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April 5, 2000 was a momentous day in comedy history. That night, “Saturday Night Live” paid tribute to Blue Oyster Cult’s 1976 jam “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and one iconic bit of percussion.

The cowbell.

The hit song, a latter-day bit of psychedelia, infamously had a repeated cowbell on the track. In the sketch, which of course anyone reading this has seen, Christopher Walken’s supposedly legendary producer “Bruce Dickerson” keeps beseeching cowbell player Gene Frenkle to play more emphatically: “I gotta a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.”

In Peacock’s “SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night” docuseries (via the New York Post), Ferrell, who wrote the “More Cowbell” sketch, opens up about how much Walken has come to resent the ubiquity of it. It all came out when Ferrell visited Walken when the actor was appearing in Martin McDonagh’s “A Behanding in Spokane” on Broadway in 2010.

“I went to see [Walken] backstage,...

The 50th anniversary of “SNL” is about to kick off.

Acclaimed Academy and Emmy award-winning documentarian Morgan Neville is honoring the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” with docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” which he executive produces. The four-part series offers a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the beloved sketch series, with each episode taking a different perspective on how the show began.

More than 60 SNL alums are interviewed onscreen, including Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Molly Shannon, Pete Davidson, Stephen Colbert, Tracy Morgan, Bob Odenkirk, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, John Mulaney, Larry David, Will Ferrell, Rachel Dratch, and Fred Armisen.

The first installment, “Five Minutes,” is about the audition process. Emmy Award winner Robert Alexander directs the first episode, which includes never-before-seen audition footage and firsthand accounts from alums as they reflect on their preparation and journey to the “SNL” stage.

The second episode,...

Wild and crazy guys, the van down by the river, and, of course, more cowbell – just some of the classic sketches shown in the new trailer released today for Peacock‘s four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.

“Anybody can do comedy,” former cast member Tracy Morgan says at the start of the trailer before delivering the punchline – “But are you funny?”

The upcoming docuseries promises lots of funny moments from the history of Saturday Night Live. In the trailer, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Dana Carvey and Amy Poehler are among the famous faces speaking about the venerable NBC late-night series. Andy Samberg reveals he threw up after auditioning.

The docuseries, Peacock says, will offer a behind-the-scenes look “at some of the American late-night comedy institution’s most iconic elements and rich history.”

The docuseries, executive produced by Morgan Neville, includes four episodes, each taking “a different creative approach...

Peacock has released a first look at SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, a new documentary series that offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the American late-night comedy institution’s most iconic elements and rich history.

Executive produced by Academy and Emmy Award winner Morgan Neville, SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night streams exclusively on Peacock beginning January 16.

SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night is a four-part docuseries honoring the legacy of SNL, with over 60 contributors, including SNL alumni, and covering decades of SNL history. Spotlighting some of the show’s most iconic elements, each episode delves into the rich history of SNL and pulls back the curtain on the audition process, the writers’ room, the fan favorite “More Cowbell” sketch and the pivotal Season 11.

Each episode of the docuseries takes a different creative approach to the tapestry of Saturday Night Live and embraces the unique vision of their award-winning directors: Emmy Award winner Robert Alexander...

Saturday Night Live gave Blue Öyster Cult’s following a fever.

On April 8, 2000, SNL aired a sketch written by and starring Will Ferrell that would change the course of music history forever — or, at least, it would change the way everyone in the crowd treated Blue Öyster Cult during their tours. With Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz all playing the psychedelic rock band from Stony Brook, New York and guest host Christopher Walken in the role of a producer who is passionate about a certain percussion part, “More Cowbell” was an immediate hit, and, in the nearly quarter-century since its airing, the sketch has become one of the most over-quoted SNL skits in the show’s long history.

Blue Öyster Cult co-founder Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser recently spoke to Vulture about the band’s relationship with the sketch, and he revealed that, before “More Cowbell,...