Missing: most of the Season 6 cast that was hired by producer Jean Doumanian and then fired at the end of the season. That would be Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Gail Matthius, Ann Risley and of course, the deceased Charles Rocket. Rocket was famous for uttering the “f” word in skit, and the whole show was shut down for a month. Doumanian left, and all that remained was Piscopo and Eddie Murphy (who joined in Doumanian’s 4th episode).

Also missing of course: Dennis Miller and Victoria Jackson. And US Senator Al Franken, who was there from the beginning.

Wiped from history: Robin Duke, Mary Gross, Tim Kazurinsky. Then of course Robert Downey Jr., who had one bad season. And Julia Louis Dreyfus. Whatever happened to her? Also missing from her seasons: Brad Hall (whom she married) and Gary Kroeger. Anyone remember Tony Rosato? A. Whitney Brown? Terry Sweeney?

Tony winner Christine Ebersole was once a regular. No sign of her. Glaring omission: Nora Dunn, who was a very strong utility player, was one of the Sweeney Sisters with the late Jan Hooks. She fought with Lorne Michaels over Andrew Dice Clay hosting the show. It became a cause celebre, and she was out after five years.

Everyone’s been asking about Cheri Oteri. She was in the audience and on the red carpet with her “date,” NSync singer Lance Bass. He was part of a made up tabloid landslide all week that NSync would reunite on the show. Why? Does someone want them to? Certainly not Justin Timberlake. Or me.

Also interesting: no sign of Brian Doyle Murray, Bill’s brother, who was a regular and seemingly always around the show. And Robert Smigel, of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog fame and maker of many videos.

Plus, Candice Bergen was allowed only to introduce Miley Cyrus.

Did I miss anyone? Let me know.

“SNL40” is a lot like a high school reunion. If you went off to become popular and successful, you’re back. But if things got weird after you left, forget it. Hence the glaring omission of Dennis Miller, who was a great “Weekend Update” host but turned conservative mouthpiece in years later. And no Victoria Jackson, who was a chirpy blonde on the show but now fights for the Right. (UPDATE I’m told she was in the audience, but otherwise unseen.)

Some others were missing too. Conan O’Brien, who wrote for the show in the late 80s, went to Cuba instead. Cheri Oteri remains a mystery. Julia Sweeney, who was in the audience last winter, didn’t get to trot out It’s Pat! for some reason. Eddie Murphy was a let down after Chris Rock gave him a huge build up. Eddie got a standing ovation, but did nothing. Albert Brooks was very much missing, as was Buck Henry (who at least got a an interstitial photo.)

Nevertheless, it was very much a soup to nuts show. Three and a half hours, and Lorne Michaels managed to fit in as much as he could of everything, from Mr. Bill to General Franco, to the Shark at the door. Dan Akyroyd and Laraine Newman re-creating the Bass in the blender was wonderful. Jane Curtin showed her excellent timing with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Norm McDonald, Kevin Nealon, and Tim Meadows were delightful to see again.

The music was an issue. While Miley Cyrus did a superlative job on Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” Simon himself settled being there. (He’d flown in from Australia.) Paul McCartney sounded terrible on “Maybe I’m Amazed”– maybe because he was up until late performing last night. Kanye West was dreadful. Simon made for everything by singing “Still Crazy After All These Years” at the show’s end. He’s Lorne’s just about best friend, and has been there literally from day 1. That song was key at the show’s start in 1975.

Finally got “Wayne’s World” at 11:12. Three hours, 12 minutes. Worth waiting for if you were still up.

The show gets an A. It was sloppy, it was up and down, there were moments of brilliance. It was exactly like any reunion. And ultimately it was very satisfying. And it was nice to see Lorne, Steve Martin and Paul Simon there on the stage at the very end.,

PS Jon Lovitz was a good sport in the In Memoriam segment, which otherwise was handled tastefully.

I live Tweeted most of it. Check it out on Twitter @showbiz411.

Adam Sandler has had a prickly relationship with the press, who haven’t exactly loved all his movies, but he was charming and low key at the press conference Saturday afternoon to promote “The Cobbler,” a Jewish fable written and directed by Tom McCarthy. Sandler plays a fourth-generation Lower East Side cobbler who can step into the lives of his customers after he repairs their shoes.

Along with Sandler and McCarthy, co-stars Steve Buscemi, Method Man and Ellen Barkin, also participated in the panel discussion.

When asked about what shoes he wore, Sandler said, “I don’t wear them a lot.” He lives in sneakers he said but when he does wear real shoes, he told the media he felt like “my vocabulary goes up. I feel more like my father, like I’m worthy of having children. When I’m in my sneakers and my kids ask me a question, I say, ‘Ask your mother.”

He added he was going to be wearing shoes and a tuxedo for the “SNL 40” celebration the following night. “I bought a tux, oh, no, they gave me a tux, whatever,” Sandler said, “but they gave me shoes too. That was the first thing I asked. ‘Do I get shoes?’ I don’t have any good shoes. I got some nice tux shoes, everybody,” he told journalists.

Sandler and Buscemi and Barkin were asked what Saturday Night Live meant to their careers.

Barkin reminisced that when the show first aired she was a waitress in the Village where SNL cast members John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd hung out. “I still have the first-year shirt,” she said.

Sandler added, “It affected all of us as kids. It was the thing you talked about, he said. “Everything about the show rocked you because your parents, it was just cool enough that your parents weren’t sure if you should be watching it and it made you more excited like to get in there. And you had to stay up late for it so that was a big deal and just over the years, that it’s still there is comforting,” Sandler said. “It’s exciting every time. You know it’s happening live. And it’s an amazing thing. 40 years of meaning something. Everybody talks about it, a show is good or bad or whatever. Even if a show falls flat it’s still exciting to see.”

Buscemi recalled he hosted the show twice. “I still can’t believe I hosted at all. It was one of the most amazing, scary and fun experiences.” The “Boardwalk Empire” star said that the first time he appeared on the show was in 1994, pegged to his film “Airheads,” that also starred Sandler. John Travolta hosted the show. “We did a ‘Welcome Back Kotter Episode,’ as directed by Quentin Tarantino,” Buscemi said. “I remember during rehearsal I came in and I had one line and I blew it. I came in late. I blew the line. Spade gave me shit for it. I can’t believe it.” Buscemi said it rattled him and he worried, “How can I do this? How am I going to host if I blew this one line?” And “Tomorrow night we’re going to the thing and I’m so excited,” Buscemi said.

“Yeah, to be in the room with everybody, it’s going to be neat. It is cool,” Sandler agreed, “and the best part will be Ellen bringing us all drinks.”

After the press conference I asked Buscemi what he thought of the “50 Shades of Grey” parody trailer that imagines him as Christian Grey. “It’s funny,” he told me, “and very weird.”