This year, Saturday Night Live, is officially celebrating its 50th season. The show, which first aired back in 1975, is one of the longest-running American television shows of all time. So, as a lifelong SNL super fan, I’ve decided to round up 27 behind-the-scenes facts, secrets, and cast stories I’ve learned over the years to celebrate their five decades on air:
2.
The only reason Eddie Murphy didn’t get fired from the show with the rest of the cast after his first season was because head writer Michael O’Donoghue thought Eddie ate dog food live on air.
3.
Live, during an episode of SNL in 1977, Lorne Michaels — half-jokingly and half-not — offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show and sing three songs. A month later, he upped the offer to…$3,200 and a hotel accommodation, courtesy of NBC. Lorne joked, “You divide it any way you want. You want to give Ringo less, that’s up to you.”
4.
A very pregnant Amy Poehler broke into tears at rehearsal the night before Jon Hamm was hosting, and he had the perfect words of advice for her: “Get your shit together.”
5.
In 2022, Dave Chappelle was hosting an episode of the show and made a joke during his dress rehearsal monologue that had Lorne Michaels and other producers receiving angry texts from writers and cast members alike, saying they felt “betrayed.”
6.
Larry David once stormed out of the studio and quit his job at SNL because his sketches never made it to air. He came back the following Monday like nothing had ever happened.
7.
When Paris Hilton hosted the show, Seth Meyers made a bet that he’d pay $1,000 to the first person she asked a personal question to.
8.
Nasim Pedrad said the most embarrassing moment during her time on SNL was when she accidentally chipped Justin Timberlake’s front tooth the morning of the show. She and Timberlake — who was hosting the show that night — were shooting a rom-com parody pre-tape that involved a pillow fight. Next thing she knew, her “knee accidentally launched into his face.”
9.
Will Ferrell accidentally punched Ellen DeGeneres in the face while rehearsing a sketch and gave her boxing headgear as an apology gift.
11.
Back in the day, it wasn’t unusual for male writers on the show to pee in cups and leave them around their offices.
12.
The night before her SNL audition, Cheri Oteri got awful food poisoning. She still showed up to the studio the next morning, but she looked and felt so awful that the makeup artist greeted her by saying, “Oh my God, what happened to you?”
13.
Before the last show of season 27, the writers threw a wild party that ended with a spilled-punch slip ‘n’ slide, Horatio Sanz fracturing his ribs, and a towel full of vomit in front of Carson Daly’s office.
14.
Will Ferrell once wore the same outfit — Wrangler jeans, a Western shirt, a vest, and a trucker hat — for an entire season of SNL.
15.
Fred Armisen and Bill Hader used to constantly prank call Seth Meyers at 4 a.m., pretending to be on a radio show.
16.
According to Leslie Jones, sometimes Kenan Thompson would purposely tell her the wrong camera was filming her. He did it so that whenever she’d break character and try to turn away from the camera, she was actually facing the one that was live head-on.
17.
In a 1983 episode, SNL Executive Producer Dick Ebersol had the audience vote on whether or not they should keep cast member Andy Kaufman on the show. They had other cast members repeatedly read two 900 phone numbers — one that viewers could call and vote to keep Andy, and another they could call to vote for him to be kicked off the show. At the end of the episode when the cast said their goodnights, the votes were revealed, and viewers ultimately voted to kick Andy off the show for good.
18.
Lorne Michaels once cut a sketch from airing because then–presidential hopeful Barack Obama thought it was funny but too controversial.
19.
The first time John Mulaney was on camera, he missed his cue because he and Bobby Moynihan were so excited, they couldn’t stop high-fiving.
20.
Rachel Dratch once threw her back out in the middle of a read-through, so Johnny Knoxville reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of loose pills to offer her.
21.
Mike Schur — who co-created Parks and Rec and Brooklyn Nine-Nine — also wrote for SNL for a time. His very first week on the show, he contributed one single joke to one single sketch with Tracy Morgan, Samuel L. Jackson, and Will Ferrell in it. Will said the line, and it was a hit, so Mike thought, “Okay, if I get fired tomorrow, I can say I actually wrote for Saturday Night Live.” However, his name was spelled wrong in the credits.
22.
Will Ferrell had a face-to-face meeting with Michaels before his callback, so naturally Ferrell showed up with a briefcase full of counterfeit money to prank him.
23.
Aidy Bryant once returned from the bathroom to find that Kate McKinnon had been dancing around with a hammer and knocked a hole into the wall of their office.
24.
In 1978 — minutes before the show started — cast member Bill Murray and the former cast member and then-host Chevy Chase got into a physical altercation in John Belushi’s dressing room. Bill had been hired after Chevy’s departure from the show to take the latter’s place. Speaking to Howard Stern, Chevy said, “And basically, words were said — just before the show in the makeup room — and he got me really pissed… I was ready to level him, and he was probably ready to scratch me up.”
25.
When Bill Hader hosted in 2018, John Mulaney made an appearance on “Weekend Update” where he tried to make Bill break by whispering “My girlfriend works at Yoshinoya Beef Bowl” in his ear.
26.
Tons of well-known celebs today — like Jennifer Coolidge, Mindy Kaling, Aubrey Plaza, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Colbert, and Jordan Peele, to name a few — auditioned for the show way back in the day and didn’t make the cut.
27.
And finally, according to Amy Poehler, her most embarrassing moment was when John Goodman flipped her over his shoulder and into a dumpster for a sketch, and she passed out in there for a full minute.
You can watch SNL‘s 50th-anniversary celebrations — which include a concert on Friday, 2/14, a re-airing of its first episode on Saturday, 2/15, and a three-hour anniversary special on 2/15 — on NBC and Peacock.
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