In a pitch-perfect sendup of Saturday Night Live‘s historic Season 50, Scarlett Johansson ushered in the finale episode surrounded by the late-night show’s cast, singing a rendition of Billy Joel‘s “Piano Man” dedicated to opening monologues themselves.
The Jurassic World Rebirth star, in her seventh time hosting (the most of any woman, Alec Baldwin holds the record overall), began by reflecting on her first-time stint at the age of 21. “It’s crazy to be back here, what, like three years later? Man, time really flies,” she joked.
Transitioning swiftly, Johansson launched into the opening track lines: “It’s 11:30 on a Saturday / finale of Season 50 / it’s chaotic and crazy, the whole week is hazy / but there’s no place that I’d rather be.” She was soon upstaged by Bowen Yang, who stole a verse with: “Sometimes we play likable characters / other times we play JD Vance / it’s not always funny, we don’t do it for money / or else Sarah would buy better pants.”
That line prompted the stage left entrance of Sarah Sherman, to whom Johansson paid the compliment, “Great pants, by the way.”
Eventually, the entire repertory and featured cast joined the Eleanor the Great director on stage or in its periphery.
“Sing us a song it’s your monologue / sing us a song tonight / because we’ve made 50 years of great memories / every Saturday night,” Johansson led in a chorus. In a spot-on performance, she added, “Ladies and gentlemen, Billy Joel,” seemingly teeing up a cameo from the renowned singer-songwriter, before exposing the fakeout by ending, “wrote this song!”
Also paying homage to monologues dedicated to audience questions, Kenan Thompson, appearing as an older audience member, asked, “Could you introduce me to a dinosaur?”
Some other highlights included Ego Nwodim noting she had been in over 300 sketches and that SNL is “kind of like my home,” contrasting that with the running joke that Michael Longfellow has only appeared in about four. And when Johansson shouted out Ashley Padilla as Beth, who corrected her, the host simply quipped, “Classic Beth!”
The chorus continued, with its biggest gag of the monologue: “It’s been a great season / and Sarah is leaving / we’re all gonna miss you next year.” As Sherman panicked, asking, “Wait, what? Did you guys hear something? What do you mean leaving?” the song continued on, ignoring her desperate questions. (Deadline has confirmed this was solely a joke, just in case y’all were worried.)
“It lasted forever / we did it together / and we got to spend it with you,” Johansson and co. wrapped up.
