn’t think the cast was very good (and I was more interested in partying), and started watching again after college.

Last night marked 40 years of SNL and the entire three hours of the anniversary show proved it’s tenure of haliarity and humility through nostalgic skits, some live and some taped, earmarked as everyone’s favorites.

Photo Credit: thewrap.com

Here were my favorite parts of the SNL40 show:

1. Steve Martin – Anything he is in, I crack up.  I think it’s because I secretly want to be his friend.

2. Weekend Update – The weekend update hasn’t always been hilarious, but I would say there was always at least a nugget of laughter in it throughout the years.  Melissa McCarthy’s rendition of Chris Farley’s character made me laugh and cry.

3. Audition Reel – I loved watching the cast members who made it and even those who didn’t make it audition.  Some of them were so nervous, and they ended up being HUGE actors, like Adam Sandler.

4. The Californian’s skit – Meagan used to live in Cali, so I always thought this skit was spot on with the “You take the 405….”.  The exaggerated accents made it even better.  This skit brings together my favorite retired characters which are Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig, Fred Armison, and my favorite guest Betty White.

5. Paul Simon and Paul McCartney blew us away with their performances.  Much better than Kanye on the floor, of course.  WTF.

6. Bill Murray introducing the memoriam montage was sad.  Just when we thought we were in serious mode, they threw us a curve ball with a clip of Jon Lovitz, still alive and well in the audience.  Way to make us laugh and cry in the same second!

What were some of your favorite moments of the show?

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