SNL 50th Anniversary Sketches Ranked: All the Stars, Classic Characters, and Returning Cast Members

Treated like a traditional SNL episode, this bonus-sized exploration featured dozens of cast members and dozens of celebrities from across the show's history with new sketches, musical performances, pre-taped videos, and even a star-studded "Weekend Update."

In lieu of political or topical humor, SNL50 went broad and timeless with most of its humor, which makes sense for a retrospective anniversary special.

For all that James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump is a fantastic take on the president, most of those sketches don't hold the test of time as well as unique character pieces like Kate McKinnon's "Close Encounters" sketches, Kristen Wiig's Maharelle sisters, "Black Jeopardy!" or even Marcello Hernandez's recent Domingo series.

Wiig's Dooneese Maharelle was joined by her "sisters" Kim Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson, singing alongside Ana Gasteyer, with her creepy tiny hands creating one of the night's most viral moments when she used Kim's derriere as a bongo.

"Black Jeopardy!" had perhaps the night's strongest impression with Eddie Murphy hilariously performing as Tracy Morgan, next to the real Tracy Morgan. Meanwhile, the worst impression goes to Sarah Sherman's Michael Bloomberg -- at least if we're to believe John Mulaney, who said as much in the midst of his latest (and most ambitious) New York musical number yet.

The latest Domingo installment introduced Andrew Dismukes' groomsmen, including Andy Samberg, Beck Bennett, Bowen Yang, and Kyle Mooney, as well as Domingo's brothers Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny. And then there's McKinnon's "Close Encounters," which brought Pascal and Woody Harrelson into the alien abduction space alongside Meryl Streep as her mother, in Streep's SNL debut.

Samberg dropped another SNL Digital Short, Bill Murray ranked the "Weekend Update" hosts, while the rarely seen Mike Myers crashed Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph's "Bronx Beat" with some "Coffee Talk" as Linda Richman.

And then there's the night's most viral moment, which came during a star-studded Poehler and Tina Fey Q&A with the celebrity audience. Let's just say that social media had a lot of thoughts about Ryan Reynolds appearing alongside Blake Lively amid her legal troubles with It Ends with Us director Justin Baldoni.

And that's still just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to how many stars filled Studio 8H for the show, from Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon's musical opener leading into Steve Martin's monologue all the way through to Martin Short's goodbyes alongside Lorne Michaels on the most packed stage we've ever seen.

This wasn't just a best-of the people who've been a part of SNL over the years, either, but also some of the all-time best sketch characters of all time, including an all-new Debbie Downer with Rachel Dratch squaring off against Robert De Niro in a not-to-be-missed moment.

As usual, we're ranking all the sketches from worst to first, including the Monologue, Cold Open, "Weekend Update" and any sketches that were cut for time but made their way online. We even added the musical guests this week, while we skipped Player of the Week as the regular cast only made sporadic appearances.

Some audio problems at the beginning had Lil Wayne's vocals almost inaudible underneath the band before he settled into a pretty standard tour through his greatest hits. As much as Lil Wayne is a king of hip-hop, we did find ourselves wondering why he was chosen for this musical spot. Paul Simon is an SNL institution, while Sinead O'Connor was one of the biggest moments of all time. Wayne has appeared three times prior to this and none of them were particularly notable. Was this maybe a way to give Lil Wayne his moment after many Super Bowl fans were shocked the New Orleans native was overlooked for Kendrick Lamar as Half Time guest in the Big Easy?Not a knock on his talent or significance to music, but we'd have rather Ashlee Simpson get a redemptive opportunity to sing live, maybe as part of a montage of notable performers over the years.

49 years after first performing this song with George Harrison, 83-year-old Paul Simon kicked off the show with a subdued performance of "Homeward Bound" alongside 25-year-old Sabrina Carpenter, who quipped she wasn't born when he first performed this on SNL … and neither were her parents. The multi-generation gap did not impact the beauty of their performance as Paul played and sang beautifully, while Sabrina offered a beautiful complement and counterpart.

A bold choice to start the anniversary show with a 59-year-old song rather than a sketch, but you can't go wrong with one of the iconic musical presences of the show's early years paired with one of its future stars. It was sweet and effective, even if they're "Live from New York, It's Saturday Night" was drowned out by the crowd.

This was one of the most iconic musical guest moments of all time, but there was absolutely no nod or acknowledgement of the pivotal moment when Sinead O'Connor ripped up that picture of the Pope in protest of all the abuses the Catholic Church had been covering up for years. She was years ahead on that one, destroying her own career well before the truth came out that she was right to be outraged, and right in her claims against the Church. We got a very beautifully performed rendition of this Prince-penned classic, but it did feel like such a moment deserved a little more recognition than a musical callout.

A musical guest that made all the sense in the world, as Lorne Michaels famously tried to bribe the original Beatles into reforming on SNL in the early seasons (making several on-camera jokes about it, and even pitching various members). Paul McCartney has appeared eight times on the show with the legendary Beatle participating in sketches and musical performances just about every time he was in the studio. He's an institution as much as the show is, and what a treat for everyone there to be present for a Paul McCartney concert!

Miles Teller was a rather random addition to this returning sketch featuring Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph. Especially as it was shortly after revealed that this was about the return of Mike Myers, in a rare appearance, and his "Coffee Talk" character Linda Richman. Unfortunately, while it was sweet to see all three of them together, the sketch itself leaned more on recognition nostalgia than any actual laugh-out-loud moments. Instead, for the first time on the night, we kind of found ourselves hoping the sketch wouldn't eat too much time. Extensive sound issues early on and a boom mic shadow that demanded to be seen didn't help matters.

A retrospective montage of all the cancelable moments from across SNL history was probably just baiting modern sensibilities to try and cancel it, as well. From Adrien Brody's Rastafarian stereotype (for no reason) to objectification of an underage Lindsay Lohan, SNL didn't hesitate to show almost all of these problematic moments. They did blur out Blackface, while censoring Chevy Chase's use of the n-word in a sketch with Richard Pryor, but otherwise pointed out all their social flaws over the years, including the "Gay Panic" that dominated the show for several years. It was a bit cringey to look at some of these moments, but as Tom Hanks told us, the audience laughed at these when they first happened -- so isn't it us who should be canceled?

Molly Shannon's eternally 50-year-old Sally O'Malley returned to the SNL stage alongside Emma Stone to kick, stretch and kick as they joined forces to introduce a look back at 50 years of physical comedy. The video itself carried through some of the biggest physical comedians of the show, starting with Chevy Chase, who initiated the pratfalls on the show, carrying through Chris Farley, John Belushi, and Molly Shannon before exploring dance, explosions, gross-out moments, and even ending with poignancy by revealing sweet dance moments between Steve Martin and Gilda Radner, as well as Phil Hartman's classic dance with Jan Hooks. This was the perfect touch of funny and nostalgic.

Other than a quick "Alex" joke, Alec just set up this look back at some of the strange, amazing, bizarre, and instantly iconic commercial parodies SNL has delivered across 50 seasons of insanity. Whether you remember all of these or are seeing them for the first time, we bet a lot of people jumped online to find out more about some of these classics like Almost Pizza, Tylenol BM, and Mom Jeans. The commercial parody has been around as long as TV and SNL has been bringing some of the best of them for five decades and counting.

Keeping it short and simple, Jack Handey shared his "deep thoughts" about what it was like working on Saturday Night Live, though the most heartwarming part about the whole thing might just be Phil Hartman's voice intro. It was one joke and just a few seconds, but we still loved seeing this long-time staple return.

Laraine Newman waxed nostalgic at the Studio 8H set, where she ran into Pete Davidson's Chad. His "okay" and "my bad" was about all he could deliver, but the characterization was just funny asides for Laraine's more genuine memories about the original cast of Saturday Night Live. It was a beautifully appropriate look back at a magical time that launched an institution in one of entertainment's most hallowed spaces.

At 88 years old, Garrett Morris was still getting big laughs and cheers as he joked that he never knew how many reunions he'd be required to attend before introducing one of the most iconic films of all time. 1978's "Don't Look Back in Anger," which was a heartbreaking look ahead to an aged John Belushi, who in this reality outlived all of his friends. In truth, he died way too young and before any of his fellow Not Ready for Prime Time Players. This was just as heartbreaking today as it's been any time the film has been revisited since Belushi's tragic death at 33 years old in 1982. The moment could have been used to pay tribute to all of the other cast members who've passed, but this reunion didn't quite go there overtly. Still, as one of its brightest early stars, it was a poignant tribute to Belushi's legacy.

One of the most ridiculously (and stupidly) funny characters of all time, Kristen Wiig returned as the fourth Maharelle sister, Dooneese, and she was as off-kilter as ever, playing perfectly off of Will Ferrell's Robert Goulet impression. The bubbles were there, the beautiful sisters were there -- portrayed by Ana Gasteyer, Scarlett Johansson, and Kim Kardashian -- and those godawful tiny hands that get us every time. She used them to play bongos on Kim's butt and do unspeakable things to Will, but the sketch did get some laughs out of us, too. "I came out of a different hole." That's a callback!

Bowen Yang isn't sure about going to the 50th because of his anxiety, leading to Andy Samberg's triumphant return with an SNL Digital Short about how everyone who's ever worked there has suffered from anxiety (and oddly IBS). We also got a fun breakdown from Sarah Sherman about that latter factoid, while Chris Parnell swept in to remind us of when he shocked the world with his rap skills on "Lazy Sunday" all those years ago. This was the typical Lonely Island earworm fans had come to expect, and totally in tune with the spirit and atmosphere of this big anniversary episode. Plus, huge props to Bowen Yang for effortlessly fitting the energy of the piece as if he'd been doing these for years.

Colin Jost and Michael Che kicked off Update -- after a retrospective intro sequence -- with jokes far more focused on SNL history than politics, though Jost did get in a quip that they were honored to host Update "for the 50th, and if it were up to our president, final season of SNL." The two cracked a few light jokes, honored the crew, and Norm Macdonald, who hosted Update from 1994 until he was fired in 1997 for his relentless O.J. Simpson jokes. It was all very gentle, compared to what we've gotten used to seeing from them.

Cecily Strong was in fantastic form with her word salad nonsense that says a lot more than she knows it does as Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation with at a Party. She's so woke she's half brain dead, but we were dying at her allusions to RFK Jr's brain worm "eating his way to the top." She also defended herself against Che's congratulations about her real-life baby before Bobby Moynihan's Drunk "Not my Captain America," Uncle came crashing in with his own word salads when she was asked who the father is. He delivered his own masterful nonsense with huge laughs, even going so far as to rip Colin's jacket!

Seth Meyers took over for the next segment to invite Lorne's Best Friends from Growing Up a.k.a. Vanessa Bayer and Fred Armisen to the show to talk about Lorne, and then whisper about how awful he really is under their breath. It was kind of an unexpected callback, but we appreciated that given the nature of this particular broadcast, it makes sense. Plus, their aside discussion about how awful he was to them while helping him move was pretty funny and relatable.

Former anchor Bill Murray wrapped up this nostalgic look at Weekend Update with a brilliant exploration of past anchors, ranking them from bottom to top -- with a great twist at the top ranking. We also got a kick out of his list of the top Black anchors and it's all of one choice, before moving on to the "regular" hosts. The commentary accompanying each one definitely took a deep dive in some cases, and we can already see SNL fans who've been making these lists for years arguing about his rankings for the next 50.

There isn't even time to go into all the celebrities pinged in the crowd for this extended Q&A session -- one of the staple monologue formats over the years -- hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, but we have to give a special shout-out to Keith Richards and Zach Galifianakis for one of the best sight gags. We also kind of loved the host's backstage dress assistant Donna shooting her shot with Jason Momoa -- who wasn't not interested -- but all of this was immediately overshadowed by a brief moment early on with Ryan Reynolds sitting alongside Blake Lively. When asked how he was doing, he repled he was good, "why, what have you heard?" It got a huge reaction from Tina & Amy, and quickly went viral online, with some accusing the show of picking sides in Blake's ongoing legal tussle with It Ends with Us director Justin Baldoni. It's a shame because with nearly 20 celebrities involved, this was a pretty fun (and shameless) way to shoehorn in as many as possible … and at least they acknowledged it.

A great choice to kick off this anniversary season, Steve Martin has been an institution at SNL since the very beginning, though never a cast member. He was on fire, too, with lots of jokes about the show's age and his own. At 79 years old, Martin quipped, "I feel like I'm 65, which is also not good." He also shared that "a person born during the first season of Saturday Night Live could today be easily dead from natural causes." John Mulaney came in to burn the entire studio audience -- with the cryptic comment that only two former hosts "have committed murder," while Martin Short's cameo was short-lived, as Steve called on ICE to deport him. It was the perfect tone of melancholy, charm, smarminess, and nostalgia to kick off such a monumental event.

SNL injected its most popular now recurring sketch with everything they could. Basically, the premise of this was to take the concepts of Domingo and push them to the ultimate extreme, which is how we met his brothers, portrayed by Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny, as well as Kelsey's parents, Molly Shannon and Martin Short, and Andrew Dismukes' Scottsdale boys, played by Andy Samberg, Bowen Yang, Kyle Mooney, and Beck Bennett. It was a smorgasbord of SNL alums and guest stars all performing terrible songs, including Sabrina Carpenter even getting to tackle the parody-bad version of "Espresso." All in all, while it was way more than just a nod and a wink to a viral sketch, the whole thing was a star-studded blast.

No Lindsay Lohan to fully recall the first appearance of Rachal Dratch's most famous character, but we did get Jimmy Fallon, along with Ayo Edebiri and Drew Barrymore. We loved Drew's callback to her own controversial closeness when Robert De Niro joined them. They were all at a bar to toast 50 years of SNL. Unfortunately, Dratch's Debbie Downer was the bartender, so we got to hear all kinds of negative things about gout, microplastics, and feline AIDS. And props to Dratch, she got through it with no breaks. Jimmy, on the other hand -- well, him breaking is kind of his whole thing.

Meryl Streep makes her SNL debut as Colleen Rafferty's mother, who also got abducted, as Kate McKinnon's classic abductee is joined by fellow victims Pedro Pascal and Woody Harrelson, who had much better experiences on the alien ship than they did once Colleen started using their bodies to demonstrate the indignities she suffered. As always, Kate breaks just about everyone at one point or another with her outrageous stories, while Meryl was fantastic as her equally gross mother, who shares basically all of her mannerisms. After seeing her here -- where she only really broke once -- we'd totally be down for a Meryl Streep-hosted episode. She's one of the most respected actors of all time and she's really been embracing her comedic side on It's Only Murder in the Building, so why not make Studio 8H her next visit?

Always good for a laugh as Kenan Thompson's Macintosh compares prison life to various movie projects. "This here is real," except when it isn't, like when he and fellow prisoner Eddie Murphy turned Harry Potter into a cautionary tale about prison rape. We definitely got a laugh when Eddie's next example was to break down his own Nutty Professor in much the same manner. But then Will Ferrell came out, and we found ourselves wondering if he'd again come up with an even shorter outfit than his fellow sketch performers knew, based on their reactions. His short prison uniform was dangerously close to a wardrobe malfunction as he brought up Elf and they definitely took that allegory way too far. We found ourselves dying with laughter, and a little ashamed at the same time. But everyone goes so all in, we were just there for the ride!

With John Mulaney in the building and all these stars, we fully expected another New York tribute musical parody and boy did he deliver in a huge way. Appropriately, this montage explored NYC from the 1970s to the present, with its ups and downs and Mayors Guiliani, Adams and others. Mulaney definitely got Sarah Sherman to break by commenting on her Bloomberg impression, while the star-studded guest stars brought a whole host of Les Miserable parody songs to life. We also got a huge kick out of David Spade just opting out halfway through, "I got a feel for it," keeping the laughs and the nostalgia coming in equal measure.

They blew a big reveal toward the end with the wrong camera shot, but it didn't matter because Eddie Murphy had already stolen this entire sketch by performing as Tracy Morgan alongside the real deal, who was playing someone else. From questions of whether or not they might be related, to fellow contestant Leslie Jones falling apart as Eddie's Tracy appeared to be ad-libbing some of his quips, we could not keep ourselves straight, either. Remarkably, both Tracy and host Kenan Thompson were. We also got a kick out of the extended segment where no one knew what SNL was, leading to some great guesses. All in all, another stellar installment of a classic game show parody.

This could have, and perhaps should have, been the showstopping finale of the whole show. Sandler managed to make us laugh and touch our hearts with this look back at the show's incredibly rich history, while opening up the realities of struggles and pain that every single person who walked through those doors experienced. It was poignant and beautiful, with special nods to some of the all-time greats we've lost too soon, and a surprising tearjerker.

Saturday Night Live returns March 1 with a new episode.