Ladies & Gentleman… 50 Years of SNL music in less than eight minutes
The cold open to Questlove’s three-hour special about the music of Saturday Night Live is a must-see all it’s own.
Photo by: NBCUniversal
Look, we’re all being inundated with Saturday Night Live propaganda this year. But while waxing philosophical about the “More Cowbell” sketch can grow tiresome, Questlove made his role in the neverending SNL parade sing. In support of his upcoming three-hour documentary, Ladies & Gentleman… 50 Years Of SNL Music, the Oscar-winning director of Summer Of Soul released the seven-minute cold open to the documentary, a supercut blending together and mashing up some of SNL’s greatest musical moments. Frankly, it’d be enough if he only did this—even though we’d love some insight into why Patrick Stewart yelled Salt-N-Pepa like that. Edited by Questlove’s Tonight Show compatriot, John McDonald, Questlove pulled clips from over 900 performances for the show and got it into a sweet little package we can all enjoy.
“I was just going in five-year intervals — what’s the three strongest moments between ’75 and ’80? — and do it that way,” Questlove told The New York Times of the cold open. “But I’m so programmed as a D.J. it’s physically impossible for me to gather a group of songs together and not start — that’s my version of improvisation. And once you put, like, 17 songs together, you have a conversation with yourself: ‘OK, are we really doing this?'”
According to Questlove, his producers doubted his ability to get clearance for all the tracks. Only one denied his request. “The only outright no that I couldn’t fix was that Luciano Pavarotti was going to be part of the Bobby McFerrin-Busta Rhymes mash-up. But it was too much to explain to his estate, and I couldn’t go to Italy and whatever. It could have been brilliant, Bobby McFerrin and Pavarotti going toe to toe.”
The clip brings together Run DMC and Hall & Oates, Morris Day and R.E.M., Queen and Vanilla Ice, but the lack of Bobby McFerrin and Pavarotti is painful. Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years Of SNL Music premieres tonight on NBC and will stream tomorrow on Peacock.