Bill Murray Reveals He Cried 3 Different Times During 'Surprisingly Emotional' SNL 50 Special

Mar. 15, 2025

Bill Murray.Photo:Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty

Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty

Saturday Night Liveholds a special place inBill Murray’s heart.

During a recent appearance onSiriusXM’sSway in the Morning,the comedian, 74, opened up about being atSNL50: The Anniversary Specialon Feb. 16. As afive-time hostand former cast member, Murray said the three-hour-long show — which he appeared in several times — brought back a lot of memories.

“It was surprisingly emotional,” he explained. “I wept three times in the show. It really got to me.”

“I was watching, and obviously there’s a lot of video and history that they’re showing, and I didn’t see it coming, but there wasGilda [Radner]up there dancing withSteve Martin,” he added, referring to the 1978 “Dancing in the Dark” sketch where the pair danced around the iconic Studio 8H, which was featured in a montage of physical comedy over the 50 years.

Gilda Radner and Steve Martin on SNL in 1978.Saturday Night Live/Youtube

Saturday Night Live/Youtube

In 1989, Radner later died of ovarian cancer at the age of 42, andSNLreplayed the skit in its episode Martin hosted that same day.

“I remember being there watching them rehearse that dance number for days and days and days and days,” Murray recalled. “I was crazy about Gilda, and I sort of came apart. I was sitting there in the dressing room with a bunch of people and I couldn’t stop it.”

Murray said he later cried again when the anniversary special paid tribute toJohn Belushi’s “Don’t Look Back in Anger” sketch, also from 1978. In it, Belushi, disguised as an old version of himself, visited the tombstones ofSNLcast members and asked, “Why me? Why did I live so long?”

Four years later, Belushi died at just 33 years old from a drug overdose, making him the first death amongSNLcast members.

“There’s the film that Tom Schiller made with Belushi visiting theSaturday Night Livegraveyard and seeing all his compatriots dead,” Murray said, noting the skit’s unsettling irony. “Meanwhile, John was the first to go. So to see that, and to see him — see, I could go [cry] now, just thinking about it — to see that sort of foreshadowing that Schiller sort of intuited to make that, and to miss him.”

John Belushi and Bill Murray.NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

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Reminiscing further on his late friend, Murray gushed over Belushi’s impact on the entertainment industry.

“John was a guy who really made a lot of careers possible,” he said. “He dragged all of us out from Chicago. John Belushi did that. He was the first to come out, and he was a bold guy. He came to New York, and he started an off-Broadway show calledLemmings.”

Murray continued: “He was like the funniest, scariest guy in New York, and he said, ‘All these New York actors can’t get it done. I got some people.’ And he brought out Joe Flaherty and Harold Ramis and Gilda and myself. A lot of people slept on John Belushi’s couch until they got their feet.”

SNL50: The Anniversary Specialis now streaming on Peacock.

source: people.com