# Saturday Night Live season 50

The fiftieth season of the American sketch comedy late night television program Saturday Night Live (also branded Saturday Night Live 50 and SNL50: The Anniversary Season) premiered on September 28, 2024 on NBC and Peacock, with host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll. In addition to the standard episodes hosted by celebrity guests and featuring musical acts, the series also had several months of acknowledgements, leading to a three-hour celebratory 50th anniversary special retrospective, which aired on February 16, 2025.

## Cast

Prior to the start of the season, Punkie Johnson, who had been on the show for four seasons since 2020, and featured player Molly Kearney, who had been on the show for two seasons since 2022, made the decision to leave after the conclusion of the previous season. Following Johnson and Kearney's departures, fellow featured player Chloe Troast was let go after only one season on the show. The show subsequently added three new cast members: Ashley Padilla of The Groundlings, stand-up comic Emil Wakim, and TikTok sketch comedian Jane Wickline.
Marcello Hernández, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, all of whom joined the cast in 2022, were promoted to repertory status.
In addition, SNL alums Dana Carvey, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg and actor/stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan, play Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff and Tim Walz, respectively, in the lead-up to the November 5, 2024 presidential election. Carvey and Samberg, however, have continued to make brief guest appearances, with Carvey – as of the seventh episode – continuing to hold the role of portraying Biden.
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

## Writers

Prior to the start of the season, Allie Levitan, Moss Perricone and Carl Tart joined the writing staff.
In addition, writers Dan Bulla (who has written for the show since 2019) and Auguste White (who joined the writing staff back in 2022) have been promoted to writing supervisors, joining alongside current supervisors Celeste Yim and Will Stephen.
Additionally, writer Rosebud Baker (who joined the writing staff back in 2022) is now named as a writer for Weekend Update.
Sudi Green (who was previously a writer on the show from 2015 to 2021) returned as a writer, for the first-half of the season, to fill in for Yim, who was taking a break from the show at the time. Green last wrote for the Charli XCX episode.

## Production

In late 2021, long-time producer Lorne Michaels stated that he was committed to continuing on the series through the fiftieth season (at the time, the show was in its forty-seventh) and suggested that he may retire afterward. The subsequent year, Kenan Thompson speculated that the series may end if Michaels left, saying, "He's the one that's had his touch on the whole thing . . . It opens the opportunity for a lot of bullshit to come into the game because he's such a legend that he keeps off those corporate wolves." During season forty-nine, Michaels suggested that 2000s-era member Tina Fey could take over, but insisted that he would finish the next season before any dramatic changes. He reiterated these plans in May, when a fiftieth anniversary special was announced that would celebrate the series' history on February 16, 2025. However, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter just before the season started, Michaels denied that he would be retiring at the end of the season. Prior to the season start on September 28, NBC will begin retrospectives on the show with their mid-year coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics, and Michaels intends to bring back everyone from the previous decades as well as hosts and a variety of musical guests who have helped shape the show.
On July 31, it was announced that Maya Rudolph would return to portray vice president and presidential nominee Kamala Harris through the 2024 election season. The next day, cast member Punkie Johnson announced that she would be leaving the show after four years. On August 2, cast member Molly Kearney announced their departure after two seasons as a featured player. On September 9, it was announced that Chloe Troast would also be departing after one season as a featured player. On the same day, it was announced that three new cast members would be hired as featured players: Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline. Featured players Marcello Hernández, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, who joined the cast along with Kearney prior to season 48, will be promoted to repertory status.
Coinciding with the fiftieth season, the biographical film Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, was released in theaters by Columbia Pictures on October 11, 2024, after a limited theatrical release on September 27, depicting the story of the show's tumultuous premiere on NBC.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 969 | 1 | Jean Smart | Jelly Roll | September 28, 2024 (2024-9-28) | 5.39 |
| Jelly Roll performs "Liar" and "Winning Streak" and appears in the cut-for-time "Blonde Dragon People" sketch. Hannah Einbinder, daughter of original Not Ready for Primetime Player Laraine Newman as well as Smart's co-star on Hacks, joins Smart in introducing Jelly Roll for the first song, "Liar". Maya Rudolph, Jim Gaffigan, Andy Samberg, and Dana Carvey appear as Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, Doug Emhoff, and Joe Biden, respectively, in the cold open. Additionally, Samberg appears in the cut-for-time "Blonde Dragon People" sketch. This episode marks the debut of a new arrangement of the theme song. Smart sings "I Happen to Like New York" in her opening monologue. Before the goodnights, a photo of Tom McCarthy, former senior vice president and global chief security officer for NBC, who died July 10, is shown in silence. Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, and Jane Wickline’s first episode as cast members. In versions distributed online and internationally, the "Textbook Writer" sketch is amended to include a shot from the dress rehearsal version, owing to a props error made by Smart in the live program. According to NBC, this is the most-watched episode ever on Peacock, "through the first weekend". Blake Lively was the original intended host of this premiere, but backed out due to recent controversies. ||||||
| 970 | 2 | Nate Bargatze | Coldplay | October 5, 2024 (2024-10-5) | 4.76 |
| Coldplay performs "All My Love" and "We Pray". Elyanna and Tini accompany Coldplay in the performance of "We Pray". The performance of "We Pray" was excised from the episode's broadcast in the United Kingdom, but remains intact on streaming platforms. Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Jim Gaffigan, and Dana Carvey appear as Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, Tim Walz and Joe Biden in the cold open. Rudolph and Samberg also appear in the SNL Digital Short, "Sushi Glory Hole". Akiva Schaffer appears in the SNL Digital Short, "Sushi Glory Hole". Before the goodnights, a photo of Kris Kristofferson, who hosted the season finale of the first season, and who died earlier in the week, is shown in silence. ||||||
| 971 | 3 | Ariana Grande | Stevie Nicks | October 12, 2024 (2024-10-12) | 5.57 |
| Stevie Nicks performs "The Lighthouse" and "Edge of Seventeen". Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Jim Gaffigan and Dana Carvey appear as Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, Tim Walz and Joe Biden in the cold open. Rudolph and Samberg also appear in the "Castrati" sketch. Carvey also appears in the "Maybelline" sketch. Technical issues afflicted the latter portion of the show. A malfunctioning sound board caused Nicks' second song to be delayed - following another set of commercials - which resulted in one sketch ("Cinema Classics", with Grande due to portray Judy Garland) being dropped and replaced by another ("Hotel Detective", recorded - and initially cut - at dress-rehearsal) with a shorter runtime. Broadcast reruns in the show's late night slot added new bumper footage during the commercials of Stevie and her band getting ready on stage, removing the initial broadcast's extended use of a still photo of Nicks. It also added an ad break between the Maybelline skit and the final skit. The episode's broadcast was also delayed by six minutes owing to NBC's coverage of Ohio State-Oregon on Big Ten Saturday Night. ||||||
| 972 | 4 | Michael Keaton | Billie Eilish | October 19, 2024 (2024-10-19) | 4.77 |
| Billie Eilish performs "Birds of a Feather" and "Wildflower", both with Finneas on acoustic guitar, and appears in the pre-recorded "TikTok" sketch. Alec Baldwin, Maya Rudolph, and Dana Carvey appear as Bret Baier, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden in the cold open. Carvey and Rudolph also appear as Biden and Harris in the pre-recorded "TikTok" sketch. Andy Samberg appears as Beetlejuice in the opening monologue. ||||||
| 973 | 5 | John Mulaney | Chappell Roan | November 2, 2024 (2024-11-2) | 6.59 |
| Chappell Roan performs "Pink Pony Club" and "The Giver". The performance of "Pink Pony Club" was excised from the episode's broadcast in the United Kingdom, but remains intact on streaming platforms. Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Jim Gaffigan and Dana Carvey appear as Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, Tim Walz and Joe Biden, respectively, in the cold open. Harris additionally appears as herself alongside Rudolph's impression and says with Rudolph "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!". Samberg also appears in the "Port Authority Duane Reade" sketch. Tim Kaine appears as himself in the "What's That Name?" sketch. Pete Davidson appears in the "Port Authority Duane Reade" sketch. Before the goodnights, a photo of Teri Garr, who hosted three times in the 1980s, and who died earlier in the week, is shown in silence. Several NBC affiliates filed equal time notices with the FCC due to appearances by Harris and Kaine invoking the equal-time rule. ||||||
| 974 | 6 | Bill Burr | Mk.gee | November 9, 2024 (2024-11-9) | 4.42 |
| Mk.gee performs "Rockman" and "Alesis". Dana Carvey appears as Elon Musk in the cold open. SNL writer Will Stephen appears in the "Snakeskin" sketch as a drummer. In versions distributed online and internationally, the "Trauma Support Group" sketch is replaced by a longer version recorded at dress rehearsal. Before the goodnights, a photo of Quincy Jones, who hosted the twelfth episode of the fifteenth season, and who died earlier in the week, is shown in silence. ||||||
| 975 | 7 | Charli XCX | Charli XCX | November 16, 2024 (2024-11-16) | 4.29 |
| Charli XCX performs "360" and "Sympathy Is a Knife". Julia Fox introduces Charli XCX's first performance with Bowen Yang introducing the second. Both performances were excised from the episode's broadcast in the United Kingdom, but remain intact in the version available via streaming. Dana Carvey and Alec Baldwin appear in the cold open as Joe Biden and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., respectively. Carvey also appears as Al Pacino in the pre-recorded "Wicked Auditions" sketch. Kyle Mooney appears in the opening monologue and the "Thanksgiving Baking Championship 2024" sketch. Andy Samberg appears in the SNL Digital Short, "Here I Go"; and during the goodnights. Akiva Schaffer also cameos in the Digital Short. Punkie Johnson appears during the goodnights. ||||||
| 976 | 8 | Paul Mescal | Shaboozey | December 7, 2024 (2024-12-7) | 3.84 |
| Shaboozey performs "Good News" and "A Bar Song (Tipsy)". Dana Carvey and David Spade appear as The Church Lady and Hunter Biden, respectively, in the Church Chat cold open. Writer Carl Tart appears in the "Brilliant Lawyer" sketch. Trisha Paytas appears in the "Spotify Wrapped" sketch. ||||||
| 977 | 9 | Chris Rock | Gracie Abrams | December 14, 2024 (2024-12-14) | 4.22 |
| Gracie Abrams performs "That's So True" and "I Love You, I'm Sorry". Adam Sandler appears in the "Gallbladder Surgery" sketch. ||||||
| 978 | 10 | Martin Short | Hozier | December 21, 2024 (2024-12-21) | 4.79 |
| Hozier performs "Too Sweet" and "Fairytale of New York". Tom Hanks, Paul Rudd, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Emma Stone, John Mulaney and Jimmy Fallon appear in the cold open to induct Short into the Five-Timers Club. Fallon, Stone and Wiig also appear in the opening monologue. McCarthy also appears in the "Parking Lot Altercation" sketch. Wiig, Rudd, McCarthy, and Hanks (reprising his role as Sully Sullenberger from Sully) also appear in the "Airport Parade" sketch. Johansson appears during Weekend Update backstage. Rudd also appears in the "Sábado Gigante" sketch. Lorne Michaels appears in the opening monologue. Dana Carvey appears in the "Sábado Gigante" sketch. Lucy Liu appears in the cut-for-time pre-recorded "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" sketch. With this episode, Short becomes the first Canadian-American and the first Dick Ebersol-era cast member to join the Five-Timers Club. ||||||
| 979 | 11 | Dave Chappelle | GloRilla | January 18, 2025 (2025-1-18) | 4.85 |
| GloRilla performs "Yeah Glo!" and a medley of "Whatchu Kno About Me" and "Let Her Cook" and appears in the pre-recorded "Pop the Balloon” sketch. Neither performance was broadcast in the United Kingdom, with GloRilla's musical guest credit excised from the opening sequence. Such edits were not made to the version of the episode available on streaming. Chappelle broke his own record for longest monologue in the show's history. His previous record, set when he hosted the show in November 2020, was a monologue of 16 minutes and 9 seconds. The monologue in this episode was "just short of 17 minutes". With Chappelle's monologue being longer than planned (the dress rehearsal monologue reportedly lasted only "nine minutes"), multiple sketches were cut from the live show. Donnell Rawlings appears in the pre-recorded "Pop the Balloon" sketch. Before the goodnights, a photo of filmmaker David Lynch, who died two days prior to this episode, is shown in silence. ||||||
| 980 | 12 | Timothée Chalamet | Timothée Chalamet | January 25, 2025 (2025-1-25) | 4.96 |
| Timothée Chalamet, with James Blake, performs a medley of "Outlaw Blues" and "Three Angels" for his first set and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" for his second set. Adam Sandler introduces Chalamet's first performance with Kenan Thompson introducing the second performance. Chalamet's performance of "Outlaw Blues" was excised from broadcast in the United Kingdom. Chalamet is the first non-musician host to also serve as musical guest since actor Gary Busey in 1979. Lin-Manuel Miranda appears in the cold open, reprising his role as Alexander Hamilton from the musical Hamilton. Writer Moss Perricone appears in the opening monologue. During the goodnights, Chalamet wishes his sister Pauline, who turned 33 the same night as the episode, a happy birthday. According to Nielsen and internal NBCU data, this episode is the third-most watched Peacock livestream on record, also obtaining 300 million viewers across all social platforms. ||||||
| 981 | 13 | Shane Gillis | Tate McRae | March 1, 2025 (2025-3-1) | 4.28 |
| Tate McRae performs "Sports Car" and "Dear God" and appears in the pre-recorded "Please Don't Destroy - The Sound" sketch. Neither performance was broadcast in the United Kingdom, but were included in the version of the episode available on-demand. Mike Myers appears in the cold open as Elon Musk. Before the goodnights, a still photo of David Johansen, in character as "Buster Poindexter", who died the previous day, is shown in silence. Despite being credited in the opening montage, Chloe Fineman was absent from this episode due to contracting COVID-19 days before the episode was due to air. ||||||
| 982 | 14 | Lady Gaga | Lady Gaga | March 8, 2025 (2025-3-8) | 4.63 |
| Lady Gaga performs "Abracadabra" and "Killah". A curse word in the latter performance was accidentally broadcast; it was not censored for the East Coast, but in the version of the episode distributed online and internationally the sound drops out solely for the word, while in the West Coast broadcast it dropped out less precisely and briefly censored some surrounding vocals. Bowen Yang introduces Gaga's first performance while wearing a shirt advertising her newest album, Mayhem. Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, and Kenan Thompson introduce Gaga’s second performance. Mike Myers appears as Elon Musk in the cold open. Two sketches of this episode were affected by props errors in the live broadcast. Small sections of "Birthday at Friendly's" were replaced with the dress rehearsal version on Peacock and YouTube, while a prop error in "A Long Goodbye" was not rectified upon post-broadcast distribution. ||||||

## Specials

| Title | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| "The 2024 SNL Election Special" | November 4, 2024 (2024-11-4) | 3.06 |
| Highlights of Saturday Night Live's 2024 election coverage. |||
| "A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving" | November 27, 2024 (2024-11-27) | 2.63 |
| A two-hour highlights collection of SNL’s Thanksgiving-themed sketches. |||
| "A Saturday Night Live Christmas" | December 18, 2024 (2024-12-18) | 2.79 |
| A two-hour highlights collection of SNL’s holiday-themed sketches. |||
| "SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night" | January 16, 2025 (2025-1-16) | N/A |
| A four-part documentary series focusing on the behind the scenes history of the show, including a deep dive into the "More Cowbell" sketch from season 25 and the show's low-rated, critically-despised, but pivotal 11th season which saw the return of Lorne Michaels after his primetime sketch series The New Show flopped. |||
| "Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music" | January 27, 2025 (2025-1-27) | 3.47 |
| A documentary by Questlove focusing on the musical guests, musical sketches and musical controversies of the series. |||
| "SNL50: The Homecoming Concert" | February 14, 2025 (2025-2-14) | N/A |
| A special concert livestreamed from Radio City Music Hall on Peacock. Musical guests included Arcade Fire, the B-52s, Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Cher, David Byrne, Brandi Carlile, Miley Cyrus, DEVO, Brittany Howard, Jelly Roll, Lady Gaga, Lauryn Hill, Chris Martin, Mumford & Sons, Nirvana, Post Malone, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Bonnie Raitt, Robyn, the Roots, St. Vincent, Eddie Vedder, and Jack White. |||
| "Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special" | February 16, 2025 (2025-2-16) | 13.92 |
| A three hour prime-time special celebrating SNL's 50th season. This special assembled together a large list of current and former cast members, hosts, and musical acts from throughout the show's fifty seasons. |||

## Ratings

Through the seventh episode, this season of Saturday Night Live was the "highest rated entertainment program across ad-supported broadcast and cable TV among viewers aged 18-49", and—-with seven days of on-demand viewing included—-the season so far averaged a 1.28 demo rating, and an average viewership of 7.3 million.
Viewership and ratings per episode of Saturday Night Live season 50 :
| No. | Title | Air date | Rating (18–49) | Viewers (millions) |
| 1 | "Jean Smart / Jelly Roll" | September 28, 2024 | 0.84 | 5.388 |
| 2 | "Nate Bargatze / Coldplay" | October 5, 2024 | 0.73 | 4.762 |
| 3 | "Ariana Grande / Stevie Nicks" | October 12, 2024 | 0.94 | 5.572 |
| 4 | "Michael Keaton / Billie Eilish" | October 19, 2024 | 0.71 | 4.777 |
| 5 | "John Mulaney / Chappell Roan" | November 2, 2024 | 1.24 | 6.586 |
| 6 | "Bill Burr / Mk.gee" | November 9, 2024 | 0.72 | 4.424 |
| 7 | "Charli XCX" | November 16, 2024 | 0.64 | 4.286 |
| 8 | "Paul Mescal / Shaboozey" | December 7, 2024 | 0.55 | 3.839 |
| 9 | "Chris Rock / Gracie Abrams" | December 14, 2024 | 0.61 | 4.200 |
| 10 | "Martin Short / Hozier" | December 21, 2024 | 0.70 | 4.793 |
| 11 | "Dave Chappelle / GloRilla" | January 18, 2025 | 0.76 | 4.848 |
| 12 | "Timothée Chalamet" | January 25, 2025 | 0.77 | 4.958 |
| 13 | "Shane Gillis / Tate McRae" | March 1, 2025 | 0.67 | 4.275 |
| 14 | "Lady Gaga" | March 8, 2025 | 0.60 | 4.625 |

### Specials

Viewership and ratings per episode of Saturday Night Live season 50 :
| No. | Title | Air date | Rating (18–49) | Viewers (millions) | DVR (18–49) | DVR viewers (millions) | Total (18–49) | Total viewers (millions) |
| 1 | "The 2024 SNL Election Special" | November 4, 2024 | 0.34 | 3.060 | 0.05 | 0.679 | 0.39 | 3.739 |
| 2 | "A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving" | November 27, 2024 | 0.43 | 2.634 | 0.04 | 0.314 | 0.47 | 2.948 |
| 3 | "A Saturday Night Live Christmas" | December 18, 2024 | 0.33 | 2.785 | 0.09 | 0.656 | 0.42 | 3.441 |
| 4 | "Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music" | January 27, 2025 | 0.42 | 3.474 | 0.05 | 0.516 | 0.47 | 4.002 |
| 5 | "Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special" | February 16, 2025 | 2.17 | 13.921 | 0.43 | 2.573 | 2.59 | 16.495 |