From controversial political displays to hilarious sketches: Iconic moments from Saturday Night Live
As one of the longest-running TV shows in history, Saturday Night Live has had its fair share of iconic, controversial and plain hilarious moments.
For the past 50 years, SNL has delighted audiences around the world with clever sketches, killer performances, and some insane celebrity cameos.
Studio 8H has even been the birthplace of some of Hollywood's greatest comedians – think the likes of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Adam Sandler.
So, in honour of one of TV's greatest legacies, we've compiled a list of SNL's most iconic moments over the years.
Keep scrolling for a look down memory lane.
Ashlee Simpson caught lip-syncing
In 2004, Ashlee Simpson appeared as SNL's musical guest, and it was a true demonstration of just how quickly Live TV can go South.
The singer, who was only around 19 or 20 years old at the time, took to the stage ready to perform her hit song Pieces of Me.
As the band began to play, Simpson started to dance along to the beat, but seemingly got distracted and missed her cue to start singing.
But it wasn't the missed cue that had fans around the world outraged.
As Simpson turned around to look at her band, a backing track began playing her vocals as the crowd realised she was lip–syncing.
Simpson began to do an awkward dance around the stage as the band continued to play, but it wasn't long before she walked off the stage leaving the band to themselves.
"I think accidents happen. I think that's the nature of live television," said SNL creator Lorne Michaels in a 60 Minutes interview when asked about the incident.
In February this year, Simpson even reflected on the incident.
Speaking on the Broad Ideas With Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen podcast, Simpson said there was one good takeway from the whole debacle.
"I had done my rehearsal the night before and then I woke up the next day and I couldn't speak," she said.
"That day I said, 'I will not go on, I don't care. I can't speak.' Meanwhile, I'm not saying this. I'm writing it down, because I can't talk."
Her label allegedly encouraged her to go on with pre-recorded vocals, which she says she thought was a bad idea.
"It was a humbling moment for me," she said, adding that she learnt the power of saying "no."
"I had the No. 1 song and everything was about to go somewhere. And then it was just like, whoa," Simpson continued.
"The humility of not even understanding what grown-ass people would say about you, grown-ass men, awful awful things. It was so hard to learn how to tune that out, to find my strength, to get up and go again."
The surprise Cheers reunion
Kirstie Alley was no stranger to hosting SNL over the years, but it was her 1991 appearance that particularly went down in history.
The Cheers actress started her opening monologue saying how happy she was to be a part of the show, adding that the cast and crew felt like a big "TV family."
But things took a sad turn when she began to explain the experience made her miss her Cheers TV family.
She began to sing the Cheers theme song, when an audience member stood up to join and the rest of the crowd erupted in cheers.
Hidden in the audience was Alley's Cheers co–star, Woody Harrelson.
Harrelson stood up in the crowd and enthusiastically joined in the song.
The audience began to cheer as they looked around and realised what was happening.
One by one, more and more of Alley's Cheers castmates began to appear in the audience and with the band.
Eventually, they all joined her in song on stage.
Harrelson stood beside Alley, along with Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, George Wendt and John Ratzenberger.
The skit was such a hit with fans it was even revisited during Alley's next hosting stint in 1993.
However, this time SNL couldn't quite afford to bring in the whole cast.
So, instead, they had cast members dress up in costume as Alley's Cheers co–stars as they once again appeared from the audience and joined her on stage.
Close Encounter
It's widely regarded as Kate McKinnon's best performance, and one of the funniest sketches in SNL history.
The show is known for actors breaking character when they just can't hold their laughter back any longer, but Close Encounter took that to the next level.
As the episode's host, Ryan Gosling starred alongside McKinnon and Cecily Strong as the trio recounted being abducted by aliens.
But the catch? McKinnon's experience was wildly different to Gosling and Strong's.
Right from the beginning, as McKinnon explained getting her 'knockers gently batted' by aliens, Gosling could hardly keep it together.
As McKinnon finished off her explanation with the iconic line, "it wasn't my worst Wednesday night," the camera panned to the other performers.
Bowen Yang and Mike Day, who played NSA investigators, quietly chuckled as they tried to hold it together, but when the camera switched to show McKinnon, Gosling and Strong again, the La La Land actor had completely lost his cool.
He struggled to get out the first few words of his next line, regaining his composure by the end of his sentence only to lose it once again when McKinnon chimed in.
Even she couldn't help but let out a little smirk as the rest of the cast broke character because of her antics.
The sketch was so successful, they created a sequel when Gosling returned as host earlier this year.
Once again, the actor couldn't pull himself together amid McKinnon's wild display.
The actress, wearing her character's signature button-up shirt and puffing on a cigarette, continued to recount her slightly rougher experience with the aliens.
At one point, she made Gosling stand as she got down on her knees and demonstrated what the aliens had done to her.
Gosling pulled his hat down and turned away from the camera as he burst out in laughter.
Throughout both sketches, not a single performer managed to make it through without breaking.
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