“SNL” weekend stocks up on past stars

When “Saturday Night Live” has its 50-year celebration, most of its major stars – from Eddie Murphy to Will Ferrell to Kate McKinnon (shown here) – will be there.
That will be at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) Sunday, Feb. 16, on NBC, with a red-carpet show at 7. It wraps up a three-day weekend of “SNL” events.
The show had already said many of its hosts and music guests – Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Sabrina Carpenter, etc. — will be there. It also announced that its first episode (from Oct. 11, 1975) will rerun at 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
Now it says most of the stars from that long-ago opener will be at Sunday’s show — Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris and Laraine Newman.
They’ll join Murphy, Ferrell, McKinnon and more. They include former “Weekend Update” anchors Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, plus Kristen Wiig, Pete Davidson, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Jason Sudeikis, Molly Shannon, Andy Samberg, Tracy Morgan, Will Forte and at least one current cast member, Kenan Thompson.
The plans include:
— ALREADY HERE: Two documentaries, streamin on Peacock. “SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night” is a four-parter. “Ladies & Gentleman … 50 Years of SNL Music” is the film that will also air Saturday onband NBC.
— FRIDAY (Feb. 14): Peacock has a live concert at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT), with Jimmy Fallon hosting from Radio City Music Hall.
The music marathon includes Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Bonnie Raitt, Eddie Vedder, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Brittany Howard, Jelly Roll, Brandi Carlile, Chris Martin, Robyn, Jack White and David Byrne.
It also has several bands: Arcade Fire, Devo, Backstreet Boys, The Roots, Mumford & Sons, The B-52s and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
— SATURDAY (Feb. 15): The music documentary, already on Peacock, airs at 8 p.m. It’s by Questlove, who’s become busy as a filmmaker (his “Summer of Soul” won the Academy Award for best feature-length documentary) and a musician: His band, The Roots, is on Fallon’s show and also will be in Friday’s concert.
Then the first “SNL” episode will rerun at 11:30 p.m. Back then, its cast was full of unknowns – Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chase, Curtin, Morris and Newman. George Carlin hosted, with music from Billy Preston and Janice Ian and extra bits from Andy Kaufman and Muppet-master Jim Henson.
— SUNDAY (Feb. 16): At 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT), NBC has the red-carpet. At 8 (5 PT), it’s the reunion show; if it’s anything like the 40th reunion, it will aim for laughs.
In addition to the past regulars, it will have past hosts, music guests and others. They includes Bad Bunny and Miley Cyrus (both fresh from the Friday concert, plus Martin, Hanks, Carpenter and others.
They include Paul McCartney, Scarlett Johansson, Dave Chappelle, Quinta Brunson, Paul Simon, Kim Kardashian, Robert De Niro, Sabrina Carpentr, John Mulaney, Martin Short, Ayo Edebiri, Adam Driver, Pedro Pascal, Woody Harrelson and Peyton Manning.