Scarlett Johansson brings 50th season of 'SNL' to a low-key close
[May 19, 2025]
By ANDREW DALTON
“Saturday Night Live” was more reflective than festive in the final
episode of its 50th season.
Scarlett Johansson, who set a record for a woman with her seventh
appearance as host, used her monologue to lead most of the current cast
of the NBC sketch institution in a song sung to the tune of Billy Joel's
“Piano Man."
The performance looked back on an eventful year that included an
election, an epic anniversary special and a star-studded concert.
“Sing us a song, it’s your monologue, the 50th season is through,”
Johansson sang, along with Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day, Heidi
Gardner and others. “It’s lasting forever, we did it together, and we
got to spend it with you."
Johansson teased, then took back, a guest appearance that would have
been in keeping with the season's excess of guest stars.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Billy Joel!” she shouted, before adding, “wrote
this song.”
No post-season cast departures have been announced, so no emotional
farewells were necessary, but Johansson and the cast joked in the song
that Sarah Sherman would be gone.
“It’s been a great season and Sarah is leaving, we’re all gonna miss you
next year!" they sang. A stunned Sherman replied, “Wait, what? Did you
guys hear something?”
Johansson's husband, Colin Jost, is a writer on the show and anchor of
the “Weekend Update” segment.
Jost and co-anchor Michael Che returned to their annual season-finale
tradition of writing and being forced to deliver wildly inappropriate
jokes for each other.
Johansson is the subject of many of the Che-written jokes, so this year
Jost compelled Che to bring her out and apologize for once comparing
part of her body to “Costco roast beef.”
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 The 50th season brought much media
discussion of who might run the show should 80-year-old creator
Lorne Michaels ever step down.
Some have suggested Jost might replace Michaels and Che forced Jost
to address the issue with one of the jokes written for him.
“It’s SNL’s 50th season, so I want to take a moment to say something
to our boss,” Jost said. “Lorne, retire, bitch! let me run the
show.”
Jost also appeared in a pre-recorded, behind-the-scenes bit where
Johansson has torrid sex with Yang after she confesses to Nwodim and
Gardner that she has a crush on him, and learns he has only been
publicly pretending to be gay “for the clout.”
Johansson has her heart broken when she learns Yang also has been
hooking up with Nwodim, Gardner and guest star Emily Ratajkowski.
In another behind-the-scenes digital short made by the three members
of comedy group Please Don't Destroy, Johansson treats the trio to a
first-class flight that becomes a luxe hip-hop video until the men
panic when they learn they are landing at the troubled airport of
Newark, New Jersey.
Musical guest Bad Bunny appears as an air traffic controller,
working alone on his first day.
As in nearly every episode of this season, James Austin Johnson did
his impression of President Donald Trump in the cold open segment,
which had him “finding love” with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman.
Johnson's Trump broke the fourth wall and walked into the audience
at the end of the bit.
“It’s the ‘SNL’ finale, season 50 — worst one yet!” he said. “See
you again in the fall if we still have a country. It’s a coin toss.”
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