'Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!'

It started out as a normal Wednesday — on Feb. 12, I woke up, went to my two classes, got coffee with my friend and went back to my apartment to take a nap before weekly The Miami Student production.

Before I got the chance to go to sleep, my phone buzzed. I opened it to a notification from X (formerly known as Twitter) I never would have expected in a million years: “Saturday Night Live – SNL shared a photo.”

At first, I didn’t process what that meant. I have post notifications on for the account, so I figured it posted some sort of promo for the upcoming 50th Anniversary Special. I clicked on the notification and, to my surprise, it was a direct message to me. Why was the official Saturday Night Live X account messaging me?

Attached was a lengthy message and a photo invitation to the “SNL50” red carpet. I immediately called my mom, and we started figuring out how to get me to New York in the next three days. My friend Kaylene was also invited, so we were able to coordinate staying together and splitting the cost of a hotel room.

You’re probably wondering: how on Earth did I, a random fangirl from Ohio, get invited to the red carpet for the 50th anniversary of the most beloved late night show, “Saturday Night Live”?

The answer: I’m vocal about my love for the show on X. I post about it multiple times a day and have met a variety of other superfans online who are about as abnormal as I am. Coincidentally, a lot of them also got invited to the carpet, so we got to share the experience together.

NBC teamed up with a company called Fanmade to get real fans of the show on the carpet, and I was fortunate enough to be one of the fans selected. Nicole, the woman who selected us all, said that going so deep into “SNL stan Twitter (a name for a community of online fans)” destroyed her X algorithm, but it was so worth it for all of us.

I flew into LaGuardia Airport on Feb. 15, which was a nightmare of its own (I now hate LaGuardia), checked into my hotel and made my way straight to Rockefeller Center, home of pretty much everything NBC or “Saturday Night Live” related in the city. I met up with some other fans from X and checked out the Shop at NBC Studios, got dinner and waited for my friend Kaylene to land.

When Kaylene got to the city, we met at the hotel and were going to head to Macy’s. I needed a new winter coat and I figured there was no better place to look than the legendary store of New York: Macy’s. However, by the time we were ready to leave, we realized Macy’s was about to close. My friend had never been to the city before, so I proposed that we head to Rockefeller Center – where I spent the majority of my trip – so she could see everything they had set up for “SNL50” and get some pictures in the area.

Our first stop was the iconic Rainbow Room Observation Deck sign. We took turns posing underneath and a long, black car pulled up alongside us. Men in suits with umbrellas left the building and made their way toward the car, opening the doors.

Chloe Fineman and Olivia Munn got out of the car, followed by John Mulaney. They were going into rehearsal for the upcoming special. The carpet wasn’t even until the next day, and we had already accidentally stumbled upon Mulaney himself. We were lucky enough to get a photo and briefly chat with him, and we decided to stay in the area for a while.

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We spent the next few hours in the freezing rain right outside of 30 Rock, and were fortunate enough to meet and get photos with Aidy Bryant, Vanessa Bayer, Kenan Thompson, Jane Wickline, Jon Hamm, Marcello Hernandez, Ayo Edebiri, James Austin Johnson, Nate Bargatze, Darrell Hammond and Devon Walker.

Laraine Newman, Michael Che, Steve Martin, Paul Rudd, Tom Hanks, Chevy Chase, Jason Momoa, Chris Pine, Peyton Manning, Sarah Sherman, Quinta Brunson and more also came out, but they weren’t able to stop and chat with fans for various, absolutely valid reasons. Adam Sandler came out and I asked him for a photo, but he was in a hurry and had to get to his car. I can now officially say I’ve been rejected by the Adam Sandler.

Conan O’Brien also left through that exit, yelling at all of us to go home and get sleep because of how important it is to get eight hours every night.

Anyone who knows me knows how much Kate McKinnon means to me, so seeing her in person was one of the coolest things to ever happen to me. Pretty much everyone there had a private car or Uber to get into. McKinnon, on the other hand, ran outside to catch a cab. Because of this, she wasn’t able to chat, but I told her how much she meant to me and she blew a kiss in response.

This was already the most insane night of my life, and the event we were there for wasn’t even until the next day. We went home, absolutely soaking wet and freezing from the rain, and called it a night.

For the red carpet, we had to meet at 3:30 p.m. to check in. The event itself started at 5 p.m. We got our wristbands, lined up and were given a row to head to. The “fan pit” was seated behind a barricade, with three rows of clear chairs and a small bottle of water underneath. I was seated next to my friend in the third row at first, but by the time the event actually began, no one was in their seats.

Photo by Stella Powers | The Miami Student

Fans of "Saturday Night Live" were invited to attend the carpet.

Leslie Jones, Willie Geist and Matt Rogers hosted the main carpet for NBC, and Amelia Dimoldenberg, host of “Chicken Shop Date,” hosted the live stream on YouTube.

The first person to walk the carpet was David Harbour of “Stranger Things” fame. A fan complimented his moustache, and Harbour was so excited that he loudly exclaimed, “Thank y0u!”

He was followed by Garrett Morris, Tina Fey, Heidi Gardener, Whoopi Goldberg, Rachel Dratch, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Lin Manuel Miranda and more. Laura Dern didn’t walk the carpet, but she did pass directly behind us.

I got the opportunity to get a photo with Michael Longfellow, who was followed not long after by Molly Shannon. Shannon was unbelievably sweet, and initiated an entire conversation with me. She asked how I got invited and was saying how hard of an invite it was to get. She wasn’t wrong — I don’t know an exact number, but it looked like there couldn’t have been more than 100 people in the fan pit.

She also shared how nervous she was because she had to go do a show right after. She was so down-to-earth and honest, and even put her hands under her armpits when talking about being nervous, a reference to her iconic “Saturday Night Live” character, Mary Katherine Gallagher.

Bobby Moynihan also stopped to chat, and we talked about his appearance in the David S. Pumpkins sketch on “SNL.” Another highlight was Alex Moffat, who pointed out that we were wearing the same gold necklace. I told him we were “twinning,” to which he replied, “Twinning!”

Other people who walked the carpet included Tracy Morgan, the entirety of Please Don’t Destroy, Meryl Streep, Bowen Yang, Kim Kardashian, Jenna Ortega, Pedro Pascal, Natasha Lyonne, Harper Steele, Will Ferrell, Sasheer Zamata, Keke Palmer, Alec Baldwin, Anya Taylor Joy, Catherine O’Hara, Colin Jost, Scarlett Johansson, Lady Gaga and so many more. The last person to walk the carpet was the icon Cher herself.

After the carpet, two friends and I went to a restaurant around a block from 30 Rock and watched the episode together. We couldn’t hear much, but hey, the vibes were absolutely there.

As cool and unbelievable as this experience was, the moral of the story is: being a chronically online fangirl actually can get you somewhere, and, in my case, it got me to one of the most exclusive celebrity events of the year.

powers40@miamioh.edu