Editor’s note, February 13: NBC is set to air “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” on Sunday, February 16 at 8 pm. This article about SNL’s 50th season was originally published on October 4, 2024.

In April, Kristen Wiig hosted Saturday Night Live, an occasion that, under normal circumstances, would merit some excitement. But anyone familiar with the peculiar lore of SNL would know better: This was Wiig’s fifth time hosting, and when someone hosts SNL five times, the opening monologue becomes absolutely unbearable.

This is the fault of SNL’s longtime schtick known as “the Five Timers Club,” where the conceit is once you host the show five times, you get a velvet smoking jacket and entrance into a mythical exclusive society full of other laureates like Steve Martin and Tina Fey and Justin Timberlake.

It is also an excuse for the show to indulge its worst impulses: Packed with A-list guest appearances, Wiig’s monologue saw Paul Rudd pitifully ask why he wasn’t asked to be one of the celebrity cameos; Matt Damon, who has hosted only twice, wearing a Five Timers jacket because executive producer Lorne Michaels said he was so good that he deserved it; and Jon Hamm and Martin Short begging Michaels offstage for a chance to host again. In total, eight of the country’s most beloved actors joined together to fawn at the altar of SNL and, specifically, its creator.

There are infinite ways for SNL to be unbearable: a sketch outstays its welcome, the rookie featured player keeps flubbing his lines, the writers forgo jokes altogether and instead force us to listen to a bizarre piano ballad in an attempt to say something earnest about politics. But by far the worst version of SNL is when the show becomes more interested in its own mythology than making people laugh.

This year, the institution’s 50th, promises to be full of such moments. In the season premiere, host Jean Smart recalled her younger self watching........

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