Lorne Michaels & co over at Saturday Night Live have announced they are prepping a 50th Anniversary Celebration for the 50th Season of SNL in 2024 at the iconic Radio City Music Hall as heard via the Cannes Lions Festival.
“Right now, there’s a Friday event at Radio City — a kind of homecoming night,” Michaels said. “It will have musical acts and stand-ups. Throughout the show, musical things that the cast have done over 50 years will be live. It will probably be streamed because the language won’t be in control, and it will take as long as it takes.” Michaels added that celebrations will be tied to the start of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, that “there are some documentaries being made” about the show’s anniversary, and that planning has already been underway for six months, despite the event being a year and a half away. “It will be emotional, but everyone will show up because it’s important,” he noted.
Following nearly 10 years since SNL celebrated 40 years with SNL40, this should be expected to be a noteworthy event for all longtime fans of the show. It’s also been long-rumored that Lorne Michaels was planning to retire after the show reached 50 seasons. Whether he will do that is purely speculation until it’s announced. But a live event celebrating a half century of your work might not be a bad way to go out.