There was an incredible cognitive dissonance to watching one of Saturday Night Live’s most famous cast members from the ‘90s drop by to host (for the first time ever!) in 2019 and regale us with jokes about Game of Thrones and President Trump and Kevin Durant (maybe!) going to the Knicks. There was also an undeniable, blissfully uncomplicated joy.
There he was: Adam Sandler, the Sandman, with yet another imminent Netflix movie to promote (co-starring Jennifer Aniston!) and his pick of several dozen indelible Clinton-era SNL characters to reprise. With apologies to Canteen Boy, Opera Man was absolutely the right choice as a callback during what is hopefully not Sandler’s last hosting gig, in that the bit’s premise—Sandler dresses up like an opera singer and riffs on the news in a buffoonish Olive Garden accent—is just stupid enough to be timeless.
Let’s just say that he can still make a punchline like “Kentucky Derby very fast-o / One in first and one in last-o / Winning horse is magnifioso / Losing horse is delicioso” sing. Let’s just say that “Grope-a grope-a / Sniff-a sniff-a” is a transcendently puerile opening line to the theme song Joe Biden deserves. Let’s just say that if someone was gonna rhyme They afraid to impeach with Putin makes me his beetch, I’m glad it was him. The whole thing was absurd, and a little disturbing, and extremely great. “So very long since I’ve been around-ah,” Opera Man climatically wailed. “Twenty-four years and 24 pounds-ah.”
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Sandler was fired from SNL (along with Chris Farley!) in 1995 and went on to become a critic-proof blockbuster movie star; Opera Man also included a quick bit about the new Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen romcom Long Shot, and how its “Pretty lady / Goofy man-ah” premise seemed awfully familiar. (Rogen was thrilled.) Indeed, Sandler’s monologue consisted of a song called, presumably, “I Was Fired,” with guest appearances from Chris Rock (also fired!) and Pete Davidson (keep trying!), and a final verse that ran as follows:
I was fired, I was fired NBC said that I was done Then I made over $4 billion at the box office So I guess you could say I won
For those millennials (and younger!) not steeped in ‘90s pop-culture lore who thus might solely know Sandler as the guy who makes colossally polarizing Netflix movies, Saturday night must’ve been a little confounding. The dude is 52 years old, for one thing. (“I should have come back to the show before it was HD,” he conceded last week on Late Night With Seth Meyers.) And stripped of any context, he has the chill-but-volatile vibe of that distinct phylum of SNL host where there’s a three-percent chance he or she will forget the name of the musical guest while introducing the musical guest. (Shawn Mendes did a reworked version of “In My Blood” with four cellos; Sandler nailed the intro both times.)
The episode was thus split between the show’s usual, cheerfully hacky approach to current events (the cold open was an Avengers vs. Game of Thrones edition of Family Feud that featured Leslie Jones delivering the line “Bitch, I’m Groot”) and total nostalgia. (One skit was a “Sandler family reunion” that consisted of various cast members—and Kristen Wiig, and Jimmy Fallon—doing impressions of his various blockbuster movie characters.) Basically, to get the most out of this episode, you had to be old enough that this was all transpiring way, way, way, past your bedtime. Your reward was that you got to watch a 52-year-old guy crack jokes about CNN war-zone reporters using Snapchat filters, and still come across like a majestically dopey 14-year-old.
The episode as a whole was far from perfect—it included an early and spectacularly unfunny music video for a song about how “clothes are holes” in which Sandler somehow impersonated both Slash and Axl Rose simultaneously—but it was nonetheless a reminder of how perfect he always was for this show. He can underplay if you really need him to: The best skit that didn’t trade on past glories featured Sandler as a tour operator in Italy going to great lengths to remind depressed people that they’ll still be depressed while on vacation in Italy. (“The pictures you’re in are gonna have you in them.”) But as always, Sandler makes the most sense the louder and the bawdier and the dumber everything around him gets, which is to say that at one point Kate McKinnon was squirting Windex in his mouth in a bar while making out with Kristen Wiig. (Wiig’s tenure at SNL did not, of course, overlap with Sandler’s at all, but who’s complaining?) Impressively, given the quarter-century’s worth of history involved, he returned a conquering hero, but with the chops of an old-timer—and all-timer—who’d never left at all.
And for his final act Saturday night, he did something even more surprising.
Specifically, Sandler sang a shaggy and phenomenally tender song about Chris Farley, his old castmate and dearly departed friend. (His quite good 2018 Netflix comedy special 100% Fresh peaks with the same tune.) It was a disarmingly beautiful moment, sounding both improvised and deeply heartfelt, a teary-eyed tribute that captured both the comedy and the tragedy of one of the show’s other most famous cast members from the ‘90s. “After a show he’d drink a quart of Jack Daniel’s and stick the bottle right up his ass,” Sandler sang, a line that always gets a laugh, and always hurts, too.
It was moving on a level SNL almost never even approaches; the whole episode was, really, given Sandler’s inimitable mix of veteran savvy and forever-childlike defiance. He was happy to be there in a way that made you even happier to watch him be there. “To my wife and kids, I’m glad you guys got to witness that,” he announced during his goodbyes. “‘Cause I loved it here, man.”
Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott have made their bond even more permanent. The 21-year-old businesswoman threw a "Cactus Jack"-themed birthday bash for her rapper boyfriend last week, and the couple had many of opportunities to get inked at the party's tattoo station. Celebrity tattoo artist JonBoy captured an especially sweet moment between the two, when Jenner took control of the needle and gave Scott her own ink.
Game of Thrones is easily one of the most successful shows of all time. Anyone who has social media understands the absurd number of memes, spoilers, and more that come along with every Sunday’s new episode. Some of the actors and actresses who portray the Game of Thrones characters are more well-known than others — but which star has the highest net worth?
‘Game of Thrones’ stars Maisie Williams, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, and Lena Headey | Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images
Maisie Williams: $6 million
After last week’s Battle of Winterfell, people are definitely rooting for Arya Stark, who is portrayed by Maisie Williams. Williams is making a reported $175,000 per episode for this final season, which may sound like a lot, but it actually isn’t even close to some of the other salaries. Either way, she’s made millions from Game of Thrones and is worth a reported $6 million today.
Sophie Turner: $6 million
Sophie Turner shot to fame with her role on the show; according to Refinery29, Turner’s character, Sansa Stark, was her first professional acting job. Clearly, things worked out. Turner reportedly makes $175,000 per episode, and she’s worth an estimated $6 million today. She’s also engaged to Joe Jonas, and the two seem to have a close, exciting relationship that fans love to watch.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvedlF8homg/
Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner have essentially grown up on the show.
Lena Headey: $9 million
Lena Headey is best known as Cersei Lannister on the show. She’s a British actress who already had an established acting career before landing her role on the HBO show. Refinery29 reports that she is being paid $500,000 per episode, but other outlets suggest the number is closer to $1 million. Today, she’s worth an estimated $9 million, and much of that is thanks to Game of Thrones.
Kit Harington: $12 million
It’s hard to forget Jon Snow, played by Kit Harington. Snow is one of the show’s most important characters, and Harington’s acting techniques made him perfect for the role. Harington has been in several films, but Game of Thrones was his first major small-screen role. Evidently, he’s done a great job, considering he makes a reported $500,000 per episode. Today, he’s worth an estimated $12 million.
Emilia Clarke: $13 million
Emilia Clarke is another actress making a reported $500,000 per episode, up from $300,000 in previous seasons. She plays Daenerys Targaryen, a critical character on the show, which explains her massive salary. Today, she’s the wealthiest female of any Game of Thrones cast member with a net worth around $13 million.
Peter Dinklage: $15 million
Peter Dinklage may be best known as Tyrion Lannister, but this isn’t his first acting gig. You might remember Dinklage as famed children’s author Miles Finch in Elf, otherwise known as the “south pole elf.” He also had important roles in X-Men and The Chronicles of Narnia. His acting resume has earned him a net worth of about $15 million, though Tyrion Lannister might be his best-known role of all time.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau: $16 million
Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau is the wealthiest Game of Thrones actor.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau is the wealthiest Game of Thrones actor, and he’s known
for his role as Jaime Lannister. Coster-Waldeau has a long list of films under
his belt, including Black Hawk Down and
The Other Woman. He’s likely made the
majority of his money from the HBO show though, considering he receives an
estimated $500,000 per episode. Today, he’s worth around
$16 million.
Opera Man, Colin JostScreenshot: Saturday Night Live
“Wait, I can see on the TV I look silly.”
“I’m not an actor (unless I feel like it), I’m a movie star (with an exclusive Netflix contract)!”
Adam Sandler left Saturday Night Live in 1995, which seems about as improbable as Sandler’s boast about his often amiably lazy movies having made “over 4 billion dollars at the box office,” as the returning alum sung in his charmily silly musical monologue song, “I Was Fired.” Sandler indeed got canned back then, although it was largely the doing of then NBC president Don Ohlmeyer, who was engaged in a very public and ugly feud with Lorne Michaels for control of the show at the time. Chris Rock came out to contribute his own delightfully funny verse about his earlier own unceremonious SNL exit, while Sandler noted that also-fired Chris Farley (who was as big a presence tonight as much of the current cast) garrulously commiserated with Sandler at the time.
It was a fittingly genial fuck-you from Sandler (one lyric accuses NBC of “hat[ing] the Jews”), who eased back into his old launching pad with the ease of somebody with nothing to prove. Sandler’s time on SNL was undoubtedly phenomenally successful (until ratings started to slip along with viewers’ tolerance for the broad, bellowing anics of Sandler, Farley, and their fellow “bad boys”). And while Sandler’s proven himself capable of much more range than anyone then would have imagined when he was 23 (at least when he teams up with the rightdirectors and decides to put “actor” back on his resumé) he mainly stuck tonight to what he was best at then, being silly and sweetly goofy.
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In Tom Shales and James Miller’s oral history of the show, onetime SNL writer Bob Odenkirk explained how Sandler’s success on the show was often frustrating, but never surprising, or even especially resented. Noting how he and others who were turning out the sort of smarter, more ambitious material that mostly didn’t make it to air, still couldn’t help but concede that Sandler got more big laughs and audience love by just “sort of dicking around.” (Odenkirk went and made his own sketch comedy legacy elsewhere.) Not that that’s all Sandler’s got, but dicking around has gotten him to where he is, and the episode didn’t mess much with that formula.
Best/Worst Sketch Of The Night
In a night of puzzling behind-the-scenes decision making, Sandler shone most in a pair of pieces that showed off his skills at underplaying in sketches that would have fit perfectly back in his heyday. The Romano Tours commercial was Sandler the comedy professional, playing it straight in a thoroughly satisfying deadpan sketch where Sandler’s tour booker patiently rebuts some bad customer reviews. This could be an invitation for mean-spirited yelling, or passive-aggressive abuse, but Sandler’s even-handed explanation that miserable people will still be miserable even when tossing pizza dough in Italy emerges with its humanity intact. Sustaining the joke admirably, the piece sees Sandler’s pitchman alternating between the low-rent glories of a Staten Island-booked package tour (“See some different squirrels.”), and not-unkind advice that, even on a wine-tasting tour of lovely Italian vineyards, “We cannot change why you drink or the person you become when you do, okay?” Packed with lines that good (“The pictures you’re in are gonna have you in them.,” “You’re not your sister.,” “In Italy, you will still have those bodies and feelings.”), the joke just works better and better the more Sandler stays with it. It’s a contained, fully-realized little gem.
Just as good, albeit in a different key, is the erectile dysfunction commercial for the suspiciously butt-plug-shaped ED drug Rectix. Bringing back memories of some of Sandler’s old meticulously produced belly laugh ads (Schmitt’s Gay comes to mind), the piece plays out in straight-faced perfection as Beck Bennett’s reticent grown adult son gradually realizes that his solicitous dad (Sandler’s) sage advice comes from his happy ignorance about the means by which his lemonade-making mom (Aidy) has slyly introduced ass play into the couple’s longtime marriage. Colon Blow, Oops! I Crapped My Pants—scatology played straight is the SNL commercial sweet spot. Points for Aidy’s serene smile, and the side effect warning: May cause a shift in couple’s power dynamic.
On the other hand, Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett’s music video “Holes (Clothes)” misjudges a reliable SNL formula almost entirely. Especially coming as early in the show as it does, the bit—where the guys’ ultra-serious duo Von Bonjour croons about the way that clothes are really just holes used to cover up your body’s holes—deflates an already unpromising idea with a limp production. Even some of SNL’s lesser music video parodies score points by nailing the sound and look, but Beck and Kyle’s deliberately offhand premise is let down even further by a similarly underwhelming production all around. This one just played out to baffled silence.
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Weekend Update update
Jost and Che dispensed with their end of the political material tonight breezily enough. (See below for more on that.) The episode seemed fixated more on the “light prop comedy” of Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) busting out some KFC to call William Barr a chicken than the fact that the Attorney General of the United States refused to appear before a congressional hearing about his obvious, Constitution-shredding efforts to exonerate the president he’s supposedly overseeing. Yeah, it was, as Jost put it, a pretty irresistible comedy spectacle to see “an old man go to town on a bucket of chicken at nine in the morning,” but if that’s where the satire ends, you’re doing less than the bare minimum. Jost did joke about the country apparently having no rules any more, while Che dug at the Democrats for treating the Trump administration’s blatant and escalating contempt for American democracy and the rule of law “like a white parent dealing with a screaming kid at the supermarket.” Then it was on to jokes about Applebee’s and marshmallow Peeps.
At least Kate McKinnon got to come out once more as her determinedly no-bullshit Elizabeth Warren. And if Kate’s Liz didn’t take Jost and company to task again by waving a copy of a certain SNL reviewer’s complaints about the show’s lack of political courage, the piece did see Warren mocking the ongoing slighting of her campaign by the press. I’m not sure why Warren is being given the decidedly Trump-ian trait here of giving her Democratic opponents childishly insulting nicknames, but she’s got a point about her substantive progressive policy proposals being overshadowed by the press’ infatuation with the sight of Beto O’Rourke doing “parkour in a Starbucks.” (“I guess, you know, I’m settin’ myself apart from the other candidates by sayin’ what I’m gonna do and how I’m gonna do it. Whoa, what a crackpot idea!”) If Warren’s specifics about, say forgiving college debt, or universal childcare are derided as too wonky compared to the coverage of the “clown car” of her Democratic opponents, I say bring it on, both in the national discourse and on SNL.
For the other correspondent piece, we take you to . . .
“What do you call that act?” “The Californians!”—Recurring sketch report
Opera Man, everybody! What the hell, it’s the sort of easy-going Sandler throwback silliness he can likely crank out in the shower in the morning (although Sandler did bring back writers Robert Smigel, Tim Herlihy, and Steve Koren to help out). And, of all the possible returning bits, Opera Man’s blend of light pop culture satire and high culture was destined to go down smoothest. Besides, on another night where SNL exhibited its intention to dial way back on the ambition when it comes to political material, Opera Man’s jokes about the Democrats seeming plan to nominate yet another 70-year-old white man for president was about as pointed as things were going to get.
I’m calling the Sandler family reunion a recurring bit, since it’s essentially just another Walken family reunion with some mediocre Sandler impressions swapped in. Seriously, for such a uniquely imitable former cast member, you’d think that the current cast would have some better Sandler voices in their pockets. It was up to the still-giggling Jimmy Fallon to drop by with a decent Sandler, something he auditioned with way back when. It’s cute enough stuff, but, while the cast was underused all night (a malady afflicting most former cast member comebacks), nobody really picked up the Sandler and ran with it, which was the only reason to do this sketch in the first place. (Unsurprisingly, Kenan comes off best as the Sandler-by-marriage who hasn’t really gotten into the schticky swing of things yet.)
And speaking of ringers, what was with all the Kristen Wiig tonight? I like Wiig just fine, but she never served with Sandler, so her two appearances (at the reunion, and later being gamely gross hitting on Kate’s returning Sheila Sauvage) served to highlight how hard the current cast gets elbowed aside whenever an old hand/big star feels like dropping in to play. As for the sketch—what do you say at this point? I loved Sheila’s last call barfly’s resilient, boozy bravery the first time out. Which I believe first aired around 1987, right? Anyway, Sandler, McKinnon, Wiig, and Kenan’s ever-horrified barkeep all went through the same old distasteful moves, as Wiig and Sandler’s swingers waver in their scabrous desire to introduce the equally noncommittal Shiela’s questionable charms into their greasy, cyst- and colostomy-bag-filled lovemaking. That this baseline tolerable rotten old chestnut didn’t steal the ten-to-one spot as is its wont is about all the good there is to say about it.
“It was my understanding there would be no math”—Political comedy report
I’m slotting the cold open in here, partly because that’s been the place where SNL dumps its requisite political sketch of the night, but mostly because the show goes out of its way to use yet another Family Feud sketch to announce a conspicuous surrender. I’ve been accused of being the only person who wants Saturday Night Live to do more political material, and, while I’ll concede that the show’s Alec Baldwin-dominated Trump material has been something of a mild-mannered slog, I’ll cop to that. If for no other reason than the show has the irritated ear of a president who’s not only actively advocated for governmental censorship of Saturday Night Live for being all mean to him, but whose mid-candidacy presence as host damaged the show’s rep to an extent it’s still trying to live down.
If the response is that SNL’s political courage and sophistication has always been more pose than practice, I can’t argue that much. But SNL has a platform, and one that it’s courted, developed, and climbed to intermittent heights of ratings (and even critical) success. Basically, throwing in the towel when you’re in the position to most directly affect a sitting president (who you arguably helped elect) is cowardly. Or lazy. Or cynical. Anything but ambitious. So starting off the episode with a head-fake toward another political sketch before jerking back to safely mediocre ground is your way of saying that all this heat is either too much, or too hard? Fair enough. But trundling out one of your most reliably unimpressive bits of quick-hit, uninspired celebrity impressions in its place is an act of contempt for anyone who thinks having a 90-minute stage of live TV satire involves some fucking effort. And courage.
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The sketch was what it was. Cute. Disposable. Filled with lackluster impersonations and easy, crowd-targeted references. (Props to Ego Nwodim’s committed Okoye/Danai Gurira, the one standout in the Avengers vs. Game Of Thrones matchup.) Nobody’s forcing SNL to do political satire. But if the mission going forward is to safely backpedal on politics, then you’d better be a whole lot funnier and more original as a sketch comedy show, because right now, you’re courting irrelevance on both fronts.
I guess the Snapchat sketch was . . . political? Using the ongoing and very real violence and political turmoil in Libya as backdrop for a harmlessly silly sight gag is in questionable comic taste, but here’s to SNL for remembering that Tripoli exists, I guess. Throw in some added disregard for the (again, very real and growing) threat to journalists around the world (and here in America), and, well, the joke about imperiled reporter Mikey Day being unable to control the Snapchat filters on his phone is still . . . cute? Sandler popped up to do his Iraqi Pete accent, while Beck Bennett’s analyst couldn’t stop gushing over how darn cute everything was, much to the disgust of Cecily Strong’s Brooke Baldwin. Politics, SNL style.
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I am hip to the musics of today
At least we know who Tom Holland will play should the boyish Spider-Man ever host SNL. Fun fact: Mendes was born three years after Sandler was fired from the show.
Most/Least Valuable Not Ready For Prime Time Player
Nearly every cast member proper got shunted aside for the chummy mush of another camera-hogging alumni reunion show, so here’s to Kate McKinnon, I guess. She does a really good Elizabeth Warren, a pleasantly ordinary Brienne of Tarth, and was really the only person to stand on her own tonight. Distant second to Ego Nwodim, who gave it her all in her customary single shot, while Aidy deserves some recognition for her slyly satisfied smile in the Rectix ad.
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“What the hell is that thing?”—The Ten-To-Oneland Report
I’d complain about giving over the last slot to Sandler so he could sing the Chris Farley tribute song he debuted in his Netflix special, but I have a human soul. Say what you want about Farley’s affect on Saturday Night Live’s already broad tendencies, or his (and Sandler’s) noted fratboy Republicanism, or the way he went out (a fate, Sandler sings, he was not only prepared for, but not-so-secretly courted in deference to his comic heroes John Belushi and John Candy), but it’s hard not to love a guy who made people laugh so much, and so freely. And Sandler’s song is a genuinely touching thing, mixing heartfelt and obvious love with clear-eyed digs at a beloved pal who died way too soon. For someone who watched Farley’s rise and crash with helpless, sometimes guilty laughter, Sandler’s whimsical lament that Farley isn’t around to make him happy anymore was as right a way to end Sandler’s first return to SNL as you could hope for.
Kenan’s Steve Harvey sums up Thor’s quest to restore Asgard as “some kind of white nonsense.”
“It vibrates?” “What, did you think it doesn’t?”
Jost’s list of people Democrats have held accountable: Scott Pruitt (sort of); Roseanne Barr.
Che got two audience groans tonight, to his obvious delight. One a joke about the Pope berating hairdressers about gossiping (“Especially when that gossip is, ‘Did you hear what happened to those altar boys?’”), and the other when revealing that a newly discovered jellyfish’s “transient anus” only appears when it’s needs to expel waste “and on its husband’s birthday.”
Pete Davidson also broke into Sandler’s monologue to sing about being fired. After Sandler reminded him he hasn’t actually been fired yet, he advised, “Be patient, ‘cause it’s comin’ soon.”
Next week: Emma Thompson, people. Plus the Jonas Brothers, if that’s your bag.
Most people who work with hammers make pretty good money. However, if you wield a certain kind of hammer – like the kind that can summon lightning and pummel foes with just one toss – you can make millions.
Just ask Chris Hemsworth. Having played the God of Thunder in three Thor standalone films and four Avengers movies, the actor has found the Marvel Cinematic Universe very lucrative, even if he has found only limited success outside it.
How Thor’s salary compares to other Avengers
Chris Hemsworth | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hemsworth received $15 million for Avengers: Infinity War. That may sound pretty impressive, but since Hemsworth is part of an ensemble in those movies, he gets less than he does in the movies that have Thor in the title. By contrast, he made more than $30 million for Thor: Ragnarok, per Mens XP. That’s quite an increase from the $150,000 he made for the first Thor.
His compatriot Chris Evans also made $15 million for Infinity War, as did Scarlett Johansson, which shows Marvel is paying attention to the calls for women to be paid equally to men. Brie Larson, Marvel’s newest female star Captain Marvel, made about $5 million for her standalone film, but that number is bound to increase since her movie has made more than $1 billion worldwide.
Even if you only provide a voice, you can do well with Marvel. Case in point: Bradley Cooper, who voices the caustic raccoon Rocket, one of the Guardians of the Galaxy, gets “a few million” for the Avengers movies, says Mens XP. But that’s a pittance compared to Vin Diesel, who supposedly got $54 million. That’s about $18 million for “I,” $18 million for “am” and $18 million for “Groot.”
Or maybe sources are confusing Diesel with Robert Downey Jr. As the hero who started it all in Iron Man, the actor makes $50 million for the Avengers movies. Tony Stark would approve.
How much Hemsworth’s pay has increased
Men’s Health says that Hemsworth made $37 million in 2014. That number dipped a bit to $27 million the next year, but in 2017, that number shot to $31.5 million. Then that number nearly doubled to $64.5 million in 2018, thanks in no small part to Infinity War, so perhaps he got a share of the massive $700 million that movie made in the United States alone.
All told, his net worth is considerable. Celebritynetworth.com estimates it’s $90 million, while Richest says $71 million, and Bankrate claims $60 million.
Hemsworth first came to moviegoers’ attention in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot, where he played Captain Kirk’s father in the opening scene and is gone very quickly. Marvel came calling two years later with Thor. After that, he appeared in The Cabin in the Woods, co-written by Avengers director Joss Whedon. Other prominent credits include a comic turn in the Ghostbusters reboot, and two films for director Ron Howard: Rush and In the Heart of the Sea.
Here comes an Endgame raise
For all their success, the Marvel heroes have historically made less than stars at other studios. That’s because for Disney, which also owns Star Wars, the properties are the stars, and not so much the actors. Wall Street Journal reporter told Business Insider “If (the actors) want to remain relevant for global audiences, it’s very helpful to be attached to these franchises. Plus, it raises their profile and helps them to get paid more for other movies, including possible sequels and spin-offs to that franchise down the road.”
As the numbers show, Hemsworth and his Marvel colleagues have proved Fritz right. Now comes the news that Avengers: Endgame has absolutely obliterated box office records. You can bet on Hemsworth and the others getting significant raises, whether we seem them again in the MCU or not.
Hosting "SNL" for the first time since he was a mainstay cast member, the comedian opened his monologue by saying he told with his family his time on the show -- from 1990 to 1995 -- was the "best time of his life."
He told the audience his daughter asked why he left.
"I was fired. I was fired," Sandler sang. "It was so sad to tell ... I tried to call ("SNL" creator) Lorne Michaels but he never called me back."
The next verse of the song continued: "I think they just hate the Jews. I was fired, not rehired. It made me sad and blue."
Then came a cameo by fellow "SNL" alumnus Chris Rock, who was on the show from 1990 to 1993.
Sandler asked Rock why he left the show.
"I got fired. I was fired. I was fired by NBC," Rock sang. "Then I went on 'In Living Color,' three weeks later they took it off TV."
"In Living Color" was an African-American variety show that aired on Fox between 1990 and 1994.
Current "SNL" cast member Pete Davidson then showed up and tried to start singing. Sandler stopped him, pointing out that Davidson had not been fired.
"Be patient cause it's coming soon," Sandler said to Davidson.
Sandler crooned the rest of his song.
"It broke my heart to pieces, cause 'SNL' was my home. Where can I do my funny voices now? I never felt so alone," Sandler sang while dipping into his character voice. "NBC said that I was done, then I made over $4 billion at the box office, so I guess you could say I won."
'SNL' pays tribute to Sandler's characters
Kristen Wiig, Jimmy Fallon and Shawn Mendes all made cameos in one skit that paid tribute to Sandler's many "SNL" and movie characters.
In the skit, Sandler was at a Sandler family reunion in which his family members accused him of basing his many characters off them. The characters included stuttering Bobby Boucher from "The Waterboy," soft spoken Nicky from his film "Little Nicky" and the immature Billy from "Billy Madison."
Sandler himself reprised his "Opera Man" character during the "Weekend Update" segment.
Sandler also had a solo performance onstage paying tribute to his late friend and another "SNL" alumnus Chris Farley, who died in 1997.
Fellow writers and fans of Rachel Held Evans are expressing shock and sorrow as word of the renowned Christian author's unexpected death has spread.
Evans, who was from Dayton, Tennessee, and known for her progressive Christian voice, died early Saturday morning after a brief illness, according to her husband, Dan Evans, who shared the news of her death on her website.
"This entire experience is surreal. I keep hoping it’s a nightmare from which I’ll awake. I feel like I’m telling someone else’s story," Dan Evans said.
"I cannot express how much the support means to me and our kids. To everyone who has prayed, called, texted, driven, flown, given of themselves physically and financially to help ease this burden: Thank you. We are privileged. Rachel’s presence in this world was a gift to us all and her work will long survive her."
Rachel Held Evans, a speaker and a writer, is known for her blog as well her numerous best-selling books, including "Faith Unraveled," "A Year of Biblical Womanhood," "Searching for Sunday" and "Inspired".
In mid-April, Evans was put in a medically-induced coma when doctors found that she was experiencing constant seizures while they were treating her for an infection. The news of her illness spurred an online fundraiser as well as an outpouring of prayers shared on social media with #PrayForRHE.
Her condition worsened Thursday morning, Dan Evans said in his Saturday post on announcing her death:
"Rachel experienced sudden and extreme changes in her vitals," Dan Evans said. "The team at the hospital discovered extensive swelling of her brain and took emergency action to stabilize her. The team worked until Friday afternoon to the best of their ability to save her. This swelling event caused severe damage and ultimately was not survivable."
She died at a Nashville hospital at the age of 37, Slate reported Saturday
Fans and fellow writers turned to social media to share their grief and support for Evans' family.
"It it with a broken heart I post this: my sweet friend Rachel died this morning. I will forever be grateful for her friendship and work and love. Thank you for your prayers," author and pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber said on Twitter. "We were able to surround her last night. Offered her our touch and tears and song. I anointed her with oil. She was and is well loved."
"Eshet chayil, beloved Woman of Valor. You ran a beautiful, faithful race. We are crushed. Well done, good and faithful servant," said author Jen Hatkmaker, in a tweet.
Russell Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, asked for people to pray and financially support her family.
"I am shocked and broken-hearted to hear of the death of @rachelheldevans. Please stop right now and pray for this young family," Moore said on Twitter. "@rachelheldevans leaves behind a husband and two small children, one 3 and one less than one year old. As many as can, let’s please help this grieving young family with the overwhelming medical bills."
Bible teacher Beth Moore shared her sorrow on Twitter, too.
"Sobbing over @rachelheldevans’ death. My heart is broken for Dan and the children and for all of you who loved her so so much. I will spend the time I’ve been daily praying for her praying for all of you," Beth Moore said.
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