Saturday Night Live, one of the most iconic television programs ever put together quite a show over the weekend. On September 28, 2024, the sketch comedy production kicked off its 50th season, a truly impressive feat. When NBC announced the start date, they also revealed there would be an anniversary special to celebrate five decades of laughs. That premiered last night, Sunday, February 16 and Lil Wayne got to show out (more on that later!). But leading up to that, there were a few other events to extend this well-deserved celebration. On Feb. 14, Jimmy Fallon hosted The Homecoming Concert with over 20 artists including Lady Gaga, Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, Post Malone and more.
Then, on Feb. 15, viewers were able to tune into the very first episode of SNL, which aired on October 11, 1975. Finally, there was the finale to all of this, SNL50: The Anniversary Special. It was scheduled to run for three hours; however, it went exceeded the runtime. Various sketches and musical performers all took the stage throughout the evening, including Lil Wayne. Yes, after not being selected for the Super Bowl Halftime Show, Weezy found another impressive gig to add to his resume.
Who Performed At SNL 50th Anniversary?
Here, Lil Wayne got to play a nice collection of his biggest hits. Ironically, the Louisiana legend started with "Uproar." If you know the lyrics, then you know why this is quite the track to begin your set with. He then took things back to the late 2000s/early 2010s and played "Lollipop," "6 Foot 7 Foot," "Mrs. Officer," and then "A Milli." Overall, it was a very sound performance by Lil Wayne, especially considering there were no background singers, Auto-Tune, and little usage of the recordings of the songs.
In a fun twist, Lil Wayne was joined by The Roots. Each track sounded great with the live band. All in all, it's cool to see Weezy get a shot at redemption and put on a great show in the process. He was visibly hurt by not getting to take centerstage at the Super Bowl, so this was definitely a feel-good moment. He was one of many great performers last night, though. Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon, as well as Miley Cyrus, Brittany Howard and Paul McCartney helped out too.
