ADAM SANDLER'S EMOTIONAL SONG OFFICIALLY WINS THE 'SNL50' SPECIAL
Sunday night’s live SNL50 anniversary special was packed with unforgettable moments — from Mike Meyers bringing back Linda Richman to Steve Martin’s laugh-out-loud opening monologue to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s star-studded audience Q&A. But if the flood of comments on social media are anything to go by, the real show-stealer might just have been Adam Sandler’s heartfelt “50 Years” song.
Sandler, 58, may have been fired from SNL in 1995 after five years as a cast member, but there’s no bad blood — he returned for the 50th anniversary special with an original song celebrating the show’s legacy. Introduced by Jack Nicholson, Sandler took the stage with his guitar to pay tribute to SNL’s legacy. The song started off with plenty of laughs:
“Everyone in this room has something in common / All of our lives were changed by this show / Everyone in this room has something else in common / None of us were allowed to use the little bathroom in Lorne's office,” he began, referring to longtime SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels.
But when he shifted to honoring late cast members, including Phil Hartman, Chris Farley and Norm MacDonald, it quickly turned into an emotional moment. The audience, both in-studio and at home, watched as Sandler himself struggled to hold back tears.
“Six years of our boy Farley and five of our buddy Norm / 50 years of one of us getting to say / 'Live from New York, it's Saturday night' / 50 years of standing on home base / waving goodnight and goodbye / 50 years of the best times of our lives.”
"Him choking up at the end choked me up!!" wrote one YouTube commenter. "Leave it to Sandler to make us all cry. What a touching tribute," wrote another. Over on TikTok, the sentiment was similar. "The choke up at Farley gets me every time," wrote one person. "Sandler has the power to make me laugh cry, and sad cry all together. Love him so much," added another.
This isn’t the first time Sandler has honored his late friend Chris Farley through song. In his 2018 Netflix special, Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh he debuted the "Chris Farley Song," reminiscing about his time with the comedian, who died of a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33.
“The first few times we played that song, I would tear up, and I couldn’t really sing it well because I get so emotional,” Sandler said in 2022 interview. “It’s weird, but when that song starts, I go, ‘Oh f---, alright, don’t cry, and don’t do that.’ Still, I’ve sung it maybe a hundred times already, but it rocks me.”
Same, Adam. Same.
Good Housekeeping’s 2023 Best Bedding Awards: Pillows
