It was the biggest reunion in Saturday Night Live history—and apparently, a very effective virus delivery system.
Now, nearly six months after the show’s 50th anniversary special brought dozens of SNL legends back to Studio 8H, one of the biggest names in the show’s history has confirmed what many others revealed in the days after the event: He left the party with COVID.
a new interview that he also tested positive just days after the taping.
“That was a monumental moment for me, a big deal in my career to go back and to be part of that show,” Murphy said. “SNL is such a big part of my life. That was beautiful to go back and see everybody, right? And then… I caught COVID.”
“Everybody on the stage, we were at the end, we’re all standing around hugging and giving each other COVID,” he added with a laugh. “This is beautiful. This is so wonderful. I’m so glad I went there. Then [imitates coughing] like, three days afterwards!”
Murphy joins a now-long list of SNL50 attendees who came down with COVID in the immediate aftermath of the special. a photo of Short kissing Maya Rudolph at the show and joked, “Maya had COVID. Marty has COVID. I wonder why?”
In a later appearance on Colin Jost, Meryl Streep. “Everyone got it,” he quipped. Poehler, who somehow avoided infection despite sharing scenes and a dressing room with some of the sick attendees, described the spread as “wild.”
Current cast member contracted the flu. Dana Carvey didn’t even make it to the reunion—he stayed home due to lingering flu symptoms.
The risk wasn’t lost on the special’s own “Weekend Update” segment, where Jost delivered a prescient joke about the evening’s health hazards: “Health experts are facing increased pressure this winter in the face of outbreaks of COVID, the flu, RSV, and norovirus, which they’re calling a ‘quad-demic.’ So we did the smart thing and packed every beloved entertainer over 60 into one tiny space.”
Turns out, that wasn’t just a punchline.
