“The music icon, 82, shocked viewers by taking to the stage and playing the Abbey Road Medley of Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End as fellow celebrities sang along”, — write: www.dailymail.co.uk
The music icon, 82, shocked viewers by taking to the stage and performing the Abbey Road Medley of Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End as fellow celebrities sang along during a star-studded evening.
But his memorable set was not enough to spare him embarrassment at the very end of the show as Canadian comic Martin Short went through a long list of acknowledgements and forgot one bass-playing star.
Paul was left twisting and shouting after he was jokingly looked over in the final monologue, with the great and the good of the entertainment industry piling into the shot, patting Martin, 74, on the shoulder to remind him he was there.
The SNL veteran then replied, ‘oh and Paul!’, to the cast’s amusement, before finally thanking the show’s creator and producer Lorne Michaels, 80.
The trio then posed arm in arm for the emotional send-off as Paul, wearing a black waistcoast over a white shirt, shook Lorne’s hand.
Viewers tuning into the special episode were treated to a rip-roaring performance of the final three tracks of one of the Beatles’ most iconic albums, as Martin introduced the legend 12 years after they shared the SNL stage in December 2012.
Celebrities, from Tom Hanks to Sabrina Carpenter, clapped along as Paul jumped from his spot behind the piano into the centre of the stage to jam out on the guitar.
The stunning segment was preceded by the slightly less comfortable moment Ryan Reynolds poked fun at his wife Blake Lively’s recent legal scandals, as she made her first public appearance in two months at the event.
In a bit opposite Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Ryan stood up from the audience alongside Blake and said: ‘I have a question.’
He was asked, ‘Oh Ryan Reynolds, how’s it going?’ to which the Deadpool star deadpanned, ‘Great – why, what have you heard?’ – in a nod to the months of headlines regarding the troubled production of the summer hit It Ends with Us.
The couple were joined by a litany of fellow A-listers at the event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the NBC staple, including SNL alumns Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, Leslie Jones, David Spade and Jon Lovitz.
Other perennial stars on hand for the high-profile evening in Gotham included Kim Kardashian, Aubrey Plaza, Cher, Steve Martin, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Costner, Jason Momoa, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Paul Simon, among many others.
After a host of fresh sketches featuring comedy’s greatest names, the special highlighted some of the most poorly aged bits and guest appearances.
A segment which aired towards the end of the show included a clip of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs appearing on SNL years earlier, as the rapper sits in jail awaiting his trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, all of which he has vehemently denied.
The rap mogul, 55, even mentioned the disgraced singer and convicted sex trafficker R. Kelly in his sketch, which allowed the show to cut to a 2013 episode in which the rapper and singer joined Lady Gaga to perform a musical number.
Tom Hanks used all the gravitas at his disposal to introduce the segment, which initially seemed like it would be an in memoriam tribute.
‘As we celebrate the achievements of the past 50 years, we must also take a moment to honor those who we’ve lost, countless members of the SNL family, taken from us too soon,’ he said somberly.
‘I’m speaking, of course, about SNL characters and sketches that have aged horribly. But, even though these characters, accents and, let’s just call them… ethnic wigs, were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them.
‘So if anyone should be canceled, shouldn’t it be you, the audience?’ he continued. ‘Something to think about. Anyway, we now present to you this in memoriam.’
Diddy’s appearance on Sunday came under the ‘problematic guests’ heading and was from a 2010 episode which Robert De Niro — who was a guest on SNL50 — had hosted.
The skit in question, which featured Robert cross-dressing to play the mother of Andy Samberg’s character, showed Diddy as he tried to record in the studio before finding himself enamored by the Hollwood star’s character, culminating with the Raging Bull icon grinding on Diddy.
The clip package segued with Diddy’s hilariously unfortunate lines: ‘Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. My man is like R. Kelly —’
Then the show cut to R. Kelly grinning next to Lady Gaga at the end of a 2013 episode.
They weren’t even the only problematic guests, as John Mulaney had joked earlier that SNL had had ‘two murderers’ host, which apparently referred to O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake.
Rob Schneider made an appearance as a Mexican with a stereotypical mustache, sombrero and poncho as he spoke about NAFTA, while Dana Carvey played an oversexed Italian waiter.
Oscar nominee Adrien Brody’s infamous Jamaican character, which he used to introduce Sean Paul, was also featured, and it was simply labeled, ‘Whoa.’
Among the sketches were several in which actors appeared in blackface or with darkened skin, though SNL opted to blur those faces.
The show was also much more flippant about using racial slurs in the past, as illustrated by an infamous scene in which Chevy Chase and guest Richard Pryor traded off slurs.