‘SNL at 50’ shows you can go back homeward

(RNS) — The “SNL at 50″ special began with a Paul and ended with another. You might rightly say these were bookends.

The cold open was Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter performing a duet of “Homeward Bound” — a song that is, itself, approaching its 60th birthday. Simon’s voice shows the noble signs of aging. But his musicianship was untouched, his guitar playing still magical. Carpenter’s voice melded well with Simon’s. It was a sweet moment.

And at the other end of the special, there was Sir Paul McCartney, doing the final moments of the B side of the “Abbey Road ” album. His voice was 82 years old. But, as for his energy, enthusiasm and personality, he was the same (pre-Sir) McCartney who appeared in “A Hard Day’s Night” in 1964.

He began his set with these words from “Golden Slumbers”: “Once, there was a way to get back homeward … ”

There you have it: the message of “SNL at 50” in twin phrases — being “homeward bound” and “getting back homeward.”

The “SNL at 50” show delighted me. Like many people, I expected it to be a recap of its iconic skits, musical performances and fake commercials. Those were somewhat present, but the essence of the show was its reunion of old cast members, redoing their shtick and often creating new opportunities for hilarity. I loved seeing Kate McKinnon again, with her reprisal of her recurring role as the woman who is kidnapped by aliens and who has a rather different experience than her fellow hostages in space. I howled, as I always did.

Was there a spiritual message in the “Saturday Night Live” reunion? I found several. 

The first message was about aging. As the Rolling Stones sang, “Time waits for no one.” Time did not wait, and you could see how the decades now sit upon the faces of such figures as Bill Murray, Rachel Dratch, Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin, to name but a few. So, too, Tracy Morgan still bears the burden of a near fatal auto accident, some years ago. To see original cast member Garrett Morris at age 87 was like seeing an elderly uncle at a family reunion. It was a gift.

That is precisely the point. Talent, status, money: None of those things protects you from old age. 

Second, there was that segment in which they revisited pieces of skits that today would be considered inappropriate and over the top: body shaming, homophobia, racism, child molesting and other taboo topics. I watched those skits, partially laughing and partially grimacing. Many are no longer funny. They were probably never funny.

In the comedy business, there is that question: “Is nothing sacred?” As someone who is in the sanctity business, I have always appreciated that comedy has relied on relatively few things being sacred. Though, on not a few topics, we would be skittish about a humorous approach. For others, it would be too soon, or perhaps never at all.

Television — all of popular culture, really — is not a medium that lends itself to faith. But, in viewing the litany of cringe-worthy material, we saw a glimpse of the sacred. In playing out the stuff that was, in retrospect, not that cool, “SNL” did teshuva, or repentance. It replayed what some would call its failures, and in many ways, acknowledged those failures, time-based as they were. That segment was “SNL” Yom Kippur.

Finally, there was something I missed and truly wanted to see. One of my favorite moments in the annual Academy Awards ceremony is the segment in which they pay tribute to Academy members who died in the past year — both the famous and the frequently unheralded people who worked behind the scenes and whose names are only known to those who religiously and scrupulously watch the credits at the end of a movie.

“SNL at 50” sometimes alluded to cast members who had died. For example, in Adam Sandler’s song and in the cemetery sequence, Jim Belushi visited the graves of the dead and the future dead.

I thought this was where Tom Hanks was going when he said, “We must also take a moment to honor those whom we’ve lost: countless members of the ‘SNL’ family that were taken from us too soon … ” But, alas, that turned out to reintroduce those skits that had “aged horribly.”

I would have appreciated an entire segment that named and lifted up the memories of such regulars who have died: John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Norm Macdonald, Chris Farley, Tom Davis (of Franken and Davis), Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, writer Michael O’Donaghue and announcer Don Pardo, who lived to the age of 96.

We could have tolerated the temporary solemnity. There had already been many opportunities for tears.

“Once, there was a way to get back homeward.”

We went back homeward — appreciating what a rare and precious gift “SNL” has been for this half-century.

We might add the traditional Hebrew blessing: Ad meah v’esrim. May you go to 120 years old. Though some say the real translation is, at the age of 100, may you feel as if you are 20.

Is that too much to ask of “SNL”? It’s true that some seasons, or entire eras, have been clunkers. But, those that were wonderful have somehow stayed wonderful.

So, in whatever way we access entertainment in 50 years, may “SNL” still play as if it were 20.

From strength to (humorous) strength.

Oh, to be “homeward bound.”