How Adam Sandler’s 'The Thanksgiving Song' Went from aSaturday Night LiveBit to a Yearly Tradition

Mar. 15, 2025

Adam Sandler singing ‘The Thanksgiving Song’ in 1992.Photo:Saturday Night Live/NBC

Saturday Night Live/NBC

In November 1992,Adam Sandlersat behindSaturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” desk and changed his life. Seated next to anchorKevin Nealon, he sang, for the first time “The Thanksgiving Song,” accompanying himself on guitar.

Sandler’s song included lyrics like “Love to eat turkey / Cause it’s good / Love to eat turkey / Like a good boy should” and “Turkey for me / Turkey for you / Let’s eat the turkey / In my big brown shoe.” Its lyrics also included references to pop culture moments, past and present, the way Sandler, 58, would again in 1994 with“The Chanukah Song.”Nealon, 71, also eventually joined in and sang with Sandler at the end.

He started playing guitar in bands in middle school, and when he went to college at New York University he figured he’d start a new one. “And then I saw these guys playing. And everybody was literally 20 times better than me. I was like, what the hell is going on at this school? Everybody was Eddie Van Halen,” he remembered.

Kevin Nealon (left) and Adam Sandler on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 1993.Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

He had also started doing stand-up in high school and decided to pursue that again. But, he said, “I used to get so scared on stage and so nervous when I didn’t have a guitar. And I’d forget my lines. I’d forget my jokes, that kind of thing. And then, when I started playing guitar on stage and singing funny tunes, I had more confidence than usual. At least I could … I knew I could play guitar a little bit, and I knew the lines already from the song. I was like, okay, I memorized that, so let me just try that.”

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Sandler wrote “The Thanksgiving Song” with comedy writers Ian Maxtone-Graham and Robert Smigel. Maxtone-Graham would also co-write “The Chanukah Song” and Sandler and Smigel became frequent collaborators.

Adam Sandler performing ‘The Chanukah Song’ on ‘SNL’ in 1994.Alan Singer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

Alan Singer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

In 1993, Sandler released his first comedy album,They’re All Gonna Laugh at You!.He included a live version of “The Thanksgiving Song” on it. Sandler toldSpinin 2013, “I had no idea whether or not people would like the album … ‘The Thanksgiving Song’ getting on radio helped a lot; it gave some awareness. ‘The Thanksgiving Song’ was a little dirty and then people got the record and we hit them pretty hard with the really dirty stuff. I’ve had a few mothers yell at me over the years that their kids used to listen to the album in the basement.”

In 1993, Sandler also performed “The Thanksgiving Song” for a second time onSNL— but this time in the style ofBruce Springsteenand with more Springsteen-esque rhymes.

Sandler ultimately was fired fromSaturday Night Livein 1995, but “The Thanksgiving Song” lived on. In 1996, “The Chanukah Song" became a hit on the rock charts (and charted on the Hot 100), so “The Thanksgiving Song” was released as a single the next year. It reached No. 40 on the Adult Top 40 and still receives radio play every year.

Sandler also returned to theSNLstage with a new song he sang withAndy Samberg—“That’s When You Break”— for the show’s 40th anniversary celebration.

Sandler’s comedy music continued to be part of his persona, too.The Wedding Singer— a 1988 smash film starring Sandler andnow-frequent collaborator Drew Barrymore— also featured him singing multiple humorous tracks and perhaps the sweetest song in his discography, “I Wanna Grow Old with You.” In 2023, he alsostarred in the animated musicalLeo.

source: people.com