A star-studded crowd gathered to celebrate the legacy of the iconic comedy and musical series Saturday Night Live

. As part of the 50th anniversary of the show, SNL50: The Homecoming Concert saw many familiar faces from the last 50 years of the series’ history both watching and performing at the event, which was hosted by Jimmy Fallon. As the night kicked off, however, no one expected to see Oscar-winner Tom Hanks

and his wife Rita Wilson storm out of the auditorium after Fallon explained that the night would not include any awards presentations. Fallon said:

“Apparently, there’s been some confusion. This is just a concert. We’re not giving out any awards tonight. So, I just want to make sure that everyone knows that.”

At that point, Hanks and his wife stood up out of their seats and stomped up the central aisle and out of the venue. Of course, this was not a serious diva moment from the multi-award-winning actor, and was simply set up as one of the many comedic moments of a night filled with musical performances and interludes from stars including The B-52s, The Roots, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Eddie Vedder, Jack White, Backstreet Boys, Chris Martin, Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire, Bonnie Raitt, Brittany Howard, and a show-stopping, age-defying performance by a sheer catsuit-wearing Cher.
‘SNL50’ Celebrates a Great American Legacy of Comedy & Music

Tonight, February 15, Saturday Night Live will air a rerun of its first ever episode, which at the time was titled NBC’s Saturday Night and featured a chaotically put together show that would go on to become one of the longest running series in American TV history. The making of that first episode was charted in the recently released Jason Reitman movie, Saturday Night, and those who have seen the movie will now be able to see exactly how the first episode played out fifty years ago.
This is just one part of the celebration, which will this weekend feature a new anniversary special that airs on Sunday night on NBC. Officially titled SNL50: The Anniversary Special, the episode will feature appearances by Sir Paul McCartney, Robert De Niro, Paul Simon, Adam Driver, Steve Martin, Dave Chappelle, and Tom Hanks, among many, many others. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, SNL veteran Tina Fey revealed that she was part of a team of old hands returning to make the special really special. She told Fallon, “I know a little bit about what’s taking shape because I am working on it as a staff writer, which I’m pretty excited about. Me, Seth [Meyers], the great Paula Pell, Emily Spivey, John Mulaney — we’re all coming back as staff writers.”

Related

40 Years Ago, ‘SNL’s Notorious “Weird Season” Bewildered Audiences

Known as “the weird season” of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ you’ll want to watch ‘SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night’ to learn all about season 11 of the show.

In true SNL fashion, the anniversary show may be a well-planned affair, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect at least a few ad-libbed moments and previously unannounced appearances from some of the many famous faces to have graced the SNL stage over the last five decades.

Saturday Night Live

Release Date

October 11, 1975

Network

NBC

Directors

Dave Wilson, Don Roy King, Liz Patrick, Andy Warhol, Linda Lee Cadwell, Matthew Meshekoff, Paul Miller, Robert Altman, Robert Smigel

Writers

Will Forte, Bill Hader, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig, Chris Parnell, Asa Taccone, John Lutz, Tom Schiller, Simon Rich, Michael Patrick O’Brien, Nicki Minaj, Herbert Sargent, Matt Piedmont, John Solomon, Chris Kelly, Alan Zweibel, Kent Sublette, Ari Katcher, Marika Sawyer, Sarah Schnedier, Scott Jung, Justin Franks, Jerrod Bettis, Rhiannon Bryan

Al Roker

Self / Margaret Jo McCullin / Various