Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special

"Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special" (also billed as "SNL40") is a three-and-a-half-hour prime-time special that aired on February 15, 2015, on NBC, celebrating Saturday Night Live's 40th year on the air, having premiered on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. It is produced by Broadway Video. This special generated 23.1 million viewers, becoming NBC's most-watched prime-time, non-sports, entertainment telecast (excluding Super Bowl lead-outs) since the Friends series finale in 2004. It is the third such anniversary special to be broadcast, with celebratory episodes also held during the 15th and 25th seasons.

The special was preceded on NBC by an hour-long SNL 40th Red Carpet Live, hosted by Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Carson Daly and Al Roker, who interviewed past hosts, current and previous cast members, and musical legends who had previously performed on the show.

Synopsis
The special followed the format of a typical Saturday Night Live episode, extended to 3½ hours instead of the usual 1½, and included a cold open, a monologue, sketches, a short film, commercial parodies, and musical performances. The sketches, most of which were revivals of sketches that appeared over the show's run, made reference to the show and its four decades on air, with the original cast members who appeared in those sketches reprising their roles along with numerous guest stars. A handful of commercial parodies, including "Colon Blow" and "Mom Jeans", reran as they originally appeared on the show. In order of appearance:

Musical performances
The show included musical performances by:
 * Paul McCartney, introduced by Keith Richards, Performed "Maybe I'm Amazed".
 * Miley Cyrus, introduced by Candice Bergen and Win Butler, Performed "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".
 * Kanye West, introduced by Christopher Walken, Performed a medley of "Jesus Walks", "Only One", and "Wolves" (the latter with Sia and Vic Mensa).
 * Paul Simon, introduced by Jack White, Performed "Still Crazy After All These Years".

In Memoriam
Bill Murray introduced an "In Memoriam" tribute to late SNL cast and crew members (which also included an obligatory mention of Francisco Franco).

The following were paid tribute to:


 * Jan Hooks, cast member
 * Elizabeth Karolyi, wardrobe
 * Al Siegel, cue cards
 * Don Pardo, announcer
 * Bernie Brillstein, talent manager
 * Al Camoin, camera operator
 * Tom Davis, writer/performer
 * Andy Kaufman, guest performer
 * Danitra Vance, cast member
 * Charles Rocket, cast member
 * Tom Wolk, band
 * Heino Ripp, technical director
 * Dave Wilson, director
 * Willie Day, prop master
 * Phil Hartman, cast member
 * Chris Farley, cast member
 * Michael O'Donoghue, writer/performer
 * Elliott Wald, writer
 * Audrey Peart Dickman, coordinating producer
 * Herb Sargent, head writer
 * John Belushi, cast member
 * Gilda Radner, cast member
 * Jon Lovitz (not deceased), cast member -- Lovitz was jokingly included in the segment, as he was alive and present in the audience. His reaction is showed.

Guest appearances
This special assembled together a large list of current and former cast members, hosts, and musical acts from throughout the show's forty seasons. Show creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels stated that every host and most musical guests were invited, plus any cast member or writer who had been on the show more than a year. Ultimately, over a hundred in all were then confirmed to appear.

In the opening sequence, 81 performers were credited. Unlike a regular episode, all performers were credited as repertory:


 * Fred Armisen
 * Dan Aykroyd
 * Alec Baldwin
 * Vanessa Bayer
 * Jim Belushi
 * Candice Bergen
 * Win Butler
 * Jim Carrey
 * Dana Carvey
 * Chevy Chase
 * Louis C.K.
 * Ellen Cleghorne
 * Bradley Cooper
 * Billy Crystal
 * Jane Curtin
 * Miley Cyrus
 * Larry David
 * Pete Davidson
 * Robert De Niro
 * Michael Douglas
 * Rachel Dratch
 * Jimmy Fallon
 * Will Ferrell
 * Tina Fey
 * Will Forte
 * James Franco
 * Zach Galifianakis
 * Ana Gasteyer
 * John Goodman
 * Bill Hader
 * Darrell Hammond
 * Tom Hanks
 * Derek Jeter
 * Dakota Johnson
 * Leslie Jones
 * Taran Killam
 * Jon Lovitz
 * Norm Macdonald
 * Peyton Manning
 * Steve Martin
 * Melissa McCarthy
 * Paul McCartney
 * Kate McKinnon
 * Tim Meadows
 * Seth Meyers
 * Garrett Morris
 * Bobby Moynihan
 * Eddie Murphy
 * Bill Murray
 * Mike Myers
 * Kevin Nealon
 * Laraine Newman
 * Jack Nicholson
 * Edward Norton
 * Bob Odenkirk
 * Sarah Palin
 * Joe Piscopo
 * Amy Poehler
 * Colin Quinn
 * Keith Richards
 * Chris Rock
 * Maya Rudolph
 * Andy Samberg
 * Adam Sandler
 * Jerry Seinfeld
 * Paul Shaffer
 * Molly Shannon
 * Martin Short
 * Paul Simon
 * David Spade
 * Emma Stone
 * Cecily Strong
 * Jason Sudeikis
 * Taylor Swift
 * Kenan Thompson
 * Justin Timberlake
 * Kerry Washington
 * Kanye West
 * Betty White
 * Jack White
 * Kristen Wiig

Audience members
Also in attendance included numerous actors, musicians, comedians, media figures, politicians, and celebrities such as:


 * Arcade Fire
 * Tom Arnold
 * The B-52s
 * Backstreet Boys
 * Christine Baranski
 * Lance Bass
 * Beck Bennett
 * Michael Bolton
 * Jim Breuer
 * A. Whitney Brown
 * Steve Buscemi
 * Aidy Bryant
 * AJ Calloway
 * Kate Capshaw
 * 50 Cent
 * Dave Chappelle
 * Michael Che
 * Glenn Close
 * Sean Combs
 * David Cone
 * Elvis Costello
 * Sheryl Crow
 * Alan Cumming
 * Carson Daly
 * Charlie Day
 * Rocsi Diaz
 * Leonardo DiCaprio
 * Christopher Dodd
 * Jean Doumanian
 * Robin Duke
 * Nora Dunn
 * Christine Ebersole
 * Ari Emanuel
 * Siobhan Fallon
 * Paul Feig
 * Steve Forbes
 * Sen. Al Franken
 * Rudy Giuliani
 * Whoopi Goldberg
 * Jeff Goldblum
 * Cuba Gooding Jr.
 * Gilbert Gottfried
 * Elliott Gould
 * Tom Green
 * Robert Greenblatt
 * Savannah Guthrie
 * Steve Guttenberg
 * Haim
 * Jon Hamm
 * Debbie Harry
 * Kevin Hart
 * Sean Hayes
 * Grace Hightower
 * Melanie Hutsell
 * Victoria Jackson
 * Colin Jost
 * Jon Bon Jovi
 * Kim Kardashian
 * Chris Kattan
 * Tim Kazurinsky
 * Kings of Leon
 * Robert Klein
 * Kevin Kline
 * Johnny Knoxville
 * David Koechner
 * Jane Krakowski
 * Gary Kroeger
 * Frank Langella
 * Matt Lauer
 * Lucy Liu
 * Chris Lowell
 * George Lucas
 * Ludacris
 * Natasha Lyonne
 * Kyle MacLachlan
 * Eli Manning
 * Penny Marshall
 * Elaine May
 * MC Hammer
 * Dylan McDermott
 * John McEnroe
 * Bennett Miller
 * Finesse Mitchell
 * Kyle Mooney
 * Mumford & Sons
 * Randy Newman
 * Joanna Newsom
 * Don Novello
 * Bill O'Reilly
 * Cheri Oteri
 * Chris Parnell
 * David Paterson
 * Nasim Pedrad
 * Jay Pharoah
 * Ryan Phillippe
 * Prince
 * Brett Ratner
 * Jeff Richards
 * Brian L. Roberts
 * Al Roker
 * Paul Rudd
 * Horatio Sanz
 * Diane Sawyer
 * Rob Schneider
 * Jessica Seinfeld
 * Al Sharpton
 * Sia
 * Gabourey Sidibe
 * Sarah Silverman
 * J. K. Simmons
 * Christian Slater
 * Robert Smigel
 * G. E. Smith
 * J. B. Smoove
 * Trey Songz
 * Steven Spielberg
 * Julia Sweeney
 * Alex Trebek
 * Joe Torre
 * Donald Trump
 * Melania Trump
 * Christopher Walken
 * Sigourney Weaver
 * David Wells
 * Olivia Wilde
 * Fred Willard
 * Sasheer Zamata
 * Catherine Zeta-Jones

Production
Of those former hosts, musical guests, former cast members and writers invited, the people who sent back an RSVP were then considered to be written for. Dan Aykroyd was asked by Lorne Michaels about doing a "Bass-O-Matic" sketch, while Mike Myers and Dana Carvey requested to reprise Wayne's World. Michaels stated that since different generations of former cast members were coming, they wanted to do sketches featuring mashups between different casts.

Writer Jim Downey conceived the idea of Nick the Lounge Singer singing the theme to Jaws way back in the 1970s, but was never able to pull it off during Bill Murray's tenure on SNL. They were unsure if they could obtain the necessary copyright clearance to show footage of Jaws on a monitor in the background until they realized that, since NBC had already acquired the rights to Jaws with its purchase of Universal Pictures in 2002, they could just ask director Steven Spielberg, who was in attendance.

Eddie Murphy was originally asked to play Bill Cosby in the "Celebrity Jeopardy!" sketch, but refused.

Nora Dunn was asked to participate in the musical medley as Liz Sweeney, but refused because Jan Hooks (the other Sweeney Sister) had died.

NSYNC were scheduled to appear in this special but their appearance was cancelled at the last minute.

Marketing and promotion
A 15-second spot premiered during the Super Bowl XLIX broadcast and – along with two other 15-second clips – was uploaded on to the official Saturday Night Live YouTube page. While the clips promoted appearances by Jon Hamm and Paul Rudd, neither of these occurred during the live show. Numerous articles, features and interviews were published in the weeks prior to the broadcast.

VH1 Classic aired a 19-day marathon of SNL-related programming that ended on the day of the special, featuring notable episodes in a reverse chronological order (alongside theme blocks focusing on specific cast members, and films featuring them), concluding with the original series premiere.

Ratings
The special drew 23.1 million viewers, becoming NBC's most-watched prime-time, non-sports, entertainment telecast (excluding Super Bowl lead-outs) since the Friends series finale in 2004.