The best highlights from "SNL50"

The best sketch of the evening was the through-the-years musical "tribute" to New York City. One presumes it came from the mind of John Mulaney, because he is at center stage and because these sort of sketches have been commonplace in episodes he's hosted.

While "Weekend Update" is broken into sub-segments on the YouTube page, the entire segment was also uploaded. The whole thing was really strong, and features an appearance from none other than Bill Murray, so the whole thing is worth your while.

There were a few musical performances, all of them fine, none of them terribly remarkable. Paul McCartney's may or may not have been the best, but he's Paul McCartney, and he closed out the show. If there's one musical performance to watch, as such, it is his.

Lastly, there are the good nights. Sure, it's not a sketch, it's just the show closing in the way it does every episode and has for decades. Just look at everybody on this stage, though. So many icons feeling so many emotions. You'll want to watch it a couple times to focus on different parts of the crowd on stage.

"SNL50" could have easily fallen short or not lived up to the hype. Instead, it delivered in a big way.