5 Reasons You Need To Watch The SNL 50 Homecoming Concert Immediately

The 50th anniversary special of "Saturday Night Live" doesn't happen until Sunday night, live at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on both NBC and Peacock, but the festivities kicked off early on Friday, just in time to show "SNL" some love on Valentine's Day.

Along with the recently released spectacular documentary series looking back at the history of "SNL," Peacock aired a livestream of "SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert," a star-studded event that unfolded live in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on February 14. Not only did the special event bring together some of the biggest musical acts from the five-decade history of the late night sketch comedy series, from Cher to Lady Gaga to Jack White and more, but it featured some of the show's cast members doing musical bits — not to mention a stunning array of celebrities just having a good time watching the eclectic music line-up. 

If that's not enough to convince you to turn on Peacock right now for the first time in months, then here are five damn good reasons you should turn on "SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert" right now.

Yes, it goes without saying that one of the best reasons to watch "SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert" is the music, but you really don't know how incredible this concert is. First of all, The Roots served as the house band, playing with a variety of the performers throughout the evening and reminding you just how talented Questlove is (in case anyone forgot). But it's the collaborations between the artists that made the night amazing. 

Miley Cyrus teamed up with Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes for a cover of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," Bad Bunny brought some Puerto Rican flair to the festivities with his new songs "Baile Inolvidable" and "DTMF," Eddie Vedder performed a cover of Tom Petty's "The Waiting," and Jelly Roll did covers of two Johnny Cash classics before teaming up with Snoop Dogg for his rendition of "Last Dance with Mary Jane." Plus, Arcade Fire, David Byrne, and St. Vincent all got together with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for rousing performances of David Bowie's "Heroes" and Arcade Fire's "Wake Up," which once fueled the "Where the Wild Things Are" trailer to great effect. 

But that's not all! Not even close! You get to watch the crowd lose their mind when the Backstreet Boys show up to perform "I Want It That Way," including a very excited Heidi Gardner. Sure, Brian Littrell's voice was pretty rough, and he awkwardly gets Jerry Seinfeld to sing part of the chorus, but the energy for that performance was through the roof. Plus, legends like Bonnie Raitt and Cher proved that they still have what it takes to rock a huge stage like Radio City Music Hall. The B-52s and Devo got a little percussion assistance from "SNL" cast member Fred Armisen as their drummer, with the former bringing in Sarah Sherman and Bowen Yang for a little "bang bang" action during "Love Shack."

Peacock

There's even a Nirvana reunion with a twist, as drummer Dave Grohl and bassist and co-founder Krist Novoselic (looking like your friend's dad who won a contest) came on stage to play "Smells Like Teen Spirit." But who was the lead singer? None other than Post Malone, who joined the band under the ingeniously simple name of Post Nirvana. 

That's not even all the songs or musical acts that performed throughout the three-hour event. Trust me when I say there's something for everyone.

One of Bill Murray's most famous characters from his time at "SNL" is Nick the Lounge Singer, a character who originated at Second City, known for his jazzy renditions of famous songs such as the theme from "Star Wars." Murray recurred as the character nine times through his run at "SNL," not to mention appearances during the 25th and 40th anniversary specials for "SNL." But even if he doesn't come back for the 50th anniversary, he got his time to shine at "SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert."

Starting around the 21:55 mark of the event, Murray introduced himself by the character's full name, Nick Valentine, keeping the bit of the character's constantly changing last name alive, which allowed for some amusing banter between him and piano accompaniment provided by Paul Shaffer. "We're here on Valentine's Day," Nick pointed out. "I promise you, it is just a coincidence — the day is not named after me. February 14th has been Valentine's Day for a good many years now, probably before I was even born, I think probably longer."

Then Nick droned on for a bit, as he tends to do, revealing that he has three beautiful women in his life, which brought former "SNL" cast members Maya Rudolph, Cecily Strong and Ana Gasteyer to the stage for a performance of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "You're All I Need to Get By." While Murray's voice is hilarious cheesy for this kind of gig, kudos must be given to Rudolph, Strong, and Gasteyer for having some truly beautiful harmonies between them. You wouldn't know that they were better known as comedians than singers. It was funny and lovely all at once. 

Whenever Tracy Morgan shows up, you know it's going to be a blast. No, the "30 Rock" star is not known for his musical exploits on the show, but that didn't stop him from feeling disrespected for not being invited to dedicate a song to Lorne Michaels. As Morgan has done several times on "SNL" before, he had some choice words that he pointed directly at the "SNL" creator and showrunner in the crowd:

"You have disrespected me, b****! It's a night of great music and nobody asked me to sing. Well, I got the mic now, and I'm going to sing. I don't care what Lorne Michaels thinks. He's going to be dead in a week."

It should be noted that Michaels was cracking up during this whole bit, which begins around the 40:14 mark of the event. Morgan, with a drink and cigarette in-hand, went on to explain how he tried to sing at the 50th anniversary special so he can show Michaels how much he loves him. Morgan recalled, "He said, 'I don't even know you! Go park Tina [Fey]'s car.' That's disrespect! He thought I was Tina's driver, which is ridiculous because everyone knows Tina likes her drivers young and Dominican."

While you might think that was the perfect opportunity for Tracy Morgan's Dominican Lou, Morgan instead chose to sing "his hit," at which point he treated everyone to a performance of the theme song from the recurring sketch "Astronaut Jones."

How do you follow a reunion of Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean? Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer took the stage together as Marty and Bobbi-Mohan Culp, the cheerful, posh music teachers who performed medleys of popular songs that were the polar opposite of their stage personas. They brought the bit back around the 1 hour and 14 minute mark for a hilarious performance during "SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert," putting together a medley of songs like Britney Spears' "Work B****," Doechii's "Denial Is River," Chappell Roan's "Good Luck, Babe!," Sam Smith and Kim Petras' "Unholy," and Megan Thee Stallion's "Body."

A rather shocking moment came when covering Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," which prompted Ferrell (as Marty) to call out the feud between the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show performer and hip-hop artist Drake. "By the way, maybe you two can hug it out tonight in the name of love and fellowship. No? Not in hell. Message received."

However, perhaps the funniest part of entire bit came after Marty and Bobbi addressed their waning vision after staring directly into a solar eclipse. Marty noted, "We have pretty significant floaters right now, but it doesn't stop us from seeing so many middle fingers peppered in both the upper mezzanine and orchestra section. It's just unbelievably rude. We're talking about you, Meryl Streep. We see you."

When the camera cuts to Meryl Streep, well, let's just say you won't be disappointed. 

There was one big performance that took the cake. Well, the Magnolia Cupcakes anyway. 

The Lonely Island got their own massive medley, featuring snippets of several of the most famous songs from their SNL Digital Short reign at the show. The rise of the trio comprised of Andy Samberg, Akiva Shaffer, and Jorma Taccone (who appears as a dancing cupcake holding a Laser Cat) is currently being recounted on the entertaining and insightful "Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast," and for anyone who's a fan of their fake raps, this was a real treat.

The full performance is available above, beginning with Andy Samberg joining Lady Gaga for an embarrassing performance of "Shallow" from "A Star is Born." Thankfully, Lady Gaga interrupts him and changes over to the holiday classic tune "D*** in a Box," even though Justin Timberlake couldn't be there to join in. From there, they move into "Mother Lover" before Chris Parnell joins Samberg onstage for "Lazy Sunday," and from there, it only gets better.

Taccone brings the Laser Cat into play for a dark interruption to "Lazy Sunday," which finds Samberg fatally shot on stage. This is a callback to "The Shooting AKA Dear Sister" SNL Digital Short, where Imogen Heap's song "Hide and Seek" is played repeatedly after Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Shia LaBeouf, Kristen Wiig, and more shoot each other in a parody of a dramatic scene from "The OC." 

From there Bad Bunny does an operatic version of "I Just Had Sex," T-Pain sings a ballad remix of "I'm on a Boat," and Eddie Vedder takes the place of Michael Bolton to sing on a tiny pirate ship for "Jack Sparrow." All the songs combine into a marathon, complete with Lady Gaga wearing a special gift.

When it's all said and done, the song ends with the perfect callback to an SNL Digital Short as an image of Lorne Michaels fades into a waving Canadian flag behind everyone. 

The fact that this all happened before the proper "SNL 50" special is a real treat for hardcore fans like me, and I hope you take the time to enjoy it.