50 YEARS OF LAUGHS AND LATE NIGHTS

SIX COMEDY LEGENDS COME TOGETHER TO DISCUSS FIVE DECADES OF HILARIOUS TV HISTORY. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

- By JASON SHEELER

Wrangling six legendary comics from the most legendary comedy show in television history is not easy. But once Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Seth Meyers, Molly Shannon, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang finish their photo shoot and impromptu dance party, they assemble, and two topics quickly emerge: Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of Saturday Night Live (Michaels’s mantra, “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30,” is remembered) and, well, love. “We all did this because it’s the greatest job in television,” Shannon says. “Underneath it all is love.”

SNL premiered on NBC in October 1975 and was boundary-breaking and FCC censor-skirting from the start. It also, without question, became a star factory, launching the careers of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig … and, of course, the six sitting down with People. Now the show is turning 50, and celebrations and retrospectives are underway: Docs SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night and NBC’s Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music are now streaming on Peacock; a live music event takes over Radio City Music Hall on Feb. 14, streaming live on Peacock; and SNL’s three-hour anniversary special will be live from Studio 8H on Feb. 16 on NBC and Peacock.

As the six begin chatting, the love is palpable, the laughs are well-earned, and the up-all-night, swing-hard, fail-big pressure of sketch comedy before a live studio audience—and millions of screens—is recognized as only a very rare group of people can. Here they reflect on their journeys to 30 Rock and the moments, players and characters that paved the way.

You all began, like many, as SNL fans. What cast members first inspired you?