Lorne Michaels comments on the Sinéad O'Connor incident where she rips a picture of Pope John Paul II. 'There was a part of me that just admired the bravery of what she'd done. And also the absolute sincerity of it.' And yet the following week host Joe Pesci had the photo taped back together and said during the opening monologue 'There was an incident on the show last week. Sinéad O'Connor tore up a picture of the Pope. And I thought that was wrong. So I asked somebody to paste it back together.' He then holds up the reconstructed picture and the audience applauded.. 'I think that's a lot better, thank you.' He goes on to say 'but I'll tell you one thing she's very lucky it wasn't my show. 'Cause if it was my show I woulda gave her such a smack!' Again the audience laughed and applauded wildly 'I woulda grabbed her by her ... eyebrows'.
The opening montage sequence took producer Questlove eleven months to mix and edit together.
This special marked the first time that NBC aired Sinead O'Conner's ripping of the photo of the Pope in full since its original airing in 1992. Subsequent airings of the performance either cut before the photo was torn or used the dress rehearsal footage in which O'Conner held up a photo of a child instead.
Production was in the works for many years. This is evidenced by the inclusion of interview footage with Hal Willner, who died in 2020.
The opening montage took eleven months to make.