SNL50: The Anniversary Special

In this special episode of SNL101, we are joined by comedy scholars Brittney Michelle Edmonds, Danielle Fuentes Morgan, and Raúl Pérez, as well as friend of the pod Chuck Hayward, to discuss 50 years of Saturday Night Live through the lens of the 50th Anniversary Special, aired on February 16, 2025. We talk about the show’s role in establishing comedy across the 20th and 21st centuries from Word Association to Black Jeopardy, its complicated relationship with representing Blackness and Black humor exemplified in the In Memoriam montage, and how this epic oeuvre can be used to foster conversations in the classroom.

We also introduce three featured players who bring a unique skill set: Noël Carroll discusses SNL as a comedy innovator, Bob Thompson spotlights the tailored nostalgia of the anniversary special, and Dan Amernick takes us back to when Lorne Michaels was dropped from the network; all conversations are available below in Bonus Content. Readings include articles and books from the hosts and our panel.

Listen on Libsyn https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/35430300
Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-34-snl101-on-snl50/id1712886779?i=1000696106556

Bonus Content

Check out the full conversations with our featured players below.

Bob Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University

Listen on Libsyn https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/35473275
Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/snl50-bonus-a-conversation-with-bob-thompson/id1712886779

From its nostalgic anniversary special to its function as a talent incubator, we explore SNL’s strengths, shortcomings, and digital-age relevance. The conversation critiques the show’s tendency toward superficial political humor, its struggles with inclusivity, and the limitations of network television in fostering truly subversive comedy. Finally, they speculate on the show’s future—does SNL have only five years left?

Noël Carroll, distinguished professor of philosophy, film and media cultures at the Graduate School at the City University of New York (CUNY)

Listen on Libsyn https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/35473370
Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/snl50-bonus-a-conversation-with-no%C3%ABl-carroll/id1712886779

We discuss SNL’s reinvention of classic comedy formats, its role in shaping political satire, and its connections to countercultural movements. Carroll reflects on whether SNL is truly subversive or simply a product of capitalist entertainment, and the group debates the show’s longevity in a changing media landscape. Is SNL an enduring institution or an aging relic?

Dan Amernick, Senior Professional Lecturer and department chair of Media Arts at Marist University

Listen on Libsyn https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/35473475
Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/snl50-bonus-a-conversation-with-dan-amernick/id1712886779

We discuss the show’s transformation from an experimental comedy space to a corporate-driven institution, its role in shaping political discourse, and how it has both reflected and influenced American culture over 50 years. The conversation explores the rise of celebrity cameos, the diminishing space for emerging cast members, and the commercialization of SNL’s once-subversive edge. Is the show still a groundbreaking force in comedy, or has it become a self-congratulatory institution?

Readings

Amernick, D. (2018). The “Not Ready for Archive Players”: The Lost Seasons of Saturday Night Live. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 46(2), 70-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/01956051.2018.1442312

Carroll, N. (2009). Comedy incarnate: Buster Keaton, physical humor, and bodily coping. John Wiley & Sons. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Comedy_Incarnate/kqehTYks60kC

Corsbie-Massay, C. L. P. (2022). Diversity and satire: Laughing at processes of marginalization. John Wiley & Sons. https://www.wiley.com/en-ae/Diversity+and+Satire%3A+Laughing+at+Processes+of+Marginalization-p-9781119651970

Edmonds, B. (forthcoming). Eddie Murphy’s Last Laugh. In Oxford Handbook of Screen Comedy (listeners can look out for in the Fall!)

Guerrero, L. (2024). “THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN”: Eddie Murphy and the Comedy of Double Conscious Law and Order. In A.L. Martin (Ed.) Rolling: Blackness and Mediated Comedy, pp. 43-60. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.10860917.7

Morgan, D. F. (2023). Reframing and Reappropriating Blackness in 1980s Satire. In D. Q. Miller & R. Blint (Eds.), African American Literature in Transition, 1980–1990 (pp. 160–182). chapter, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/african-american-literature-in-transition-19801990/CADEA2C9DF5AEC670D9EAE76746B4A12

Morgan, D. F. (2020). Laughing to Keep from Dying: African American Satire in the Twenty-First Century. University of Illinois Press. https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p085307

Pérez, R. (2022). The souls of white jokes: How racist humor fuels white supremacy. Stanford University Press. https://www.sup.org/books/sociology/souls-white-jokes

Pérez, R. (2013). Learning to make racism funny in the ‘color-blind’ era: Stand-up comedy students, performance strategies, and the (re) production of racist jokes in public. Discourse & society, 24(4), 478-503. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926513482066