This SNL 40: Celebrity Jeopardy Sketch Had an All-Star Cast

In the weeks leading up to the Feb. 16 celebration of NBC’s three-hour 50th anniversary, the team behind Saturday Night Live has selected one sketch from each season — 50 seasons in 50 days — to reflect the show’s rich legacy spanning five decades. Presentation of the skit chosen to represent Season 40: The “Celebrity Jeopardy” portion of SNL40, the show’s celebrity-studded 2015 40th anniversary special.

When Will Ferrell was a SNL cast from 1995 to 2002, his tenure on the show spawned memorable original characters (such as Gene Frenkle of “More Cowbell” fame), as well as unforgettable impressions. Ranked high among them: Ferrell’s hilariously irritable spin for a long time Danger! Host Alex Trebek, who appeared in no less than 15 “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketches. And the final part, with a star-studded cast, took place during SNL40 anniversary special in 2015. It brought back former “Weekend Update” anchor Norm MacDonald as Burt Reynolds, along with season 40 cast members Taran Killam and Kate McKinnon and several special guests.

Originally Posted by longtime SNL writer and producer Steve Higgins – who has a side appearance as Jimmy Fallon’s speaker The Tonight Show – with Adam McKay, the idea for “Celebrity Jeopardy” was actually suggested by Higgins’ wife (more on that later). And luckily, the parody was given a stamp by the real Alex Trebek, who died in 2020.

“Trebek told Lorne (Michaels) he loved the sketch. I was always very happy about it,” Higgins said Black shortly after Trebek’s death, noting that he and MacDonald were big fans of the game show and used to play Danger! in SNL offices. “It would have been terrible if he had thought it was anything other than love. You really can’t parody something if you don’t love it, or it’s just malicious.”

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“SNL40: Celebrity Jeopardy” cast included Jim Carrey, Alec Baldwin and Norm MacDonald aka “Turd Ferguson”

As with every entry in the classic sketch series, the SNL40 edition found Ferrell, who played Trebek as a beleaguered straight man, tasked with assembling chaotic celebrities who are largely useless when it comes to trivia. That’s why several of the categories are basically preschool-level, from “Letters That Begin with G” to “State Your Name” and “Famous Oprahs.”

Among the contestants was Trebek’s frequent “Celebrity Jeopardy” nemesis, Sean Connery, played by Darrell Hammond (Hammond is the second-longest running SNL cast in the story after Kenan Thompson, and the show’s current speaker). McKinnon was introduced as a then-teen Justin Bieber, while Alec Baldwin played a joyless clueless Tony Bennett.

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After Trebek put Connery in a “time-out” for one of his classic, “The Pen Is Mightier”-like mispronunciations of the category, Burt Reynolds (MacDonald) pulled up on a mobile podium to appear as Turd Ferguson, an alias designed to drive Ferrell’s Trebek nuts. Enter Killam as actor Christoph Waltz, replacing Bieber, and an impeccably groomed Jim Carrey as Matthew McConaughey

The extended cast of the anniversary sketch made for an even crazier than usual edition. Watch “SNL40: Celebrity Jeopardy” from SNL40 special above.

“SNL40: Celebrity Jeopardy” is written by Steve Higgins and Seth Meyers

The recurring “Celebrity Jeopardy” ran from 1996 to 2009. After Adam McKay’s departure from SNL in 2001, Higgins told Black that he wrote the subsequent ones with Mike Schur – who continued to write for The office and creating classic NBC comedies Parks and Recreation, The good placeand Brooklyn Nine-Nine — frequent Tina Fey collaborator and 30 Rock showrunners Robert Carlock and Erik Kenward.

But it was Seth Meyers, one SNL head writer from season 31 to season 39, who co-wrote the 40th anniversary “Celebrity Jeopardy” with Higgins. Meyers has shared further Late evening that Lorne Michaels has “reached out” regarding SNL50: The Anniversary Specialso we’ll have to see if the sketch gets a revival on February 16th.

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Steve Higgins’ wife pitched the “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketch idea

One of the biggest charms of “Celebrity Jeopardy” — aside from watching Ferrell slowly increase his annoyance with the contestants — is the fact that it’s the perfect opportunity for the cast and celebrity hosts to showcase their impressions.

In fact, “the idea for the sketch came from my wife,” Steve Higgins said Black. “She said to me, “You should write a ‘Kendts Jeopardy!’ sketch because these celebrities don’t know that much.” The pitch turned out to be brilliant — and it’s far from Ellen Niedert-Higgins’ only contribution to Saturday Night Live: She is the mother of Please Don’t Destroy member John Higgins.

Trebek confirmed his love for SNL‘s parodies in a 2009 Time interview. “We’ve never had any contestants as humble as the Sean Connery character that Darrell Hammond portrays,” he added. “I’ve been asked how I would feel if we had Sean Connery on Celebrity Jeopardy! I tell everybody I just wanted to go up to him and turn off his light.” Imagine that to in a sketch.