Months after "SNL50," the star-studded celebration of half a century of "Saturday Night Live," Lorne Michaels is pulling back the curtain on some of its major moments.
In a new interview with Puck News, the show's longtime producer said that an opening duet between Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon was in the works long before it hit the air.
Carpenter, 26, and Simon, 83, teamed up for a rendition of the latter's "Homeward Bound" to kick off the anniversary special. Prior to the first chords, the pop star joked that neither she nor her parents had been born when Simon first performed the song on "SNL" in 1975 with George Harrison.
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"I spoke to Paul Simon about it, and then he got a call from Sabrina Carpenter, who wanted him to do a song with her on her special," Michaels said, revealing a little-known backstory. "And he said, 'I don't think I want to do that. Would you take that to Radio City?' So (the opening number) started back then, it was in my head. And then it migrated."
