SNL’s 40th anniversary: who was the best-dressed at the event?

wenn22189730

Last night, NBC devoted hours of prime time to their huge Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary spectacular. There were dozens of celebrity guests, returning guest hosts and returning cast members. I watched it for about an hour and I enjoyed it, but I had no qualms about flipping over to PBS for Downton Abbey. I don’t watch SNL anymore – I used to enjoy it, back when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell were on. But I get sort of bored with it these days and from what I’ve seen, the anniversary special was sort of a mess of too-long skits and too many video packages of previously funny sketches. Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake got to open:

Here are some of the more fashion-y photos from the event. There was a real red carpet and everything! Here’s Taylor Swift in Azzaro – this is such a summery look and let me tell you, it’s FREEZING on the East Coast. How is her skin not blue?

wenn22189726

Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria. BANGS.

wenn22189776

Emma Stone in Christian Dior – this is one of the better Dior looks I’ve seen in a while. She looks adorable.

wenn22190980

Kerry Washington in a sexy white tuxedo dress by Adam Lippes. Hot. One of her best looks in a while.

wenn22190985

Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas. I feel sort of sorry for Zeta. I feel like she’s still in a bad place.

wenn22191002

Dakota Johnson in a Sonia Rykiel dress. This is maybe my favorite thing she’s ever worn. She’s hosting two weekends from now!

wenn22191206

And finally, here’s Jerry Seinfeld & Jessica Seinfeld. THAT HAIR. Good God.

wenn22191211

wenn22191209

Photos courtesy of WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

107 Responses to “SNL’s 40th anniversary: who was the best-dressed at the event?”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. mimif says:

    Jessica Sienfeld’s hair legit makes me cringe.

    • Kiddo says:

      It’s like several different boxes of hair dye rained on her head and then it was mopped up and wrung out (as far as the styling)

    • pf says:

      Jessica’s had that hair for awhile, right? Is there anyone in her life who can honestly tell her how bad she looks? She’s obviously going through some midlife crisis or something. And when her husband was on stage talking to various members of the audience, you could see her in the background smiling/mugging for the camera. I can’t believe Jerry married such a famewhore. Ugh.

    • Bridget says:

      Jessica Seinfeld makes me cringe no matter what her hair looks like

  2. Kiddo says:

    I don’t like any of these looks, so I’ll just go with Alec Baldwin.

    • mimif says:

      When he was full frontal hugging Palin!

    • kcarp says:

      I like Kerry Washington’s dress, I do not like her hair. I like her in Olivia Pope hair. This look is kinda sloppy, like she is still trying to escape her kidnappers.

    • MC2 says:

      I am sorry Kiddo but no matter what the question might be the answer is never, ever “I’ll go with Alec Baldwin”. Wait- unless the question is who should locked in a rocket & blasted to a planet far, far away….

  3. teehee says:

    Well Jess and Jerry seem happy with each other which is cute. Otherwise yes I stopped watching SNl in about 2001 or so. Its become…. something bland and without spcial sparks or chemistry today. I cant think of a character or person that is memorable… like, Mango or Mr Bojangles…

    • MC2 says:

      Mr. Bojangles was the best! I stopped watching a few years ago too but caught a couple episodes lately & they were pretty funny. My expectations are lower now though. Not sure what it was called but the cat driving the car- that I miss!

  4. Deanne says:

    Jessica Seinfeld has the worst hair I’ve ever seen. The cut and colour are so incredibly unflattering. I don’t like what she’s wearing either. She’s a complete mess.

    • bella says:

      i just CAN’T with jessica seinfeld.
      even when she was brunette with a sophisticated cut.
      she looks batsh*t crazy now with this do…
      something that was always lurking beneath the facade.
      she really believes she’s something…entirely conceited and stuck up.

      • Deanne says:

        She does really just ooze conceit and mental instability, doesn’t she? Her hair reminds me of a friend who tried to bleach her hair in high school. She had long, dark hair and only bought one box of that Blondissima stuff. It looked patchy, uneven and still had dark hair peeking out all over. That being said, it still looked better than Jessica’s hair looks. You’d think with all of Seinfeld’s money, she wouldn’t be marching around with hair that looks like she cut and coloured it herself. Oh, and her make-up? Good god.

    • GingerCrunch says:

      Literally ALL the money in the world, and THIS is what you come up with???? Horrible. Is she trying to emulate Gwyneth and if so, WHY?

      • Deanne says:

        Well according to Jessica, Gwynnie’s ” the real deal”, so that is always a possibility. She and Gwyneth seem to be pretty well matched in the deludedly, self important department. Plus they have probably bonded over the cookbooks that they both put out, but didn’t write themselves.

      • GingerCrunch says:

        Oh yessss…I forgot they had THAT in common! lol, smh.

      • charlie says:

        At least Gwyneth has a career. This one did what, marry rich?

      • Deanne says:

        @charlie Actually, she married rich and then married even richer. She met Jerry at the gym right when she got back from her honeymoon with her first husband, immediately dumped that husband and moved on to moneybags Seinfeld. So yes, I find both women i sufferable, but GP does have. a legit career beyond who she married.

    • moo says:

      Jessica’s first husband has (since?) had a history of domestic violence so on that part, she dodged a bullet.

    • Scarlet says:

      And she looks thick. Thick all over. Thick arms, thick middle, thick neck. Gross

  5. amp122076 says:

    Seinfeld’s wife is a piece of work. Fame whore much?

  6. LadyMTL says:

    I watched about 90 minutes of the show and all it did was remind me why I stopped watching SNL in the first place. Seriously, some of the skits were just soooo bad. Ugh.

    • GingerCrunch says:

      Really badly produced, I thought.

    • Moffa says:

      Why did so many bad sketches get put in? Especially when so many people got short time on stage or the decent skits were rushed. I mean, did anyone actually need 7 minutes of The Californians?

      • LadyMTL says:

        I actually turned it off after The Californians, lol. I was sitting there waiting for it to get funny and it never really did.

      • dj says:

        It actually put me in a bad mood because there was so many funny things to put on and it seemed like they were trying not to put on their funniest stuff! Not enough Gilda. I stopped watching during the Californians. Ugh!

    • apointlessexercise says:

      The intro sucked. So two people sang some song making references to all the popular skits. why the f does anybody care? How is it supposed to be funny?

    • Scarlet says:

      It was exhausting.

  7. Laura says:

    I totally thought it was Sienna Miller in the header pic. No idea that was Jessica Seinfeld!! Dat hair…

  8. Alix says:

    Can we give the award to no one?

  9. BJ says:

    Didn’t listed here, but Olivia Wilde looked great in an H&M tuxedo. She and Jason Sudeikis wore matching suits. That was cool.
    I also loved what Emma and Kerry wore as well.

  10. scout says:

    Emma looks best but what the …. is wrong with Jessica Seinfeld?

  11. Aussie girl says:

    Good to see Hilda Baldwin wasn’t doing her god awful yoga pic poses. Michael and Katherine couldn’t look less disconnected if they tired, seriously just get a divorce. Jessica Seinfeld, god I’ve disliked that blonde hair on her ever since she dyed it, but in that suit (yikes), I hate it. Wowza I’m a negative nancy today 😣😣😣😣

  12. capepopsie says:

    I quite like Emma Stone´s outfit . It looks nice and decent.
    The others, not so much. Well okay, Cathrine Zeta Jones´ is
    okay, a bit boring, but okay.

  13. Louise says:

    Jerry Seinfeld looks really good for his age.

  14. Kaley says:

    Emma looks cute!

    Taylor looks cranky/ bitchy and quickly put together as if someone forced her to go last minute.

    Dakota looks pretty but what is it with her and fur coats!? Girl no!

  15. PunkyMomma says:

    I agree Catherine Zeta-Jones appears to still be struggling. And Michael Douglas looks pretty awful. I wish them both better health.

    • someone says:

      Michael has over aged recently. He was using plastic surgery to keep him from looking like he was aging but somehow in the end it has made him look OLDER.

  16. Elyse says:

    I just don’t understand why Taylor Seift was there. I get she’s big in music right now but She. Is. Not. Funny. Good god, her skit was so embarrassing. I feel like she’s so thirsty right now, always at every red carpet.

    • Kiddo says:

      In her defense, that skit should have been embarrassing for everyone, especially the writers and Lorne Michaels, for allowing it to air. Maybe he wanted to prove that it’s time to end the show.

    • JB says:

      She sounded like she had phlegm in her throat in that skit. Kerry Washington was really cute. I have no idea why Keenan appeared suddenly and never said anything. It really was a mess.

    • Sara says:

      Why were any of the there, what ‘s Kerry Washington have to do with Saturday Night Live, she’s not even on the same network and everyone in that skit was awful , at least Swift’s not a actor.

      She ” thirsty” she didn’t even sing , nothing like MR only about my art who was the butt of joke that night , then Kanye performed his usual and dramatic ridiculous crap he calls music .

    • charlie says:

      I didn’t see the show, but when she first hosted SNL, she wrote her own monologue, and it was very funny.

      • Mixtape says:

        Agreed, I think they brought on people who were known as good hosts, and both Swifty and KW were really funny on their hosting runs, despite bad material to work with.

  17. GingerCrunch says:

    Did anyone notice during Jerry Seinfeld’s bit that Jessica was wearing fur in the background shots, then a few secs later she was not?

    • JB says:

      Yes! And a red dress, right? I could have sworn she was wearing red!

      ETA: nevermind! I just watched the clip and it was the same. My tv color settings must be janky.

  18. charlie says:

    Emma looks amazing, as always. I like Taylor’s look, even if it looks very summer-y.
    Kerry’s face looks different.

  19. king says:

    I thought Melissa McCarthy looked beautiful!

  20. JB says:

    I think SNL itself – right this moment – isn’t that great but I haven’t given up on it. It was still good a few years ago, when it was the Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg show but definitely not as good as it had been.

    • lucy2 says:

      I’ve watched it since the early 90s, and no matter how bad it gets, I’ll probably keep watching. I DVR it and catch up on while doing household stuff. The 40th special was a nice trip down memory lane for me.
      This season is really struggling, which is a shame because the cast is actually quite good, but the writing has been very weak.

      • TheOnlyDee says:

        I have watched SNL since I was about 12. It is a show that has had its ups and downs, but it is an institution at this point. It is in a transition point right now, but there are some solid cast members. I am the person who HATES when people (like Kaiser, and some other commenters here) say it hasn’t been funny since 2001, it should just be cancelled, it was only funny in the 70s etc etc. The show has a rich history and is a great place for young comedians and comedy writers to be. It is no longer cutting edge in the world of social media and because shows like the Daily Show get to make all the good Weekend Update jokes before Saturday night, but I would never want it to get cancelled. The Californians totally sucks, though. No one liked that sketch! I think they put it on there hoping people would break.

      • charlie says:

        The show had it’s ups and downs. It’s not that great currently, but it’ll get better. It always does.
        Some cast members are amazing, mainly Vanessa, Taran, Aidy , Kate and Jay.

    • lovelylaura says:

      Thank you! Some of my fondest memories growing up was staying up late with my brothers and watching it, even in the Doumanian/Ebersol years. I have always loved it and will continue to watch until SNL takes its’ final bow. (and there will always be Netflix!) For all you hard-core fans, check out Live From New York – a great, dishy book of interviews and behind-the-scenes stories.

  21. pf says:

    That Californians sketch went on forever, so not funny. Chris Rock spent 5 minutes introducing Eddie Murphy, who was on stage for not even a minute. And Rock had a good point – there would not even be a 40th anniversary special if not for Eddie Murphy…he literally saved the show! I think because Lorne Michaels wasn’t involved with the show during the Eddie years and didn’t discover him, Lorne doesn’t give Eddie where credit is due. They could have given him a small montage of clips or something. The show would have been better if they had devoted more time to the years when it was actually funny. In my opinion, that was the 1970s, Eddie Murphy years, and the late 1980s/early 1990s. Too much new stuff.

    Also, I think they had a 40th anniversary special because they probably won’t make it to 50. The show is seriously dead.

    • Kiddo says:

      I agree, That show was so disappointing on soo many levels. It was silly that Chris Rock built up Eddie and then Eddie did NOTHING. It was so off kilter, even if he deserved the praise. The timing/pacing was bad, people seemed unprepared, the skits were largely stupid. Wayne’s World was decent, especially with the Beck joke and Kanye being in on it.

      • TheOnlyDee says:

        Eddie didn’t want to have a big part in it. Eddie hasn’t really acknowledged SNL for 30 years, and has not appeared on any reunion special. Him being there was enough. People have been saying SNL is dead for 35 years. It’s been called Saturday Night Dead numerous times. I mean, if you don’t like it don’t watch, but I’m sure the show will do just fine and make it to 50 years.

      • Kiddo says:

        That was a silly response. Really, if you don’t like it, don’t watch it? Are we 12?
        I didn’t know the reunion was going to be a crap-fest until I did watch it. Maybe it was enough for you, but his part was awkward, even for him. They were supposed to cut to commercial, and didn’t, so he said his line twice. Bad production. And I saw the SN dead skit, too.

        I said nothing about the last 35 years. I said it was unfunny and bad last night. I’m not sure why you are taking it personally.

    • Scarlet says:

      I was dying to see James brown hot tub.

  22. Scarlet Vixen says:

    Swifty’s outfit is cute but really not seasonally appropriate-she should have saved it for May/June. And she was AWFUL in that California soap opera skit. The skit was pretty bad in general, but she was so bad she was hard to watch. I couldn’t understand a word she said-and I speak fluent Valley girl. LoL Emma Stone as Rosanne Rosannadanna (sp?) was adorable tho!

    Jessica Seinfeld’s hair is embarassingly bad. It gives her serious crazy eyes. I want to morph into her pictures and put a blanket on her head for her.

  23. unmadebed says:

    No one looks as good as they should, with all the resources they have to do so. The worst, is Kerry Washington, though. Her outfit and styling look like the after effects of a rough tussle in the limousine :/ sorry! Taylor looks the best, but she’s dressed for a summertime, late-afternoon event.

  24. someone says:

    Peyton Manning looked great!

    With all their money, Jerry needs to buy Jessica Seinfeld some taste.

    I think the only reason they let Kanye perform his craptastic music was so that they could make fun of him in the Wayne’s World skit. Mike Meyers nailed it when he joked ‘Kanye sit down. There’s a line of demarcation, and social cues are such that you must stay where you are.’

  25. Katie says:

    Kerry looks terrible. Quite frankly,they all looked terrible, with the exception of Dakota and Emma.

  26. InvaderTak says:

    I tried to watch this. Man, it is just not funny. Its painful. Amy and Tina should be thanking their lucky stars that they got off it and went on to successful things. The original cast was hysterical, Eddie Murphy was great during his run but that’s about it. I’m willing to bet I just don’t get it, but how was it on this long?

  27. unmadebed says:

    Oh, I thought Larry David looked really good!–and John Goodman looked healthy

  28. Alex says:

    Jessica Seinfeld’s hair is giving me a Brigette Nielsen vibe. Scary!

    • Grace says:

      True! Jessica’s hair, outfit, jewelry and that stupid fur coat were the worst! She reminded me of an 80s aerobic instructor.

    • Mellie says:

      Yes! That’s who I was trying to think of..thanks for that! It’s just the worst hair ever and I live in the Midwest and we’ve got some bad hair out here.

  29. Mrs. Wellen Melon says:

    Jessica Seinfeld is going for spunky and quirky and fun.

    She almost made it except …

    Wrong earrings and necklace. Wrong lip color. An armful of orange and gold bangles would have been lovely. Orange lips.

    The hair is too Gwen Stefani for the outfit. For that color and that style, she needed something Alexander McQueen.

  30. Green Is Good says:

    Mrs. Seinfeld should do herself a favor and shave her head and start fresh. I can’t believe she thought she could be blond. Horrid color on her. The blonde washed her out, AND put a glaring spotlight on her nose, which is NOT something she wants to be drawing attention to. I wonder if her “baby girl” Goopy talked her into it.

  31. becky1 says:

    Most of the show was not the best but I liked the Jeopardy parody and thought parts of The Californians skit were funny (Kirsten Wiig, Fred Armison, Bill Harder and B Coop were funny and Betty White was cute-i hope if I make it to her age I’m that sharp-she rocks!). Turned it off before the Wayne’s World sketch-will have to check it out.

  32. cujokay says:

    Michael Douglas is phoning it in. He looks dead.

  33. cujokay says:

    Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld look old as fck.

  34. Boxy Lady says:

    I loved that Maya Rudolph came back to play Beyonce. Complete with the wind machine for her hair, of course, lol! And I liked the short film that Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler did about the actors cracking up in the middle of the sketches. That was full of Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz cracking up together in scene after scene. The little tribute to Tracy Morgan was nice too. Wayne’s World and Jeopardy, I think, were the best ones. And I’m glad they brought Garrett Morris back for at least a little something. And how can I forget the three great ladies of Weekend Update: Curtin, Fey, and Poehler!

    There were some off moments of course. For instance, the call back to the Bass-o-matic was a good idea because the original was so crazy-great and it seems to be a forerunner to all those blender infomercials we have nowadays but it didn’t execute quite well last night. Oh well. The reunion show wasn’t a total loss, though, IMHO.

  35. Anoni Mus says:

    I thought the special was like any regular SN show, some hilarious stuff (Bill Murray’s Jaws song, Jeopardy skit) and some not so good stuff (the Californians, Jerrys QandA) Didn’t watch till the end but I dvr’d it and am catching up tonight.

    What struck me the most was seeing all these great comedias get old, after watching so many things with them in the 80s and 90s… it was sort of sad. Yet I can tell who still has a sring in their step (Steve Martin, Martin Short such a pro..loved his skit.., Billy Crystal even.) But some aged really badly ( Chevy Chase seems senile and unsteady, Eddie Murphy looks stiff and hard, Michael Douglas looks like Death warmed over)

    Some showed that they still have a spark and chemistry together. All in all it was a nostalgic trip down memory lane and made me appreciate the greatness of my favs: Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Will Ferrell.

  36. Jana says:

    Jessica Seinfeld needs to fire her hairdresser, go back to her dark hair, add some lighter brown highlights to soften her face, and wear something that flatters her figure. Other than that, she married really well.

  37. Lula says:

    Can we discuss Chevy for a moment?… What is going on with him?? Seems like either early stages dementia or maybe prescription drug abuse. Very sad.

  38. Scarlet says:

    Jessica Seinfeld is repulsive.

  39. Debutante says:

    Kerry Washington looks spunky and cute, younger , in a way. However, look at her hairline…is she going bald ?
    I think we all agree that Jessica Seinfeld is gross. She does look mentally unstable ! LOL
    I wonder if she and Hilaria, the other famewhore, get along ??

  40. Debutante says:

    Also, Jessica Seinfeld has a serious case of Ratface.

  41. AppleOne says:

    Jessica looks great – she might not be the perfect model for this hair, but it’s different, it’s fresh and it’s stylish.

    • lexi says:

      Are you for real???? Wow blind much!!

    • MC2 says:

      I appreciate your comment. I think she looks terrible with that color but I want to defend someone after they are called “ugly”, “repulsive” & ” rat faced”- it’s too harsh. Maybe she should try auburn if she wants some color or a new look? Some brunettes (me included) just don’t look good as a white blond. I tried it too once but I was 17 & I still looked like crap. No more Susan Powder for me!