Posted in: NBC, Olympics, Peacock, Sports, TV | Tagged: nbc, olympics, saturday night live, snl

SNL Celebrates 2024 Summer Olympics with Phelps, Bolt, Rousey & LeBron

NBC's Saturday Night Live is celebrating the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics with some SNL moments from Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Ronda Rousey, and LeBron James.

Though the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics have just gotten underway (running from July 26th to August 11th – yup, 16 days), our focus is already on the fall season – and in this case, the upcoming jaw-dropping 50th season of NBC's Saturday Night Live. With NBCUniversal spending a ton of cash for the rights to air the games, we're getting all things Olympics appearing on just about anything and everything the company owns. In terms of the network's long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series, that means looking back at nearly a half-century of moments involving some famous faces who were also Summer Olympians. For this go-around, we have spotlights on Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Ronda Rousey, and LeBron James.

Earlier this month, SNL treated us to a look back at some of the moments when the show celebrated excellence in athleticism – in its own special way. Here's a look at just some of the ways that SNL is celebrating what will feel like three months of athletic competition – with John Belushi's "Little Chocolate Donuts" the highlight of the following compilation:

Saturday Night Live Season 50 & EP Lorne Michaels

Back in May, the word went out regarding early plans to celebrate the milestone 50th season of Saturday Night Live. The network confirmed that there will be a "celebratory weekend" that wraps up on Sunday, February 16th (from 8-11 p.m. ET), with a live, primetime special. Now, thanks to an interview he had with The New York Times at the end of the most recent season, we're learning some additional details on what's ahead – as well as EP Lorne Michaels's thoughts on those rumblings about his retiring after Season 50.

Along with the primetime special on February 16th, music producer Mark Ronson and Michaels will produce a "homecoming" of sorts at Radio City Music Hall on the Friday of that weekend. In addition, it was noted that musician and producer Questlove (The Roots) is co-producing a documentary for the anniversary season spotlighting the impact that SNL had had on music and culture, and Morgan Neville (Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces, Won't You Be My Neighbor) is producing five documentaries focusing on both Michaels and the long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series. As for those rumblings that the 50th anniversary will also be his last hurrah, Michaels is basing that decision on how he's feeling and not committing to anything. "I'm going to do it as long as I feel I can do it," he shared. "But I rely on other people and always have."

NBC's Saturday Night Live Season 49 company includes Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Chloe Troast, Devon Walker, and Bowen Yang. SNL is executive-produced by Lorne Michaels, with Liz Patrick directing and SNL alum Darrell Hammond announcing. Broadcasting from Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, the long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series is produced by SNL Studios in association with Universal Television and Broadway Video.

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