It’s been 50 years (almost to the day) since Lorne Michaels first tried to convince The Beatles to reunite on Saturday Night Live—could he finally get his wish with the band’s two surviving members?
No one hold your breath, but for the first time in recent memory, there’s reason to believe it could happen.
With Paul McCartney serving as musical guest alongside host Will Ferrell for the show’s May 16 season finale, one building block is firmly in place.
McCartney’s booking is tied to his upcoming 18th solo studio album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, a deeply personal record centered on his early life in Liverpool and his earliest memories of The Beatles.
The album features a song titled “Home to Us,” billed as the first true duet between McCartney and Ringo Starr—and the first song since the Beatles’ breakup to feature two members alternating lead vocals.
While McCartney and Starr have collaborated frequently over the decades—backing each other up (and singing harmony) on their records and occasionally performing together in concert—they’ve never quite done anything like this.
And with “Home to Us” just released as the album’s second single, the timing suddenly feels awfully interesting.
Starr appears to be available. He just released a new solo album of his own, Long Long Road, and isn’t scheduled to perform his next run of concert dates with his All-Starr Band until May 28.
Of course, there’s also reason to think a reunion won’t happen. Starr has largely kept his distance from SNL over the years, appearing on the show just once—hosting an episode in 1984 during Michaels’ five-year absence from the show. Notably, he has never appeared during Michaels’ 46 years as SNL’s executive producer.
That would make the moment especially fitting given how this all began.
In April 1976, Michaels famously offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on SNL. “All you have to do is sing three Beatles songs,” Michaels said in his now-legendary pitch. “‘She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah’—that’s $1,000 right there.”
The bit became one of SNL’s earliest running jokes—and nearly turned into reality. John Lennon later revealed that he and McCartney happened to be watching the show together from Lennon’s apartment at the Dakota and briefly considered heading to Studio 8H that very night.
They ultimately stayed home.
But if Starr makes an unannounced trip to Studio 8H this Saturday, it would be a comedic payoff 50 years in the making. (As for whether they’ll collect the $3,000 check, the lads may want to check the fine print first.)
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