On Sunday, Feb. 16, Saturday Night Live (SNL), the comedy sketch television show, hosted its 50th anniversary special studded with stars and cameos. 

The extra-long special began with Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Howard singing a rendition of “Homeward Bound.” 

Then, in traditional SNL style, there was a host. Steve Martin, a historical SNL cast member, was the man of the hour. He was joined by guest appearances from past cast members John Mulaney and Martin Short. They made references to old skits and bits and frequently mentioned past hosts and cast members in the crowd. 

The opening skit for the episode was a rendition of “The Lawrence Welk Show,” starring Will Ferrell in his iconic impersonation of Robert Goulet. He sang, rode in on a vespa and brought all of the swagger that came with his character. He was joined by the Maharelle Sisters, played by Kim Kardashian, Scarlett Johanson and Ana Gasteyer. 

The skit was in reference to an extremely popular bit done by SNL in the past, where Kristin Wiig plays the fourth sister, Dooneese, who has an emphasized forehead and tiny hands. Dooneese’s character is awkward and satirically obscene, so the combination of her character and Ferrell’s Goulet impression were a perfect opening skit to showcase the iconic comedy of SNL.  

The second skit of the night was another callback to an iconic skit called “Black Jeopardy.” This skit was made up entirely of SNL legends, with Kenan Thompson as the host and Eddie Murphy, Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan as contestants. All the answers given were in the comedic style, and Tracy Morgan really played up his character. There was also another iconic cameo by Tom Hanks. 

In between the second and third skits, Emma Stone introduced an extremely popular character, played by Molly Shannon, by the name of Sally O’Malley. SNL then paid tribute to all the physical comedy it has done over the years, including the iconic “Cowbell” sketch. 

The third skit was a continuation of the extremely viral “Domingo” series from the past year. While the first “Domingo” sketch featured Ariana Grande singing “Espresso” off-key, the anniversary special and third part of the series was set to the tune of “Defying Gravity” and performed by Sabrina Carpenter. Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny were also introduced in comedic fashion, creating a tune the internet will surely be singing for a while. 

To break up the skits, former cast members and comedic icons Amy Pohler and Tina Fey answered long-awaited questions about extremely popular moments from SNL and shouted out famous celebrities in the crowd. 

The fourth skit was a digital sketch prepared prior to the live air of the episode, where current castmate Bowen Yang and recurring guest star Andy Samberg sang about anxiety regarding starring on SNL. The song touched on how everyone performs on SNL experiences anxiety, and, somewhat surprisingly, IBS.  

The next break between the fourth and fifth skits was Aubrey Plaza’s introduction of Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard as they sang a rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U” as tribute to Sinead O’Connor. 

The next segment of the night was a somewhat iconic one: the “Weekend Update” with Colin Jost and Michael Che. They touched on some current events in their shocking comedic style that made fun of serious, relevant world and political news. SNL also had two past characters perform, namely, “Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party,” played by former SNL cast member, Cecily Strong; and “Drunkle,” played by Bobby Moynihan. The segment ended with a cameo by Seth Meyers, and Bill Murray listed off the best former “Weekend Update” hosts. Spoiler alert—Colin Jost did not make the list. 

In true SNL fashion, Meyers and Murray joked that the skits after the weekend update weren’t worth watching.  

The fifth skit of the night starred Kate McKinnon’s iconic character in the historic SNL skit, “Close Encounters,” where her character narrates how she was abducted by aliens to some investigators. McKinnon’s comedic timing was perfect alongside new characters played by Pedro Pascal, Woody Harrelson and Meryl Streep. This skit included McKinnon’s classic raunchy humor that has solidified her success as a comedian. 

The following sketches included a slew of renditions of past SNL skits. Lorraine Newman, one of the original members of the SNL cast, reminisced on her time with SNL while Pete Davidson provided comedic relief as the character Chad. 

There was a rendition of the famous sketch “Debbie Downer.” Debbie Downer, who is played by former SNL cast member, Rachel Dratch, tried to energize the conversation with depressing facts while Jimmy Fallon, Drew Barrymore, Robert DeNiro and Ayo Edebiri celebrated SNL’s 50th anniversary. Rachel Dratch said her character’s famous line, “Speaking of, kids, it’s official. I can’t have children. But I told you that once, Jimmy.” 

Fallon responded, “Yeah, did you? Yeah, I don’t remember.” He then proceeded to break character. 

In a former sketch as Debbie Downer, Rachel Dratch said a similar line while breaking character, and several cast members in the sketch, including Jimmy Fallon, then broke character as well. The “Debbie Downer” anniversary sketch was a fun tribute to special SNL memories. 

“Scared Straight” with Kenan Thompson, Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell was another renditioned sketch. Will Ferrell entering the sketch wearing cut-off shorts was only one of the many surprises featured in the sketch. Other performances of the night included Lil’ Wayne.  

After the sixth skit, Adam Sandler, introduced by Jack Nicholson, sang a song about 50 years of SNL. He shouted out a lot of pop-culture references and made some funny jabs at the creator of SNL, Lorne Michaels. 

Overall, SNL 50 was full of cameos, special appearances, nostalgic performances and comedy, of course.