Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Seth Meyers, Molly Shannon, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang sit down with PEOPLE to talk about how they got to Studio 8H, their biggest laughs on the show and how hard it wa

The sketch comedy show is celebrating 50 seasons with two documentaries and an upcoming prime-time special that reflect on its standing as an American institution.

Instead of chronicling the “eras” (hasn’t that already been done?), the Peacock documentary plucks out concepts and lets you see how the sausage is made.

T he ever-iconic Saturday Night Live has officially entered its landmark 50th season. Created by Lorne Michaels, the late-night sketch comedy show has been airing on NBC since 197

Kenan Thompson has the honor of being Saturday Night Live’s longest-tenured cast member, with 22 seasons under his belt. In this week’s PEOPLE issue, the comedian, 46, calls working on NBC's late-night sketch variety series “hands down” the best job in television.

The highly entertaining Ladies and Gentlemen gets into the best and most controversial musical moments from 50 years of SNL history. But what about the dregs?