“Saturday Night Live” planning 50th anniversary bash at Radio City Music Hall in 2024

Lorne Michaels and the crew over at Saturday Night Live are prepping a live celebration of the show’s 50th anniversary. For this one they are planning to take things outside of the NBC studios and around the corner at Radio City Music Hall.

Michaels was speaking at Cannes Lions Festival during an event about the show and revealed the 50th anniversary celebrations will kick off as part of NBC’s coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris next year and was described as a night of celebration and nostalgia and SNL folklore. Michaels stated, “It will be emotional, but everyone will show up because it’s important. The planning for it, which has taken the last six months and it’s not happening for another year and a half — there are a lot of events happening.”

Obviously we’re a while out but the known details so far consist of a “homecoming” Friday night event at Radio City chock full of musical acts, stand-up comedy, bits written and performed over the show’s 50 years will be performed live. Michaels also revealed that it will probably be streamed online because the language “won’t be in control, and it will take as long as it takes.” We’re assuming the streaming

“You’ll see bands that have left a mark on the show, and stand-ups that were part of it from the beginning or relatively recent,” he added. “There are some documentaries being made. We’re going to be part of the French Olympics, so that will be the official start of our celebration.”

This event is obviously scaled up from SNL40 which in and of itself was a major event. 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.