Next in the news — it’s a very Murray “Weekend Update”!
Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and comic icon Bill Murray returned to Studio 8H on Sunday to headline the star-studded “Weekend Update” sketch for the show’s 50th anniversary special.
The “Groundhog Day” actor, who starred on “SNL” from 1977 to 1980, capped off appearances by Seth Meyers, Cecily Strong, Fred Armisen, Vanessa Bayer and Bobby Moynihan and used his time to rank the top “Weekend Update” hosts of all time.
Murray began by ranking the best Black “Update” anchors, which … was a very short list. “This is by default Michael Che,” Murray deadpanned (Che is the only Black anchor in the history of “Weekend Update”).
“Now let’s move on to the regular ‘Weekend Update’ anchors,” the “Ghostbusters” star continued as Che laughed and asked, “Regular?”
The list was “in no particular order,” Murray said. “So I’ve listed them from worst to best.”
In typical Murray fashion, he then quipped, “I have to disqualify myself because I was on performance enhancing drugs.”
“It’s what we called an ‘8H Shaker,’” he added. “Quaaludes, cocaine, and Nighttime TheraFlu.”
Colin Quinn took the No. 10 slot, with Kevin Nealon coming in at number 9 followed by Dennis Miller at 8 and Seth Meyers at 7.
“I’m gonna put Tina [Fey] and Amy [Poehler] just ahead of Tina and Jimmy [Fallon],” Murray added. “Jimmy, I’m sorry, and congratulations Tina. It was close but I looked online and girl on girl is still very popular.”
Despite his infamous feud with “Weekend Update” creator Chevy Chase, Murray didn’t snub him from the list.
“Next up, Cornelius Crane Chase, who we’ve all come to know as Conny,” Murray began. “Let’s face it. ‘Weekend Update’ would simply not exist without him, so it would be wrong to have him listed anywhere but … No. 4.”
Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd nabbed the No. 3 slot, while the late Norm Macdonald was No. 2.
After teasing current “Weekend Update” host Colin Jost throughout the segment, Murray said the best anchor is “funny, he’s got a great smile, and he’s currently sleeping every kind of way with the lovely actress Scarlett Johansson — my brother, Brian Doyle-Murray!”
Jost kicked off the anniversary “Update,” joking, “It is an honor and a thrill to be hosting ‘Weekend Update’ for the 50th, and, if it were up to our president, final season of ‘SNL.’”
“There are so many famous hosts and musical guests here tonight that some huge names have to watch from studio 8G next door, as well as from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn,” he continued while a photo of Sean “Diddy” Combs was shown.
Chen then took time to pay tribute to Macdonald, who died in 2021 after a nine-year battle with cancer. He was 61.
The comedian was fired from “SNL” after four years in the “Weekend Update” chair following a clash with the show’s producers over his O.J. Simpson jokes, which Che mentioned.
“He’s obviously one of my heroes,” he said. “So if you’re watching up there, I just want to say: we love you, O.J.”
Che also made a joke about “SNL” crew members while thanking them for all their hard work.
“I’d like to congratulate them all on their Jan. 6 pardons,” he said.
Strong returned as “Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party.”
“Is it nice to be on the verge of apocalypse?” a pregnant Strong asked indignantly. “It’s a constipational crisis? Literally for me … I was like do I even want to bring a baby in this world, or should I keep her in here for another 3½ years?”
After Che replied that he didn’t think that was possible, Strong responded, “I guess you know more than my Oh b g n y.”
When Meyers took the “Update” chair, the late-night host brought out Bayer and Armisen, who played “SNL” creator Lorne Michael’s childhood best friends.
“I will say sometimes he can be a little rude,” Armisen said, before Bayer quipped that when they went to help Michaels move recently, “Nothing was packed.”
Moynihan also reprised his role as Drunk Uncle.
“Oh great, we’re in a brave new world!” he opined. “Not my Captain America!” he added, referring to the new “Captain America” movie starring Anthony Mackie.
“Weekend Update” appeared on the first “SNL” broadcast on October 11, 1975.
The segment was created to be an update to NBC News’ monthly news magazine “Weekend.” Chase brought his sarcasm and deadpan humor to the segment, including his “I’m Chevy Chase… and you’re not” greeting.
Chase reflected on the creation of “Weekend Update” in a 2013 interview.
“There was a little room nearby with a long desk, which could act as a stage,” he told The New York Times of the early days. “[Lorne Michaels] asked everybody to sit behind it and just do something. And then at the end he said, ‘Chevy, get up there and do something.’”
“I was very involved in political satire, and I’d been writing parody for ‘Mad’ and ‘National Lampoon,’ so I made up some strange story about Gerald Ford,” which also spurred his catchphrase, “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.”
Chase would end the update with the signature line: “That’s the news…good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.”
In 1976, Curtin replaced Chase and finished Season 2 solo. However, the comedian was eventually paired with co-anchor Aykroyd from 1977 to 1978.
In 1978, Curtin was joined by Murray before the duo left the show in 1980. Curtin exited “SNL” after five seasons. Murray was there for three. (Chase, Garrett Morris, Curtin and Laraine Newman, four of the surviving original cast members, returned for the 50th anniversary special on Sunday night.)
The late Charles Rocket was next up to take the anchor chair during what became known as a transitional time at “Saturday Night Live.”
Many of the original cast members and the show’s creator, Michaels left after Season 5, so when Rocket took over, the network was still trying to figure out a new format.
The segment was briefly changed to “SNL Newsbreak” and “Saturday Night News,” and many cast members rotated at the desk.
By 1985, Michaels had returned as executive producer of the show and, with it, the “Weekend Update” with Dennis Miller at the helm.
Miller served as the “Weekend Update” anchor until 1991 — becoming the longest cast member to hold the position until Seth Meyers.
Kevin Nealon who was featured on the show for nine seasons, served as a “Weekend Update” anchor for three seasons from 1991 to 1995 despite being on the show from 1986 to 1995.
Reflecting on his time at “SNL,” he told Entertainment Tonight, “I did not know how to write sketches. I was just the stand-up guy. I cracked the jokes and I didn’t know how to do characters so to get on that show – I still can’t believe it.”
His first “Weekend Update” sketch was with Miller as “Mr. Subliminal.”
“I’m really nervous, about to go on, were in the commercial, coming back in 10 seconds,” Nealon recalled, “and Lorne Michaels puts his hand on my shoulder and he goes, ‘Are you sure this is what you want?’ I said get out of my way!”
Following in Nealon’s footsteps was MacDonald, who took over for its milestone 20th season in 1994 until Season 23 in 1997 before getting fired.
Quinn stepped in for a two-year stint from 1998 to 2000.
In 2020, Fey became the first female head writer of the show and a fan-favorite “Weekend Update” anchor. She co-anchored segments with Fallon from 2000 to 2004.
In January, Fey talked about being a newbie and how the show is driven by competition.
“Even though everyone at ‘SNL’ is working together to make one thing, no thought. It is built on competition. It is built for like, ‘See you at the table,’” she said in Peacock’s four-episode docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.”
“I have to say as head writer, I came in from Chicago and I was ready to fight whoever but the rewrite tables were tough. They were grouchy,” she recalled.
However, everyone’s favorite comedy duo came in 2004 when Poehler became Fey’s co-anchor after Fallon left. The first two women co-anchors worked together for two years before the “Mean Girls” alum also left to lead “30 Rock.”
Meyers took his seat at the desk alongside Poehler in 2006 and became a solo anchor in 2008 when she exited to become Leslie Knope on “Parks and Recreation.”
Next up was Strong, who joined the comedian at the “Weekend Update” desk in 2013 for Season 39. She went on to have an 11-year stint on the show.
In 2014, Meyers left to start his own late-night talk show. This past October, the host admitted he was glad he didn’t burn any bridges during his time at “SNL.”
“I feel like I was far more temperamental when I was younger and things ran very hot at ‘SNL,’” said Meyers on NPR’s “Wild Card” podcast. “And there were definitely times where my instincts were to say something that would have been relationship-ending to people.”
Strong was then joined by Jost – but Che took over the anchor desk with Jost in 2014, where they’ve been ever since. The pair pushes the envelope with banter and their yearly joke swap.
In December, Jost made waves by cracking a joke about his wife Johansson’s private parts.
“I’m in trouble I think with a lot of people,” he said while on “The Tonight Show” in January. “Scarlett was genuinely so shocked.”
“I was obviously surprised by everything,” he continued, “but they gave her a heads up and they were like ‘Hey would you be okay if Michael made kind of a little vagina joke at some point?’ and she’s like, ‘Sure, whatever I’m open to it.’”
