John Mulaney’s induction into Saturday Night Live’s famous Five-Timers Club went unremarked upon during his excellent opening monologue this week. But midway through the show, Steve Martin, Candice Bergen and recent five-timer Paul Rudd showed up in their special jackets to welcome their newest member.
“Congratulations, John, and let me be the first person to say, who are you?” Bergen asked.
Later, they were joined by Tina Fey and Elliott Gould—but the biggest surprise of the night came when Conan O’Brien, who spent three seasons writing for SNL but only hosted once in 2001, busted into the room after Martin complained that the club was starting to become “not special.”
“Did somebody say ‘not special?!’” O’Brien asked to wild cheers from the audience. “Look, John, don’t listen to them. This is very, very special.”
Unlike Fey, who was a cast member in addition to being a writer, he explained, “John and I were never supposed to be on TV… Because we’re both hideous, right, John?”
And before it was over, even though it was the middle of the show, O’Brien took the sketch by the horns and delivered a line he never got to when he was writing for SNL: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”
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