As part of the ongoing festivities surrounding the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, directors Questlove and Oz Rodriguez offer up Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, an in-depth look at SNL‘s rich history of musical performances.
Opening with a transcendent seven-minute mashup of artists like Beyoncé, David Bowie, U2, Run-DMC, and more as featured on the show, the documentary then explores everything from the intensity of being both host and musical guest during the same week to SNL‘s most groundbreaking — and yes, controversial — moments.
Not every one of those moments is explored in depth: Ashlee Simpson’s 2004 lip-sync fail, for example, gets covered in a relatively matter-of-fact way, with no major revelations beyond the fact that things very clearly did not go according to plan. However, there are some fun surprises and reveals throughout the two-plus hours of the movie, which is made with a great deal of respect and appreciation for the doors that SNL has opened over the years for emerging artists — and the impact it’s had on the world for the last five decades.
Lorne Michaels Says Saturday Night Live Has Never Banned Anyone
At one point in the documentary, the creator of SNL attempts to debunk a long-held assumption about the show: “I’ll read it sometimes in the Post, ‘So and so’s banned for life.’ We’ve never banned anyone. We’re way too crass and opportunistic. If something’s hot, we’re going to go for it and have it on.”
There is, of course, a clear distinction to be made between “banned for life” and “never being asked back for whatever reason.” But it’s still a very telling quote.
No One Knows the Actual Tune for the SNL Theme Song
As seen in this clip, no one interviewed for this documentary can accurately recreate what the Saturday Night Live theme song sounds like. “There is no melody consistent, is there?” Jack White realizes. “It’s just a wailing saxophone — someone being taken out of the building playing saxophone by the police and the microphone’s still connected.” SNL musical director Lenny Pickett does play the sax riff for the camera, but also, the point stands.
Eddie Murphy Didn’t Want to Do “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party”
When asked about the conception of the sketch (in which James Brown… gets into a hot tub), the comedian says he laughed off the original pitch because writers David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein might have been high at the time. “Get the fuck outta here, y’all be smoking that shit,” is how Murphy describes his initial reaction to the idea. Of course, it went on to kill.
Dave Grohl Has Experienced Multiple Technical Difficulties on the Show
Grohl, having appeared on SNL 16 times over the years, hasn’t always had the easiest experience: In the documentary, he reveals that in 1992, thanks to nerves, he actually snapped his drumstick in half 20 seconds into Nirvana’s first performance on the show. Additionally, in 2010, Grohl made a memorable cameo as the drummer in the sketch “Punk Band Reunion At The Wedding” — but his microphone didn’t work, leading to Ashton Kutcher sharing his own mic for Grohl’s portion of the song.