Adam Sandler, in 1st time as host, brings on Chris Rock to sing about being fired from 'SNL'

It's a bit hard to believe, but Adam Sandler returned to host "Saturday Night Live" for the first time this week.

The former cast member and box office hit first joined the show in 1990 as a writer, before later earning his spot as a regular on-air.

"I can't believe I'm back at 'Saturday Night Live' after the longest time," Sandler said during his monologue. "I saw a lot of old friends, met a lot of new friends. ... I was 23 when I started here. ... I had some of the best years of my life here."

Sandler launched his mainstream career at the show alongside some of the most popular comedians of the 1990s and 2000s, like Chris Farley, Mike Myers, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey.

Also among those stars to launch their career at "SNL": Chris Rock.

The stand-up legend joined Sandler during his monologue to sing a song about why they left the show -- because they were fired.

Sandler mentioned his wife and kids were there and said his daughter asked, "Why did you leave?" if you love it here so much.

He grabbed a mic and launched into song, "I was fired, I was fired, I was fired from 'Saturday Night Live. I never saw it coming. ... I tried to call Lorne Michaels, but he never called me back."

Sandler even referenced the infamous Boy Scout-inspired sketch "Canteen Boy" -- which may be a little too controversial for this "Me too" era.

"Maybe they were sick of Canteen Boy, but I think they just hate the Jews," Sandler sang.

Rock joined in the song, echoing the refrain: He also left because he was fired.

"I was fired by NBC, I went on 'In Living Color," three weeks later they took it off TV," Rock sang.

Current cast member Pete Davidson also joined in on the song to say he was fired by NBC, before being stopped by Sandler: "You weren't fired."

"I wasn't?" Davidson, who has generated a fair amount of recent controversy, said. "How is that even possible?"

"Be patient, it's coming," Sandler joked.

Sandler last appeared as a cast member in a 1995 episode of "Saturday Night Live" featuring Bob Saget as host and TLC as the musical guest. "Billy Madison" premiered the same year, and he launched into a massively successful movie career. He appeared, uncredited, in two other episodes since 1995: one in 1996 and another in 2002.

Shawn Mendes, the musical guest on this week's show, wasn't born until three years after Sandler was fired.