The highly awaited 50th season of “Saturday Night Live” is live from New York Saturday night on NBC.
As we approach the premiere of SNL’s new season, WTOP’s own in-house SNL super-fan and sports reporter, Ben Raby, shared his memories of seeing the show live in person at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
“I got very lucky,” Raby said. “Someone I knew had mentioned to me, ‘Anytime you want tickets, let me know, and I’ll hook you up.’ And I said, ‘I’m gonna take you up on that offer.'”
And sure enough, Raby said, he snagged a few tickets to a taping on Nov. 11, 2017, featuring host Tiffany Haddish alongside one of the most popular musicians of the decade.
“Going to see Taylor Swift as the musical guest. That was a bonus,” Raby said. “To see the transition of sets and to see the characters — how quickly they’re done, the makeup and everything — it’s right in front of everyone, because they have to transition so quickly. … It’s very impressive operation.”
And if you caught Raby’s laugh in the background of the comedy show taping, don’t be surprised.
“There’s no laugh track when you watch on TV,” he said. “That’s authentic.”
Raby expects this year’s big 50th anniversary extravaganza to feel especially fun, given this year’s elections.
“We’ll see how they handle this presidential race. Of course, we’re looking forward to Kamala Harris” impressions, Raby said. “Do we see a Maya Rudolph cameo appearance doing Kamala? She’s done that in the past. And as always, they have the Donald. They have President Trump — they have that one nailed down.”
He also said the evening is likely to bring back some fond memories from long before his time watching in the audience of Studio8H.
“Saturday Night Live brings me back to my youth, going back to when we were teenagers, and staying up late on Saturday nights: going out, maybe socially, and coming back home and watching the tail end of an episode,” Raby said. “(I’m) just looking forward to seeing familiar faces and the open and we’ll see how they handle this presidential race.”
What to expect this evening
TV Guide’s Matt Roush was first to make clear that tonight’s landmark 50th season is going to be much more than your standard season opener.
“Is quite the time for it to come back as well, in the middle of this political presidential campaign season and with new characters to play, like JD Vance and Tim Walz, whose debate, of course, is coming up on Tuesday,” Roush said, “so there’s quite a lot of material for them to play with.”
Roush is among those people hoping to see Maya Rudolph back to play Kamala Harris on Friday evening as they build toward a major Prime Time special on NBC in February of 2025.
“I think the entire season could be a major big event as well,” Roush told WTOP.
And for the first night of the season, “Saturday Night Live” is bringing in new names to host and perform for the crowd at 30 Rock.
“Jean Smart, who has six Emmys under her belt (and) just won another one for “Hacks” recently, (will) be the first time guest host, and Jelly Roll is going to be the first time musical guest,” Roush said.
“I think you’ll see lots of big names coming down the pike as we keep going but yeah, it’s definitely the big time for the show on a big, big year for them.”
If you weren’t lucky enough to snag a ticket to the anniversary show you can watch it live at 11:30 p.m. on NBC and stream the episode after it airs on Peacock.
WTOP’s Ivy Lyons contributed to this report.
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