The stars of 'Saturday Night Live' reunited and brought in the biggest names Hollywood for the sketch show's 50th anniversary special

The opening monologue came from Steve Martin, who described himself as the show's newest "diversity hire" and he was later joined by fellow funnyman John Mulaney, who looked at the studio audience and dec lared: "I see some of the most difficult people I have ever met in my entire life. Over the course of 50 years, 894 people have hosted 'Saturday Night Live,' and it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder."

Martin later joked about a rare appearance from former castmember Bill Murray, saying: "We wanted to make sure that Bill would be here tonight, so we didn't invite him."

Murray - who was a regular on the show from 1977 until 1980 - appeared in the "Weekend Update" segment alongside Colin Jost to list the bit's top 10 hosts through history.

Other former castmembers to make an appearance included Eddie Murphy - who portrayed fellow former regular Tracy Morgan in a sketch called 'Black Jeopardy' - as well as Adam Sandler, Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Will Ferrell.

Former hosts Kim Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson - who is married to Jost - starred in a sketch together, while Scarlet's ex-husband Ryan Reynolds appeared in a skit with former cast member Amy Poehler and former lead writer Tina Fey.

Amy and Tina played 'Weekend Update' anchors with questions from the audience and when Ryan stood up, they asked him how it's going.

The actor dec lared: "Great, why?" adding: "What have you heard?" in a thinly-veiled reference to his life Blake Lively's bitter legal battle with her 'It Ends With Us' co-star/director Justin Baldoni.

Other stars who appeared in sketches include Drew Barrymore, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Adam Driver, Cher and Bad Bunny, while Tom Hanks - who has hosted the show many times over the years - introduced the show's version of an in memoriam segment featuring sketches and characters that have "aged horribly".

He said: "Characters, accents and let's just call them 'ethnic wigs' that were unquestionably in poor taste. You all laughed at them. So if anyone should be canceled, shouldn't it be you, the audience?"

Alec Baldwin - who has hosted the show 17 times over the years - was also included, while Aubrey Plaza - who interned at 'Saturday Night Live' during the 2004-2005 season - returned to public life following the death of her husband Jeff Baena in January and Jack Nicholson appeared to introduce his 'Anger Management' co-star Adam Sandler.

The show featured musical performances from Miley Cyrus, Brittany Howard, Lil Wayne and The Roots while Sir Paul McCartney closed the show with a Beatles medley.