Beyond a joke

SaturdayNightLive is now in its 47th season. Here are some quirky facts about the long-running show:

When Nicole Kidman hosted in 1993, she was still married to first husband Tom Cruise and parodied his famous Risky Business dance sequence.

Alec Baldwin holds the record for hosting the show most often: at least 17 times. The previous title holder was Steve Martin, who hosted the show 15 times.

Tina Fey’s series 30Rock is loosely based on her experiences on the show.

The title is a reference to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the address from which SNL is broadcast.

Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor caused global outrage when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a live musical performance in 1992.

Some skits have been turned into feature films, the most successful being TheBlues Brothers and Wayne’sWorld.

Scarlett Johansson and Emma Stone met their husbands while hosting SNL. Johansson’s husband, Colin Jost, is a head writer, while Stone’s partner, Dave McCary, is a director.

New episodes of SNL stream every Monday on Binge.