- Here we go.
- 15 seconds back.
Okay.
- Say it, then just walk.
- Mm-hmm.
Five, four.
Three seconds.
Two, stand by.
- Ladies and gentlemen...
- Ladies and gentlemen...
Ladies and gentlemen...
- Ladies and gentlemen...
- Ladies and gentlemen...
Ladies and gentlemen...
- Ladies
- I wanna
And now, ladies and gentlemen...
Ladies and gentlemen...
Ladies and gentlemen...
- Saturday.
- New York.
Jolt of electricity.
- Iconic.
- Musical history.
Game changing
for a network show.
Sorry, ladies and gentlemen.
- Here we go.
- Excitement.
- Energy.
- Adrenaline.
Live.
Absolutely f*cking terrifying.
Come on, "Saturday Night Live"!
- "Saturday Night Live."
- "Saturday Night Live"!
"Saturday Night Live."
Saturday night,
we in the spot
I'm on "SNL," and you're not.
Yeah!
- Are you ready for this
- We're ready for this
- Are you ready for this
- We're ready for this
Few times I've been
around that track
So it's not just gonna
happen like that
'Cause I ain't no
holl*back girl
- Yeah! Yeah!
- Cause I ain't no...
- Hey!
- One, two, three, four!
It's getting hot in here
So hot
So take off
all your clothes
I am getting so hot
I wanna take my clothes off
Oh,
it's getting hot in here
So hot
So take off
all your clothes
Break it down for me baby
Oh, oh, oh, oh
See-saw swinging
with the boys in school
And the feet was
flying up in the air
Singin' hey diddle diddle
with the kitty in the middle
And they swinging like
it just don't care
So I took a...
- I can't go for that
- No-whoa
No can do
I can't go for that
No-whoa
When she told me
how to walk this way
But you walked away
When I needed you most
Now baby, baby, baby, baby
I found someone
Mm-bop doo-wop
To take away the heartache
Mm-bop doo-wop
Come on
To take away
the loneliness
Mm-bop doo-wop
I've been feeling
for too long
Since you've been gone
Candyman tempting
the thoughts of a
Cut cut cut cut
Pressure
Ice, ice, baby
Under pressure
Ice, ice, baby
Ice, ice, baby
Ice, ice, baby
Love is a wonderful thing
Ice, ice, baby
I'll sing it again
Stop, wait a minute
Fill my cup,
put some liquor in it
Take a sip, sign the check
Julio, get the stretch
- Don't cost you nothin'
- Ooh, ooh, ooh
- Take a chance as you go
- Yeah
- Don't cost you nothin'
- Ooh, ooh, ooh
If you like it,
come back for more
Break it down
Caribbean queen
Now we're sharing
the same dream
That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Hey, baby, it's you
Suicide blonde
Pretty woman
Come on, girl,
now it's you
- Suicide blonde
- Pretty woman
Sink your teeth
right through my bones, baby
- Mercy.
- Just me and you
Come on and make it, uh
Party up
Got to, got to,
got to party up
Party
Got to party down
Whoo!
- Girls on film
- She's a very kinky girl
Girls on film
From her head
down to her toenails
Girls on film
She's a super freak,
super freak
- She's super freaky
- Girls on film
Two and one, two, three
Ow!
Hey!
Come on now!
I was born long ago
I am the chosen, I'm the one
Hit me!
I have come
to save the day
And I won't leave
until I'm done
Lights go down, it's dark
The jungle is your head
Can't rule your heart
A feeling so much
stronger than a thought
Your eyes are wide
And though your soul,
it can't be bought
Your mind can wander
I know we weren't perfect
But I've never felt
this way for no one
If she reads all
the lyrics, she'll
Cause you said forever
Now I drive alone
past your street
Bounce, baby,
bounce, baby, bounce
When I come through
Hit y'all with the one-two
Break y'all suckas
that y'all suckas
Won't even know what to do
Break fool, make all
y'all people wanna come to
So I creep, yeah
Flip mode role thick
And you know we don't quit
Hit you with some more hits
That make y'all wanna go
I'm rollin'
with my whole crew
Bounce through
even when we're...
- Bye, bye, bye
- Bye, bye
My tea's gone cold,
I'm wondering why
Just another player
in your game for two
The morning rain
clouds up my window
Ain't no lie, baby,
bye, bye, bye
I'm a survivor,
I'm not gon' give up
I'm not gon' stop,
I'm gon' work harder
I'm a survivor
It might sound crazy
But it ain't no lie
Keep on surviving,
I'm a survivor
Come on, "SNL," let's go.
It's not the same as
being on any other TV show.
Something about the vibe.
Like a school of music.
- "SNL" is about making...
- Moments in time.
Whether they're new
or they're legendary.
It's fertile ground
for an artist
to really express themselves.
They was bold enough to say,
yo, put the hip-hoppers on.
Let the punk guys come on.
That's the beautiful thing.
There's a reason why
it's lasted 50 years.
All from New York, and all live.
- Ladies and gentlemen...
- Ladies and gentlemen...
- Ladies and gentlemen...
- The Rolling Stones.
Frank Zappa.
- Once again, the Clash.
- Lady Gaga.
- Now here's Prince.
- Nirvana.
- One Direction.
- Foo Fighters.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Taylor Swift!
'Cause there we are again
Nothing from nothing
leaves nothing
In the middle of the night
You gotta have something
Dancing around the kitchen
In the refrigerator light
You got to know
how to party
You got to know how to party
You got to know how to party
Who needs a heart when
a heart can be broken
Billy Preston.
I remember when
we come on the air.
We're following Watergate,
the last helicopter
out of Vietnam.
The city is broke.
The Church is being questioned.
And so everything seemed
to be if not crumbling,
at least open to question.
That kind of moment in time,
we just came on
and did a show
that we'd wanna see.
And music was
a big part of that.
Achoo.
Hey, mama,
don't you treat me wrong
Come and love your daddy
all night long
Hey, hey
What'd I say
What'd I say now
Baby, what I say
What'd you say?
I said hey
Hey?
h*
h*?
- Hey
- both: Hey?
- h*
- both: h*?
- Hey, h*
- both: Hey? h*?
Baby, it's all right
Baby, it's all right
Baby, it's all right
Baby, it's all right
Baby, it's all right
Baby, it's all right
Baby, it's all right
Baby, it's all right
Baby, it's all right
Tell me what'd I say
Live from New York,
it's Saturday night.
Could you sing for us
what you think is the theme
to "Saturday Night Live?"
Hmm.
Hum the theme to
"Saturday Night Live."
Wow.
Hold on, wait.
Is this a trick question?
The "SNL" theme?
If I heard it, I'd know it.
It's a lot of saxophone,
I know that.
Multiple horns.
Every horn is going crazy.
Whee...
Whee...
- Wow.
- What's the rest of it?
There is no melody
consistent, is there?
It's just a wailing saxophone.
It's someone being taken
out of the building,
playing saxophone by the police.
And the microphone
is still connected.
So it's, um...
When the opening is playing,
I'm usually having
a panic attack somewhere.
You're like, oh, no!
This is gonna be a disaster.
I'm gonna fail.
Everything's gonna go bad live.
That music to us was like
when a rocket ship goes off,
and everybody's going like this.
That's what that music is.
There is no getting out of this.
And it's happening.
The idea was to have an
improvisation which matched
the improvisation of comedy.
In those days,
you have to understand
that almost everything
was described as
new and experimental and bold.
You take it again, James.
Strut... strut your stuff there.
Hey, stud muffins,
wanna make bouncy-bouncy?
- Hey, that's enough.
- Knock it off, okay?
Hey, hey.
They're so cute
when they're mad.
Now, here it is,
as you can see, verifiably,
it is a check made out to you,
the Beatles, for $3,000.
All you have to do
is sing three Beatle tunes.
"She loves you, yeah yeah yeah,"
that's $1,000 right there.
"SNL" comes out
in October of '75.
It's hard to explain what
a revolution that was.
Tell me what's the word
Johannesburg
Said what's the word
Johannesburg
Said what's the word
Johannesburg
Said what's the word
Johannesburg
Say it again for me, Joe
Johannesburg
Say haven't you heard
Johannesburg
You gotta get what
Johannesburg
Will somebody tell me
what's happening
Life is a carnival
Believe it or not
Life is a carnival
Two bits a shot
This is rock and roll on
television pretty damn early.
We're not doing it
in a prerecorded way.
We're gonna go on a live show
with live music,
which didn't happen all
that much in those early days.
Flipped over you
Well, there wasn't really
any musical television to do
because you never played live.
You mimed to a latest single.
I love you so
I feel the same as you
More than you know
No other one will do
Flipped over you
Flipped, flipped, flipped
Flipped, flipped
So "Saturday Night Live"
was a departure
where you actually were
featured and you played live.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Rolling Stones.
You're so respectable
You're so respectable
You're so respectable
You're so respectable
Get out of my life
Don't take my wife
Don't come back
Lorne said that
from the beginning,
music had been just as
important as comedy.
Do you agree with the balance
of music and comedy?
Absolutely.
Because that was
the time that we lived in.
Music was so important.
And all sorts of different
new kinds of music
were happening,
especially in New York City.
It was just this confluence
of different kinds of music.
Up-ski, you little firecracker.
Come on, you're on
in a few seconds.
Howard, can you give me a hand?
Thank you so much.
It's a real favor.
She really appreciates it.
Thank you.
The comedy clubs were
starting to become really big.
And the music clubs started
becoming really big.
So it made sense that
they came together.
Hey, Mick Jagger, if you're
out there, this is for you.
Give me Mick
Give me Mick
Baby's hair
Bulging eyes
Lips so thick
Are you woman, are you man
I'm your biggest
funked-up fan
So rock me and roll me
till I'm sick
Rock and roll, rock and roll
Gimme, gimme, gimme,
gimme rock and roll
Gimme, gimme rock and roll
Gimme, gimme
Gimme, gimme
Gimme, gimme, gimme
Are you woman, are you man
I'm your biggest
funked-up fan
Ladies and gentlemen,
Reverend Al Green.
Life can be hard
if you live in vain
Oh, oh
Trials can't be hard
The very first thing
I ever do as a comic is,
I do an impression of Al Green.
I did "Let's Stay Together,"
July 1976,
at the Roosevelt Youth Center.
And I sang,
"Let's Stay Together."
And I heard a little girl
named Libby in the front row
say, whoo!
And I've been in show business
from that moment.
The big payback
Ow!
If you're a Black person and
you were raised in America,
James Brown is a big, big deal.
The big payback
Can you tell us,
from soup to nuts,
how the concept of "James
Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub"
came to be?
I didn't wanna do it,
first of all.
Because back then I didn't
smoke, I didn't get high.
And at "SNL," a lot of
the people were smoking.
It was 2:00, 3:00
in the morning,
and Barry Blaustein
and David Sheffield,
who wrote "Coming to America,"
they was like...
Hey, you know
what would be funny?
If you was James Brown
in a hot tub.
And I was like, what?
And I was like,
get the f*ck out of here.
Y'all be smoking that sh*t,
talking that...
I ain't doing no crazy sh*t.
Hot tub full of water
I say hot tub
And then when we did it,
it was, oh,
it was the funniest thing ever.
- Should I get in the hot tub?
- Yeah!
- Will it make me sweat?
- Yeah!
- Should I get in the hot tub?
- Yeah!
- Will it make me wet?
- Yeah!
Well, well, well.
All us kids were looking
to "SNL" for the information,
for the take on stuff.
The impressions, they ended up
becoming reality for us.
Hey!
Too hot in the hot tub
And not even really remembering
if we really knew
what James Brown
danced like or sounded like.
We just knew the way
Eddie did it.
I'm gonna get in the hot tub.
He really is a musician.
And when you can really sing...
Hey!
That's when the joke
is the funniest.
Don't go away.
We'll be right back with more
"Celebrity Hot Tub."
The similarities between music
and comedy are plentiful.
There's timing.
Cadence.
There's misdirecting.
A great jazz musician,
when he plays a solo
or she plays a solo, will
give the audience something
that their ear can
attach to and then
turn on it to surprise them.
And that same thing
happens in comedy.
That's why music and comedy
has always gone together.
Ray, you're probably
the most popular
rhythm and blues artist
in American history.
I guess my first question
to you, sir, would be,
why singing?
I suppose I started singing
because I wanted to express
what I was feeling in my soul.
And I felt the blues.
So I needed to sing the blues.
All right, sir. Fair enough.
My next question to you, sir,
would be,
what the heck are the blues
and who gets them?
Danny Aykroyd was
a blues aficionado.
And when he met Belushi,
the two of them teamed up.
And Belushi could sing.
These two guys had
in the back of their minds,
it would be fun to get
a musical act together someday
and play the blues.
There was a running bit
on the show
at that time, the Bees.
Do you think we like this?
John hated the bee costume.
Nonetheless, he said, if I
could put that bee costume on
and sing with Danny
on the harmonica,
that's how it started.
A buzz-buzz
- Buzz-buzz
- A-buzz-buzz
And that was the
first time they really
did the Blues Brothers
on television,
but they were
in the bee costumes.
King Bee?
I mean, still one of
my favorite things
I've ever seen in my life.
I mean, the way he ended
and flipped
and just fell on his back.
I'm like,
this guy's unbelievable.
I'm a King Bee
I can buzz all night long
So during the
week off, they come up
with this concept of these
two brothers who play blues.
And they wear sunglasses
day and night.
So I wrote an arrangement of
a song called "Hey, Bartender."
We rehearsed the
"Saturday Night Live" Band,
did it for Lorne Michaels.
Didn't make the show.
Lorne said, frankly,
I don't see anything funny
about the Blues Brothers.
So they gave up.
They said, if Lorne
doesn't like it,
we're wasting our time.
Wednesday, about 3:15, Lorne
comes out of read-through,
and he says, the show's
three minutes short.
John and Danny
jumped on him and...
Lorne, the Blues Brothers.
So Lorne said, we have
nothing worthwhile to put
in those three minutes.
You guys might as well
make fools of yourselves.
Coming to you
on a dusty road
Good loving,
I got a truckload
And when you get it,
you got something
So don't worry,
'cause I'm coming
I'm a soul man
It's shocking sometimes when
you see things like, you know,
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi
making music,
and it also happens
to be good music.
It almost makes you upset
if a comedian
can just turn it on like that.
Put on your yarmulke
Here comes Hanukkah
So much fun-ukkah
To celebrate Hanukkah
I had no idea how much
I'd be doing music on the show
when I first got on.
I love you, sweatshirt
Red-hooded sweatshirt
Dip, dip, dip sweatshirt
Shama lama ding-dong
"Weekend Update" was what
Lorne told me to start doing
when I first was on.
And he would always say,
get on "Weekend Update,"
talk directly to the camera,
let America
get to know you a little bit,
and then you'll relax.
Come on, audience members.
Help me out here.
I love you, sweatshirt
Red-hooded...
Sweatshirt
Dip, dip, dip...
Aw!
Adam was kind of
deconstructing everything.
A lot of times when people
write song parodies,
the production
is very elaborate.
And Adam broke it down
and just played a guitar
and made sure that
every joke landed.
Sloppy Joe,
slop Sloppy Joe
It's always been
a comfortable spot
for a lot of comedians getting
to say jokes through music.
And it does something
to your brain that allows you
to just be a little freer.
"SNL" was such a huge part
of my musical taste.
Not just that I liked
the bands that were on there,
but just like, it influenced
the way I wanted to make art.
And "Band Reunion
at the Wedding" is
a very personal sketch for me.
So that is the sketch
that I am the most
jealous of in my life.
The premise of the sketch
is that there's this old guy
at his daughter's wedding.
The bride's dad got his old band
back together at a wedding.
It's an elegant event.
Everyone's in tuxes,
and he's like,
I'm so proud of you, honey,
that you're getting married.
I got the guys back together.
We're gonna play
a little song for you.
So the feeling is like,
oh, this is gonna be
like a blues song or something.
Fred came up to me.
He's like, I want
you to play bass.
I'm like, what?
And he's like,
you're actually...
you can actually
play bass on this song.
And by luck, Dave Grohl
was, like, in the band
for the musical guest.
So I didn't have to explain
any... he comes from that music.
That was Fred Armisen singing,
Bill Hader playing bass,
Ashton playing guitar,
and me playing drums.
So there I am with a bass
next to Dave Grohl on drums,
and I'm like, this is insane.
But this feels right,
sharing our music
with this wonderful
young couple.
Yes.
We did it at dress,
and it was... you know.
And so I was like, oh, I guess
that's not gonna be on air.
And then I was dressed
as Jesse Ventura.
This is how it works at "SNL."
I'm in full... fully
dressed like Jesse Ventura.
I have a bald cap on,
I have a whole thing,
and I'm ready to go out
as Jesse Ventura.
And then Fred said,
we're gonna do the sketch.
And Fred came up,
and he's like, we're
just cutting the second verse.
It's just chorus, verse,
chorus, and then we're out.
We have to cut the
whole sketch in half.
It was three minutes.
Now it's like a minute 50.
So we gotta go.
We have a minute 30.
We gotta go. We gotta go.
And I see Dave Grohl.
And I'm like... so, you know,
we cut the second verse.
He's like, what?
- All right.
- Did this thing get heavier?
All right, let's do this.
Madeline, my little Maddie,
I'm so proud of you.
And I hope Daddy doesn't make
too much of a fool
of himself up here.
All right.
It's with all my love.
You guys ready? Here we go.
One, two, three, four.
Yeah!
When Ronald Reagan
comes around
He brings the fascists
to your town
You think it's cool
to be a jock
But we get beat up
by the cops
Fist fight, fist fight
Fist fight
in the parking lot
Oh, and Dave Grohl's mic
doesn't work, right?
And a white picket fence
Awesome too, because
you're actually seeing
a perfect live sketch
experience a live problem.
So, like, you're seeing
the chaos of that
and the problem solving
of that in real time.
And it also looks so fun.
One, two, three, four!
Fist fight, fist fight
Fist fight
in the parking lot
Fist fight
And it was such a Fred
Armisen creation, that sketch.
That's, like, the major thing
that I wanted to do on "SNL"
is like...
it's like a love letter
to my youth.
All those bands that I loved,
it was everything
combined into one.
- We're Crisis of Conformity.
- Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Olivia Rodrigo.
- I just remember the doors.
- It said 8H.
And I remember them opening.
And then the rest is, like,
such a fever dream blur.
Music next.
I don't think
I've ever been more nervous
for anything than the first
time I performed at "SNL."
Yeah, it turned out okay,
but man,
I was in the dressing room
sort of having a panic attack
before I went on.
Being on "SNL" is such
a rite of passage.
I feel so honored to have
gotten to perform here.
Got my driver's license
last week
Just like we always
talked about
'Cause you were
so excited for me
To finally
drive up to your house
I just think it's
all of the people
that you've ever looked up to
have performed on that stage.
And so to get to do it is
just... it's really meaningful.
"SNL," because it's a live show
and because it's
an American ritual,
it has this unique ability
to take whatever is
the thing that's
happening right now
and put it into Studio 8H.
'Cause that's a big
part of the booking.
You have to be very ahead
about who's gonna make it.
Last night, she said
Oh, baby, I feel so down
You turn me off
When I feel left out
Often a lot of people say, like,
I don't know who that band is.
And I'm like, well, you
will know who they are soon.
It changes the way
that you're seen in a way
that no other show can do.
It's hard to know.
When things start cooking,
you can't tell
if you're the flavor of the week
and this is gonna be all over
within a couple weeks,
or if this is
the beginning of a new path
that you're going down
that's gonna go on for years.
You really just
don't have any idea.
I always assumed it
was something that was
gonna be short-lived, so.
Dead leaves
and the dirty ground
When I know
you're not around
And now here's Prince.
I was there when Prince
came on the very first time.
And he only got one song.
He sang "Partyup."
And he wasn't Prince yet.
Down with w*r. Party up.
One, two, three!
We don't give a damn
We just wanna jam and party
Party up, got to party up
But he was still
"Dirty Mind" Prince,
kind of grungy and legwarmers,
and boots look
kind of old and cheap.
I remember at the end,
they sang,
"We're not gonna fight no more,"
and threw his mic down
and walked off the stage.
You're gonna have to fight
your own damn w*r
'Cause we don't wanna
fight no more
- What's up?
- How you doing?
I saw you earlier.
Hi. All right.
Thank you for doing this.
Who's the smallest?
Let's try and get it over quick.
It can't be that wide.
David Geffen called me
about Nirvana,
because they were on his label,
and he said, I don't know
what's happening,
but last week they sold
60,000 records,
and this week they sold 140,000.
So something's happening.
You felt that... you felt
that Nirvana was there
and people were
talking about it.
You get more calls than
you ever got before
from friends in my hometown.
Just like, what's he like?
What's Kurt like?
Nirvana on "SNL"
was the first time
I'd seen them perform live.
I didn't have cable
in my house in high school,
so that was very exciting.
That whole week
we had talked about,
Nirvana's gonna be on "SNL."
Nirvana's gonna be on "SNL."
Me and my friends had
been learning their songs
in our bedroom too.
Jesus Christ,
look at that camera.
Stand by.
To me, it was the most
iconic American
television show of all time.
Hi, I'm Charles Barkley,
host of the season premiere
of "Saturday Night Live"
with Nirvana.
Look, Mom,
your favorite, Nirvana.
The first time we came
to "Saturday Night Live,"
I was absolutely
f*cking terrified.
So we get up,
and you kind of check
to make sure everything works.
Guitars, drums, speakers are up.
Mic is up.
And then you try
to be really quiet,
and then they start
to count you down.
The room gets dead silent.
Your heart is racing.
And you're thinking,
oh, my God, I'm gonna faint.
I'm gonna puke
on live television.
I'm gonna die.
And typically, what happens
if I get nervous,
I beat the sh*t out
of the drums twice as hard.
Ladies and gentlemen, Nirvana.
I was hitting the drums
ten times harder
than I've ever hit them
before in my life.
By the first verse,
I had snapped
my snare stick in half.
Which, um, is not good.
And I thought, oh...
and this is only, like,
20 seconds into the song.
And there was one break right
before the first drum roll,
I think, where I grabbed
another stick really
quick and busted into it.
Hello, hello, how low
I mean, it was
so close to being,
like, "Titanic" -level disaster.
With the lights out
It's less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid
And contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
Yeah
Three people making that sound
through your television sets...
I mean, they probably
blew so many speakers.
Yeah!
Hi, I'm Josh Brolin, and I'm
hosting "SNL" with Adele.
So if you still have your house,
stay in, invest your money,
and invest in some laughs.
That's good advice, crazy lady.
I know.
Okay, let's do that again.
- Should I look in the camera?
- Where am I looking?
I'm just kind of looking lost.
I remember us sitting
at the rewrite table on nine.
And Adele, like, not a lot
of us had heard of her.
And she started singing.
And it was...
like, we all stopped.
We opened the curtain,
and everybody looked down
and went, who is that?
Ladies and gentlemen, Adele.
Should I give up
Or should I just keep
chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere
Or would it be a waste
Even if I knew my place
Should I leave it there
It was just meant to be
like a normal show,
just like me and Josh Brolin.
And I was the musical guest,
and he was hosting it.
Yeah
The whole country was
watching for other reasons.
It just happened to be that
show that Sarah Palin was on.
The real one?
Bye.
Adele went to the after party,
and then they went back
to the hotel.
And they went to British Airways
for the 8:00 a.m. flight.
She said when they
were on the runway,
she checked her computer,
and she was at number 45.
And when they landed,
she was almost at number 1.
It ended up being a huge show.
And literally overnight...
like, whenever I've heard
that saying,
overnight success, I was like,
yeah, whatever.
You've gotta proper work for it.
And it was overnight...
literally overnight, so.
After she performed here,
her whole career
took off in America.
Now it sounds ridiculous
because you're like,
hey, it's Adele, you know.
But everybody has
to start somewhere.
"SNL's" musical legacy is
the incredible opportunity
it gives artists
and the early belief in them.
Ladies and gentlemen, Dua Lipa.
When they give you
the nod and go,
yeah, you deserve to be
on this stage.
I got new rules, I count 'em
One, don't pick up the phone
You know he's only calling
'cause he's drunk and alone
Two, don't let him in
You get, like,
a certain confidence
and excitement and a belief in
yourself that you can do it.
You're getting over him
I was in LA hosting
the MTV Movie Awards.
And these writers were there.
And there were all
these young kids,
and they look like
they're all from Brooklyn.
I remember talking to Lorne.
I go, hey, you should
look into these kids, man.
Like, these guys that
wrote this are really funny.
And they work hard.
They show up.
Not knowing that
they were gonna change
the face
of "Saturday Night Live."
Well, we got hired
on the strength
of not our songs or our
videos, is my understanding.
They didn't know that
we were doing them
until we were already hired.
So we had made a
short that hadn't
gotten on the air at that point.
It was... Will Forte had written
a thing called "Lettuce."
It's all right to feel sad,
but the pain goes away.
After that, we knew that it
was possible to get something
that we just filmed
on a mini-DV camera
on our own on national TV.
So we were trying to
think of another idea.
We knew Parnell had done
his "raps" on "Update,"
which we had loved.
Listen up, beyotch.
You know she sends me
When she looks my way
I can't defend me
All I can do is pray
For her to spare me
From a sweet death ray
But the b*tch really wants
to take a roll in the hay
The next thing that
we tried was "Lazy Sunday."
And it was me and Parnell.
Lazy Sunday, wake up
in the late afternoon
Call Parnell just to
see how he's doing
- Hello
- What up, Parns
Yo, Samberg,
what's crackin'
You thinking
what I'm thinkin'
Narnia, man, it's happening
We had no expectations
on it, truly.
We were, like,
just hoping it aired.
Jorma made the beat
to "Lazy Sunday,"
and he just did it
on his "SNL" computer,
as far as I know.
I had to make a beat fast.
And it was kind of
the first time
that you could make music
fast enough, like using
the computers that we had
that were strictly meant for,
like, writers to write on.
68th and Broadway
We never got a sh**ting permit.
We didn't have a crew either.
We would just get into
a van or something.
We kind of liked
the lo-fi aesthetic
as well, because the
show was so polished.
- Two
- No, six
- No, 12
- Baker's dozen
I told you that I'm crazy
for these cupcakes, cousin
Did you watch the one before?
Yeah.
It was like being on ecstasy.
"Lazy Sunday,"
that was the first time
I had ever been in the vicinity
of, like, a phenomenon.
The first YouTube clip I was
ever sent was "Lazy Sunday."
I remember going back home
to Oklahoma.
I was in an airport,
and someone had a T-shirt
that said, you know,
"Mr. Pibb plus Red Vines
equals crazy delicious."
I mean, it was like...
overnight this became
a huge thing.
- Yes, the chronic...
- What
Cles of Narnia
- We love the chronic...
- What
Cles of Narnia
- Pass that chronic...
- What
Cles of Narnia
But it wasn't until
"d*ck in a Box"
that we were like, f*ck.
Like,
we're gonna be doing these.
I met them when I came in
to host the Christmas episode.
And they had just had a lot
of success with "Lazy Sunday."
So Lorne, of course,
was like, do a digital short,
some sort of musical
element with Justin.
We kicked it with him
and talked about how
we kind came up
on similar music.
And then we just locked
ourselves in our office
and pitched a million ideas.
By the way, we gave up first.
Because we tried Tuesday night,
stayed up all night
the way everyone does,
but came out empty-handed.
And then it got to Wednesday,
and we stayed up
all night and also had nothing.
But I remember that
it was late in the game.
And Lorne would pop in
and say, hey,
do you guys got anything yet?
And we didn't have anything.
I wanna sex you up
- And I wanna say it was...
- yeah, Thursday night.
Andy and I bonded over
our love of early '90s R&B.
I wanna sex you up
Like, what's the best
sort of spoof of that?
And how can we create
these characters
to be so unaware
of how terrible they are?
We had this much on
a piece of paper, I remember.
- Yes.
- I remember because I had it.
And it was some version
of the intro lines
up to the first d*ck in a box.
So it was just enough
to know what the premise was.
We asked Katreese Barnes,
who was music supervisor
and just the best person.
She could start building music
in that style, which she did.
And we told Lorne the idea.
And he was like, okay.
Well, just remember,
it's the Christmas show.
And a lot of kids
will be watching.
So we ended up writing it
sort of on the spot
and recording it
into that night.
Until... you know, late,
late night, early morning.
He literally taught us
so many more tricks
of producing pop vocals.
And he redid the melodies
to be way better.
I remember he came in
and he was like, watch this.
I was like, guys, if you
really put the effort in
to actually try to
make this a good song,
it's going to make it
even funnier.
There were some
meticulous moments
in the recording
where I was like,
no, Andy, do that line again.
And we shot it
on a Friday night.
And the song was so good.
We were all singing it and,
like, having such a good time.
That's how the song made
me feel at that very moment.
- Yeah?
- Okay, we're rolling.
And we did it the way
that we had always done
all of our early
music videos, where
we bought a little
tiny shitty speaker
from RadioShack.
Something so you know
what's on my mind
We played the beat so
they could rap back to it.
We bought a bunch
of mini-DV tapes
and, like, just
filmed it ourselves.
- All right.
- Cut it, cut it, cut it.
And then Akiva, who's
sort of resident Lonely Island
director and editor,
took all the footage
and went in
and from Friday night
stayed up all night
into Saturday,
up until dress rehearsal was
finishing the final edit.
I'm convinced, and no one
can tell me otherwise,
that the reason it
made it onto the show
is because no one really
knew what the sketch was.
Hey girl, I got something
real important to give you.
So just sit down and listen.
Girl, you know
we've been together
Such a long, long time
Such a long time
And now I'm ready
to lay it on the line
Wow, you know
it's Christmas
And my heart is open wide
Open wide
Gonna give you something
so you know what's on my mind
What's on my mind
A gift real special
So take off the top
Take a look inside
It's my d*ck in a box
It's in a box.
Everybody went out to
the floor to watch it.
We have a great
picture of everybody
watching it out on the floor.
Don't mean anything
I'm not gonna
get you a fancy car
Girl, you gotta know
you're my shining star
Not gonna get you
We were trying to borrow
from all the iconic moments
from those early '90s
R&B videos,
like the Michael Bivins
sitting on the basketball hoop.
It's my d*ck a box
The references were
accurate, and it was...
it was a little dream come true.
My d*ck in a box, girl
It's my d*ck in a box
He changed the whole game.
It was like, whoa.
This is a comedy voice that
we haven't heard in years.
They just took it
and just crushed it.
I just had sex
And it felt so good
Take no chances
Stop freelancin'
Invest in your future
Don't dilute your finances
land, I'm on a boat, mother
Mother
No trees, I climb buoys,
mother
Mother
I took it and threw it
on the ground
We had had a whole lot of,
like, let them do what they do,
you know what I mean,
week after week after week.
Shy Ronnie
My name is shy Ronnie
And I'm walking the streets
You can't tell me nothin'
'Cause I'm straight up
equipped
Speak up
It really became a staple.
There's like a template now.
Here we go
Uh, Lonely Island
Michael Bolton
Yeah!
The funny music video was
really in vogue in the 2000s
on Lonely Island's coattails.
People were doing them
all the time on YouTube.
But yet the style persists
with "SNL."
You guys are just
playing characters.
- Characters.
- Oh!
So people won't think it's us.
It's not about you at all.
Three sad virgins, what
Three sad virgins, whoa
Three sad virgins, what
Three sad virgins, whoa
Let's do it in my
twin bed, twin bed
I'm not gonna
like it, like it
But it's the only
option, option
Where we can get it poppin'
Come back, Barack
- Come on, man.
- We out in the rain.
Don't leave us here alone
It's definitely too cold
to be in the rain, though.
At least pick up the phone
I mean, I know you're
busy with that library
and everything.
The White House
ain't a home
Trump don't even got a dog, man.
Just come back, Barack
It's been a long time, Barack.
I mean, we made over
a hundred of them by the end.
And the whole time,
we just kind of
couldn't believe our luck
that we did something
that people liked enough that
we got asked to keep doing it.
Damn.
The whole thing was just
a virtual reality experience.
The problem is all inside
your head, she said to me
The answer is easy
if you take it logically
I'd like to help you
in your struggle to be free
There must be 50 ways
to leave your lover
Growing up, watching "SNL"
was a big part of music for me.
Furthermore,
I hope my meaning won't
Be lost or misconstrued
There's no question that
the musical guests influenced
if I was gonna be watching.
And then if you were
lucky, that person
would show up in a sketch.
Lorne, I have grave doubts
about the costume.
- What, in the opening?
- Yes, I do.
The opportunity to be part
of a comedic ensemble,
that was a treat for me.
What are you worried about?
I'm worried about...
I feel there's
a real good chance that
I could look like a fool,
is what I'm worried about.
Not a chance.
I met my old lover
On the street last night
She seemed so glad
to see me, I just smiled
And we talked
about some old times
And we drank ourselves
some beers
Still crazy after all
Oh
The turkey outfit was my idea.
Lorne was fine with me
making up what I wanted to do,
and I was fine with the writers
giving me lines to say.
- And that was wonderful.
- Wonderful?
- You call that wonderful?
- What, you had a problem?
It was one of the
most humiliating
experiences of my life.
In those days,
it was still shocking
when the musical guest
was in a sketch.
The Kannon AE-I, a camera
so advanced, so simple,
even Stevie Wonder can use it.
So simple, anyone can use it.
That showed how cool they were.
Remember when you were
with the Beatles?
Sure.
Sure.
That was awesome.
So, like, when Madonna
was on "Coffee Talk,"
that was just like...
you know, brain expl*si*n.
This is
my best friend, Liz Rosenberg.
Linda, don't talk to me.
I'm having a bad hair day.
Mike Myers had
a relationship with Madonna
because they shot a short film
for "Wayne's World."
Wayne!
I'm in here, Garth.
Hello, Garth.
So Mike wrote her
into "Coffee Talk."
This show is dedicated,
as ev-rah,
to Barbra Joan Streisand.
- Yes.
- We love her.
We love her!
And then we booked
Barbra Streisand.
We weren't really sure
she was gonna come
because she doesn't do
live television.
She was not sure
she wanted to do it.
She wasn't in dress.
It was a thing.
Long story short,
I loved "Prince of Tides."
It was to die for.
She came in, we pulled her
around the back,
and we pushed her out.
And if you watch the sketch,
they have no idea.
The movie was like buttah.
Like buttah!
Like a big stick of buttah.
Mamma-la! Oy.
All this talk about food,
I'm getting hungry, girls.
Oh, my God! oh!
It's Barbra!
It's Barbra!
You're beautiful!
I love this woman!
It's Barbra!
Oh, my God!
It's Barbra!
She's like buttah!
- Did you see her?
- She is like buttah!
Oh, I can die now!
Watching musicians
do comedy, I'm into it.
I like that.
I think they're having fun.
They must love that
for this one day,
they get to do a character.
Here are the top three questions
they had for Aerosmith, okay?
Question number one.
Is it true you guys don't
do drugs or alcohol anymore?
Yeah, that's right.
No drugs, no alcohol.
Feels great.
No way.
Way.
- Okay. Garth, go ahead.
- Next question.
Okay, next question
is for Steven.
Um, okay.
Are those really
your lips, or are
they lip implants
like Barbara Hershey
had in the movie "Beaches"?
They mine, man!
Bitchin'!
Bitchin' lips.
I love doing stuff like that,
particularly things that
push me out of the
comfort zone a little bit,
because I'm such
a fan of comedy.
They're telling me to get out.
They keep saying it.
Who? Who is saying that?
The walls.
When you pitch a sketch idea
that the musicalguest
is involved in potentially,
it could always go wrong.
There are a million reasons
why they would say no.
It's your job to
respectfully convince them.
Can you tell me
the story of how you guys
convinced Beyonc to do
the "Single Ladies" sketch?
Yes.
Andy texted me and he said,
hey, are you in town?
I said, yeah, I'm in the city.
He said, Bobby Moynihan has
this great idea for a sketch
about you, me, and him being
Beyonc's background dancers
for "Single Ladies"
that never made the cut.
She's gonna be
the musical guest this week.
I was like, full, like, leotard?
And he's like, yeah.
And I was like, oh,
this is too funny.
Like, we have to do this.
She was very polite about it,
but she was very hesitant.
And when I say hesitant, I mean,
like, she was not having it.
Beyonc!
Oh, my gosh, I'm so psyched
to do this new video with you.
Me too.
But, you know,
there's this one thing.
Um, I haven't met
the other dancers.
Are we gonna have time
to rehearse?
Oh, look, don't worry about
the other dancers, B-town.
I handpicked them myself.
These guys are pros.
These guys?
I'm like, does she know
how funny this is gonna be?
Like, how beloved
this whole moment will be?
So I said, bring...
bring me the leotard.
So I put the leotard
and the heels
and the hose on and everything.
And I put a robe on.
And I walked,
and I knocked on her door.
I walked in
and I threw the robe down,
and I put my hands on my hips.
And she was like,
no, you didn't.
- Hi.
- We're the dancers.
- All right.
- Are you guys warmed up?
Oh, we're warmed up.
Yeah, we're warmed up
like biscuits.
- Yeah, dance biscuits.
- Playback.
Don't be mad once
you see that he want it
If you like it, then you
should'a put a ring on it
Action!
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
If you like it,
then you should'a put...
- Can we stop?
- We gotta stop.
Cut, cut, cut.
If you like it, then you
should'a put a ring on it
Oh-oh-oh
People are trying
to put us down
Talkin' 'bout
my generation
Just because
we g-g-g-get around
Talkin' 'bout
my generation
I don't dig no censorship
Talkin 'bout my generation
Hope I die because I'm hip
Talkin' 'bout
my generation
My generation, baby
My generation, baby
If you look at the city
of New York... culturally,
financially, everything...
"Saturday Night Live"
always went with that.
So in 1975, '76, '77, it was
kind of an avant-garde city.
This was kind of an
avant-garde show at the time.
"SNL" music in the
'70s and '80s felt like
it was kind of counterculture.
Your mind is
totally controlled
It has been stuffed
into my mold
It was highlighting
things that might
not have been on top 40 radio.
I grew up watching the show.
The first thing I remember
that blew my mind
was a rerun, and it was
Devo playing "Satisfaction."
Ladies and gentlemen, Devo.
Fred Willard was hosting,
and I just remember thinking,
the way they played and that
they did... like...
It feels like
an optical illusion.
I can't get
no satisfaction
I can't get me
no satisfaction
And I try, and I try
I almost feel like it was
also a message from Lorne.
We're gonna put visual bands on.
This is not just,
like, a musical guest.
Like, we're gonna
make this a really
important part of the show.
Come back,
come back, Jonee
Come back now, Jonee
Come back, come back, Jonee
You know, we were
all sort of having
this countercultural approach.
And "Saturday Night Live"
really brought some of that
to the masses... you know,
the big audience.
It was really like talking
to a friend in a way.
Come back, Jonee!
So in this new wave of music,
it had much more to do
with imagination
and less to do with technique.
You could become an artist
overnight just by having
an idea and a keyboard.
I don't have to prove
That I am creative
I don't have to prove
That I am creative
All my pictures
Are confused
And now I'm going to
take me to you
Some of the bands with
the sharpest edges at the time
were groups like
The Talking Heads and B-52s.
And again, they took
the idea of punk rock
and just mixed it
with their own kind
of personal eccentricities
and flavor
to make some of the
most interesting music.
- We were at the beach
- Ooh
Everybody had
matching towels
Somebody went under a dock
And there they saw a rock
It wasn't a rock
It was a rock lobster
Seeing the B-52s
on "Saturday Night Live"
for the first time, that is
really what changed my life.
Rock lobster
I always felt weird.
And then I see
the B-52s on television.
I'm like, oh, my God,
they're weird too.
And they're on TV,
and people like weird stuff.
And okay, it's okay to be weird.
You used me like
an ashtray heart
Case of the punks,
right from the start
I was responsible
for a few bookings...
Miles Davis and
Captain Beefheart,
both of which were considered
disaster appearances.
Miles had his back
to the camera,
which was driving them nuts.
You picked me out
Brushed me off
And Captain Beefheart,
if you ever heard his music,
he has tones that a lot
of people can't handle.
His performance on "SNL,"
I had on a VCR tape.
We had passed it around.
You know, by the '90s, you know,
these kind of things
were bootleg tapes.
And that was one
of my favorites,
was Captain Beefheart.
Not one person in
the audience clapped.
It was... I'd never seen that
before the "applause" sign.
And one guy from the balcony
yelled, "sh*t!"
You could see that on the tape.
sh*t!
It's hard to explain
what this show meant.
It means a lot now,
but at that time,
when the city was smaller,
less people,
the arts scene
was more integrated.
Music and comedy were
brothers and sisters in arms.
They were not separated.
We passed upon the stair
And spoke of was and when
Although I wasn't there
He said I was his friend
Which came as some surprise
I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone
A long, long time ago
- Oh, no
- Oh, no
- Not me
- Not him
I never lost control
- You're face
- You're face
- To face
- To face
With the man
who sold the world
I laughed and shook his hand
- And made my way back home
- Home
I roamed the desert land
For years and years
I roamed
I gazed a gazely stare
At all the millions here
We must have died alone
A long, long time ago
- Oh, no
- Who knows
- Not me
- Not him
Not you
We never lost control
- You're face
- You're face
- To face
- To face
- All right, here we go.
- Stand by, sound on tape at 11.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Kendrick Lamar.
Broke phone
I'm a savage
Classy, bougie, ratchet
Sassy
Five, four, three, two...
Let's rock
Bow, get the though,
I don't bluff, bro
Aiming at your head
like a buffalo
Is so maniacal,
we're liable to pull a juju
The irony is that
this bad chick in my lap
This very moment I bring
Put it on everything
That I will retire
with the ring
My name is Hov
Not D.O.C.
But they belong
to them letters
"No One Can Do It Better"
This is the story
of a champion
Runners on their mark
and they pop their g*ns
Stand up, stand up,
here he comes
Tell me what it takes
to be number one
Never meant to
make your daughter cry
I apologized a million times
What's my name?
DMX, and I be the best,
you see the rest?
They lookin' like
they need a rest
Girls, you know you better
watch out
Some guys, some guys are
only about
That thing, that thing, that
As I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life
and realize
There's nothing left
With so much
drama in the LBC
It's kind of hard being
Snoop D-O-double-G
How low can you go
Death row
What a brother know
Once again back
is the incredible
Rhyme animal, the uncannable
Rock y'all,
check out the funky cut
It's like
travelin' through time
To the "Stray Cat Strut"
Cuts are slicker than grease,
needles sharper than knives
"Saturday Night Live" was
one of the first platforms
that played hip-hop music.
And so to have hip-hop on a show
that was seen by millions of
people was really a big deal.
Check this out.
Lately, the media
has been dogging rap music,
saying it incites violence,
riots, and whatnot.
They are not violent, never
have been, never will be.
My homeboys,
from Hollis, Queens, Run-DMC!
Initially, did you guys
feel, like, out of place?
Like, these people might
not get us, or like...
No, not really.
We knew we was just gonna rock
and go home.
It goes one for the money,
two for the show
Jam Master Jay,
Darryl and Joe!
Everybody, put your
hands in the air.
We going from side to side.
Everybody!
Your "Saturday Night Live"
was really
some superstars stuff.
It was, like, validation for us,
that we're a legit culture.
We have just
as much right to be accepted
as a legitimate form
of entertainment
as everybody else.
Like this!
Hollis crew in effect, bro.
Run-DMC's greatness
in hip-hop is,
we're pioneers of recorded rap.
But we didn't create it.
Like, we celebrate
everybody before.
I'm very honored
to be talking about
being on "Saturday Night Live,"
only because I know
that the Funky Four
did it first.
Here's our host, Deborah Harry.
Let's hear it.
Looking back
over the years
I guess I shedded some tears
"Saturday Night Live,"
I have to say,
is responsible
for a lot of things.
But we in turn brought
something very special
to "Saturday Night Live."
What might that be?
- What might that be?
- Yes.
Funky Four.
Now we're the Funky Four
And I'm the plus one more
And this is the way we go
When you're talking
about hip-hop culture,
you're talking young teenagers
in the streets of New York.
We were playing in every park
in New York City.
But we were not just
in the South Bronx.
We were headed downtown.
The Funky Four was
the one that introduced
hip-hop to punk rockers.
That's how we wind up
running into Debbie Harry.
Hi, I'm Deborah Harry.
Join me this week when I host
"Saturday Night Live"
with my special musical guest,
Deborah Harry.
They let us pick
our musical guest.
We decided on those guys.
They were so fresh
and entertaining.
It seemed like a great idea.
Debbie Harry fought for us.
We were innocent-looking.
There were similarities with her
being with an all-male band.
And so this is the reason
why she wanted the Funky Four
to be on "Saturday Night Live."
- One minute.
- One minute to air.
There was no preperformance
or anything.
They said, okay,
time for y'all to go on.
- We did it.
- And we did it.
20 seconds.
Do you remember what was
going through your head
at the moment?
What was going on
through my head at the time
was I was pregnant.
My whole life was flashing
in front of me at that time.
But we had to go on, you know,
with the show.
- Three, two, one.
- And dissolve.
Oh, the next group
are among the best
street rappers in the country.
Please welcome my friends
from the Bronx,
the Funky Four Plus One More.
Ha ha
Yeah
If you're ready for this
Say you're ready for this
With DJ Breakout
being the first DJ
to be in front of a camera,
they didn't know what to do.
They didn't know how
to put the music through.
You're talking about...
this is the first time
that rap music is on TV.
Nobody has ever
heard of scratching.
Try to explain that to somebody.
And it's really hard.
We gotta prove to the world
that we're for real
We gotta prove to everybody
we know the real deal
We got golden voices
and hearts of steel
Cause we're five emcees
that got to be real
We wanna hear the party
people yell Sugar Hill
And at that time, we didn't
know the impact of what we did
to become the first rap group,
you know, to ever
be on national television.
That is the beginning
of everything.
Just learn the culture.
Learn how all of this came.
There's a saying that
Grandmaster Caz always said
hip-hop didn't invent anything,
but we reinvented everything.
This monologue will
lead us to a commercial.
And go one.
Send him out. Ready five.
Announce.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Billie Eilish.
I was hosting,
and I was the musical guest,
which I never, ever thought
would ever happen... ever.
Even, like, the first time
I played here.
Nobody in your career
tells you, like,
now might not be the right time.
Like, if you get
the "SNL" offer,
you're like,
oh, we gotta do that.
"SNL" is, like,
always the biggest deal.
Dude, like,
people don't understand.
Like, "SNL" is hard.
It's a lot of work
and very challenging.
And you don't really sleep much.
And everyone is on edge,
but in a good, exciting way,
but a terrifying way.
Fade to black.
Ready one, up on one.
And cue.
Once again, Megan Thee Stallion.
When the musical guest
is the host,
there is no mistaking
or questioning, like,
the caliber of performer
that you are.
I can't tell y'all
how excited I am to be here.
Double duty,
it's meant for a dream board.
You know, you just never really
expect it to actually happen.
I do remember getting
the opportunity
to host "SNL"
for the first time.
And it was right after
a controversial moment
in my career where
a lot of people
were kind of afraid
to work with me,
which is when Lorne
gets excited to work
with you the most.
There are a few subjects we're
not gonna get into tonight.
I'm not gonna do Hannah Montana.
But I can give you an update
on what she's been up to.
She was m*rder*d.
And also, we went back
and forth on this.
But, guys, I just don't
think we should do
that "Wrecking Ball" sketch.
- What?
- Miley, come on! My mom is here!
I was kind of seen as being,
like, not quite understood
or not quite predictable,
which is really
what this show is all about.
He always says,
it's the tightrope walk.
They wanna see you dangle.
They don't wanna see you fall.
You good?
All right, we're set.
There is no getting
around, you know,
kind of the guts of the show is,
do you have it or do you not?
And you see people for
who and what they are.
Bad Bunny had
such a monster year.
We were just like, oh, it'd be
really fun to have him host.
And again, it goes back
to the musicians
that you don't normally
see doing comedy.
If you're the host and music,
you have zero time off.
And I think that's
explained to them too.
We just want you to know,
it's gonna be very...
- So Monday is...
- writer's pitch to the host
ideas and stuff like that.
They'll meet
with the monologue team
and different writers.
I think everyone
that does the monologue is
a bit worried about
the monologue,
I think rightfully so,
because if it's rubbish,
it kicks the show off and
doesn't set a very good tone.
So you've gotta get that right.
You go to all
the writer's rooms,
and they give you the ideas.
And you go like,
being kind of English
and kind of try and be
nice to people,
you don't say that's sh*t,
basically.
I'm never gonna do that.
You say, hmm,
that's interesting.
I'll think about that.
Three, two...
Hi, I'm Bad Bunny.
And I'm the host and musical
guest this week on "SNL."
Tuesday, they sh**t
promos in the morning,
and then they come in and
meet with individual writers
to determine sketches.
It's a very stupid sketch.
You're just, like, it's bonkers.
It's bonkers.
Then table read is on Wednesday.
You read a ton of sketches,
just at the table with
everyone who's on the show.
Everyone who's
behind the scenes,
from the gaffer to Lorne.
You see naturally
in the room what
feels like it's gonna crush
and what may end up
on the back burner,
as far as sketches.
My name is Benito,
and I'm so excited to be
here on "Sabado Gigante."
And you run with
those 12 to 15 sketches,
and you start developing
those a little bit further.
But if you're host
and musical guest,
then Thursday is kind of crazy.
Thursday morning,
the musician comes in.
And they begin
an audio sound check.
Something I'm not
But something I can be
Something I wait for
Something I'm made for
Mm
Something I'm made for
Does it sound really bad?
No.
Whoo!
My God!
And once audio is happy,
then we turn that into
a cam rehearsal.
- I wanna watch you separate.
- Okay.
Once you sound check
the two songs,
you camera block the two songs.
And then you keep
blocking sketches.
- From TaskRabbit.
- I'm here with the 800 DVDs.
And you can start
bringing them in.
I'm here with the 800 DVDs.
We don't want the DVDs!
On Friday, the host films
a pretape early in the morning
so they have time
to edit it by Saturday.
You rehearse the rest
of the show until
probably midnight or 1:00.
I'm so excited to be here
on "Sabado Gigante."
- So you're down here.
- Do not look down.
Mijo does not have depression.
Saturday, you start at noon.
Again, musicians have
to get up earlier
to make sure everything's okay.
You have to figure
out the time of, like,
well, what's the outfit
you're gonna wear?
They're gonna
have to wear some...
maybe some absurd clothes,
a crazy wig, maybe a mustache.
Can you wear it in this sketch?
What sketch has to be
before your music
so that you can get
enough time to prep?
And then the live show comes.
And it's just like,
oh, yeah, so your four minutes
has gone down to 1:25.
It's all good.
We're gonna change you here.
We're gonna change you there.
You have to run
from the music sketch,
and you're all covered in sweat,
and change to be the host
and the musical guest.
It just is the most
super-intense week.
You basically don't know
what's gonna happen
until 11:30 p.m. when
the show is about to start.
Like, things are
constantly changing.
- You have time.
- You have time.
Time?
Get ready.
Five seconds.
Four, three, two...
Bad Bunny!
And I'm very excited to be
here on "Sabado Gigante,"
oh, sorry.
Does not have depression.
He just like the dark!
- Eh.
- Oh!
Oh!
Oh!
Once again, Bad Bunny.
Mijo!
A big thing that I learned
is, like, seriously
to trust the process.
Because at the beginning of
the week, I was like, what?
Like, how are we going
from where...
how are we gonna go
from here anywhere?
And then it was, like,
truly one of the most fun days
of my life, was that Saturday.
Every part of it was so cool.
I felt like part
of a big family.
Benito!
Hey!
One thing I think is
very important is to weave
your convictions into your
vocation... whatever it is,
whether you're directing
a film or running a camera
or playing guitar
in a rock and roll band.
And for a band like Rage,
"SNL" was a perfect opportunity
to do that.
Being on "SNL" is something
that was valued.
It was a part of the DNA
of American culture
and entertainment.
So when the offer came
to be on it, we were like,
we'd be happy to.
But Rage never did things
in a normal way.
So we were thinking like,
how do we make this
into some sort of
crazy performance-art thing?
Then we heard that Steve Forbes
was going to be the host.
It has been a hectic
last few months.
As many of you may know,
I was campaigning
for the Republican nomination
for the presidency
of the United States.
He had just been
a Republican candidate
for president.
You know, he's Forbes
of "Forbes" magazine.
He's one of the richest
people in America.
And one of the driest
and most boring humans
to ever walk the face
of the Earth
was going to be hosting "SNL"
when Rage Against the Machine
was gonna be performing.
How ironic.
Let's see how that works out.
So the day of rehearsal,
we had already had
the upside-down American flags,
the Navy distress signal,
on our amplifiers.
They asked us to please remove
the flags from the amplifiers
because, one, advertisers
would be upset.
And, two, it was
with Steve Forbes,
and that might be a weird vibe.
We were like, you invited
Rage Against the Machine...
the "f*ck you, I won't do
what you tell me" band...
and then said,
don't do the thing.
Just to be clear, that's
what you're saying right now.
Great.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Steve Forbes.
So the night of the show comes,
and our roadies are primed.
We're about to rock
"Bulls on Parade,"
and our roadies put
the upside-down flags
back up onto the amplifiers.
The stage manager is
barking into his headset,
like, take those down right now.
Our roadies have been told
to, like, defend the perimeter.
There's 35 seconds
till we're live.
The stage manager
sends the "SNL" crew.
There's a quick scrum on stage.
Unfortunately, the burly
New York City union men
are able to wrestle the flags
off of the amplifiers
with seven seconds to go
before we go live.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Rage Against the Machine.
It's a rocking performance.
We go back to the dressing
room and it's tense.
Our dressing room is
right across the hall
from Steve Forbes.
Come wit' it now
Time goes by.
A representative of "SNL"
comes to the door
and says, uh, it looks like the
show's running a little long.
And we're gonna cut
your second number.
And then they leave us alone.
That was their mistake.
Come wit' it now
Come wit' it now
Timmy C doesn't like
things like that.
And he expresses himself.
And so what he did was, he took
one of the American flags,
and he tore it up
and knotted it into a ball.
You might call it a weapon.
And he entered Steve Forbes'
dressing room
across the way to attack him.
That's strange.
Nobody even knows
that we're here yet.
- I'll go get it.
- Okay.
Steve Forbes was not
in his dressing room,
but his family was.
So Timmy launches his
American flag ball rocket
at aunts, cousins,
wives, children.
They rally
'round the family
With a pocket full of shells
Fortunately, the kind
of solid integrity of it
is not so great.
So it's kind of like... it
flaps apart, hurting no one.
However, did I mention before
that Steve Forbes
had just been
a presidential candidate?
The hallway floods
with Secret Service.
Bulls on parade
We're now locked in our room.
They're protecting
Steve Forbes and his family.
And then we are escorted out
and put on the sidewalk
at 30 Rock there.
I'd like to thank Rage
Against the Machine, the cast.
You might notice Rage
is not in the farewells
on that particular show.
Thank you.
I still went to the after party.
Probably the most famous
moment of protest on "SNL"
was Sinad O'Connor.
She really was a one-woman
Rage Against the Machine.
We used to go out
walking hand in hand
You told me all the
big things you had planned
I remember it all
fairly vividly.
Tim Robbins was hosting.
He wanted to do some pieces
on GE and PCBs
in the Hudson,
which was a serious issue.
As you know, GE owns NBC.
Yes, GE owns quite a few
interesting companies.
- Uh, Tim?
- Yeah, Davey?
Would you mind coming backstage?
Lorne wants to see you.
Tim, I... I... I'm upset.
- Why?
- Because I'm attacking GE?
- Yes.
- Why?
Because GE pays
your check, Lorne?
Yes.
And so that was
the political thing
that was happening that week.
Once again, Sinad O'Connor.
I was really excited
Sinad was coming on.
She had a full orchestra
on the first song,
and then singing a cappella
on the second song.
With the camera block
on Thursday,
she saw the cameras
switching and this and that.
And she said, no.
For the second song,
I just want one camera on me...
tightening,
tightening, tightening.
Through child abuse
And I could hear on
the PL, it's like, well,
that's kind of
deadly television.
But all right, we'll do it.
Of good
And then she held up
a picture of a baby.
I actually thought, like,
should she hold up a photo?
Like, it was more that it was
not... it was not a common thing
that people add things
to their music set.
We kind of looked at it as,
like, some artistic statement
that she's making, not even
thinking it was political.
And then the air show comes.
Once again, Sinad O'Connor.
Okay.
w*r in the east
w*r in the west
w*r up north
w*r down south
There's w*r
and the rumors of w*r
Until that day
There is no continent
which will know peace
Children
Children
Fight
We find it necessary
We know we will win
We have confidence
in the victory
Of good
Over evil
Fight the real enemy.
I think I heard the director
say something like,
holy sh*t, she just ripped
up the Pope on national TV.
We were standing right where
you're... right behind you,
watching, right there.
I looked up, and everyone's,
like, mouths have dropped.
And everyone's,
like, freaking out.
Well, another controversy
for singer Sinad O'Connor,
as she strikes
a sour note with Catholics.
A steamroller smashed
200 of her albums,
cassettes, and CDs.
If you missed it,
Tim Robbins was host.
And Sinad O'Connor
didn't exactly
make friends with the Pope.
Lighten up, Sinad.
So they were blaming
Lorne and... and us.
But, you know, we explained
that she did it on her own.
And she was kind of right.
Sirens were going off
in the background
in the control room
and all that stuff.
There was a part of me
that just admired
the bravery of what she'd done,
and also the
absolute sincerity of it.
She was speaking
to her own abuse
that she had endured
in the Catholic Church,
and speaking for children
and young people
who had been molested, you
know, through the centuries.
And she paid the price for it.
That picture is of him.
And when he did
his tour of Ireland,
Ireland has the
highest incidence
in Europe of child abuse.
I experienced it myself.
And I find his presence
in Ireland
telling the young
people of Ireland
that he loved them hilarious.
Since then you have
Taken me for granted
Well, let me tell you
that you were no
Life raft to me
I remember thinking, like, whoa.
She's so strong.
Like, I could never be
as strong as someone
with that type of political view
that you would take
that kind of a stance.
I just remember being
sort of mesmerized by her.
I'll meet you later
In somebody's office
Oh, whoa, whoa
It was another
instance of the artist
with their principles and values
in a very impactful way,
throwing their lives
and their career on the line
for this statement.
There's a lot of ways music
is used in the show.
I mean, I think
that's the beauty of sketch.
It allows you to embrace
the possibilities of anything.
Doing impressions
of iconic musicians
is, like, kind of a staple.
Like, that's really become so
much of the language of "SNL."
It was something that really did
start organically,
with Belushi showing off
a few musical impressions.
Seems like I've gotta
have a change of scene
'Cause every night I have
the strangest dream
Joe c*ck was
really outrageous.
John would pick up
on something like that
and just exaggerate it.
By with a little help
from my friends
Oh, you know
I'm gonna get my friend
By with a little help
from my friends
Whoa, whoa, whoa
By with a little
help from my friends
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Belushi had a way
of overdoing everything.
Turn it up please
Yes, I'm doing all right
Yes, I'm doing all right
Don't do no wrong
Yes, I'm feeling all right
Oh, no
Yes, I'm feeling all right
Come on
Do you have any favorite "SNL"
impersonations of musicians?
Ooh.
I mean, obviously,
Eddie's Stevie is like...
that's like another level.
Listen, listen.
My cherie amour
distant as the Milky Way
Try that.
You'd see Stevie
on "Ed Sullivan,"
and you'd see Stevie on,
you know, "Midnight Special."
And he was the biggest thing
around then.
But I don't have
to study somebody
to do an impression of them.
I have it as soon as I see it.
Ebony and ivory
Live together
in perfect harmony
"Ebony and Ivory"
was a huge song.
You know, that was a big song.
So Eddie comes up with the idea,
let's do "Ebony and Ivory."
Eddie goes, I'll do Stevie.
I said, I'll play Frank Sinatra.
And we'll do our version of it.
And we fleshed it out.
Read-through,
it was a little harsh,
and I thought a little
offensive to Frank Sinatra.
Frank Sinatra is a hero
if you're
a North Jersey Italian American.
I remember as a kid we would
go to the barber shop
in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
And when you'd go in, there'd
be a picture of two people,
the Pope and Frank Sinatra.
And Frank Sinatra's picture
was above the Pope's, you know.
So I was scared
to offend Mr. Sinatra.
We're all set to record
as soon as he gets here,
Mr. Sinatra.
Good, good, good.
It was harsh,
but I wanted it to be funny,
so the pressure was on.
Excuse me, Mr. Sinatra, sir.
- He's here.
- Show him in.
Yes, sir.
And then it's the moment
and you're live.
And the cards go up.
And you've gotta hit the voice.
You gotta hit the mannerisms.
Stevie Wonder, Stevie Wonder,
you are aptly named.
Like I said many times,
you are truly a wonder.
Thanks a lot, Frank.
It was scary as anything
you could possibly imagine.
I am dark
and you are light
You are blind as a bat
and I have sight
Piscopo can sing,
and Eddie Murphy
solidified that, because
his version of Stevie
is so perfect.
It's so good.
It's not funny because
he's dressed as Stevie Wonder.
It's funny because
he's pulling off
the musicality of Stevie Wonder.
Ebony and ivory
- That's good.
- That's good, Steve.
Just living
in perfect harmony
We're talking
salt and pepper
Sammy and Dean
- Steve loved it from the...
- because nobody had done Steve.
People were just telling him,
he's going like this.
Because he couldn't see it.
But... but he loved the idea
of somebody imitating him.
I heard that Frank Sinatra
was watching it,
and he liked it.
You know, thank God
he liked it...
and that his beautiful
daughters Tina and Nancy said,
Dad, go to the studio.
Walk in on Piscopo now.
Yeah, I would have fainted.
I would have had
a coronary right there.
All right, kid, that's enough.
Out.
You are white
You are Black
And who cares
Who cares, baby?
I think the majority of the
people that work at "SNL"
respect and idolize
most of those people
that they're doing.
Hi. I'm Sean Evans.
I'm joined today
by Beyonc Knowles Carter.
I cannot believe
you're on "Hot Ones."
No, I feel you.
I still can't tell
if this is beneath me.
You wanna make sure that
the people that you're doing
are not offended, but know
that, like, you're having fun.
"Prince Show"
Everybody wants to be free
It's Prince, yo
I already loved Destiny's Child,
and then I was a fan of Beyonc.
Come and take a ride
with me
I was trying to do
the notes that she would do.
It's Prince, yo
Because the way it was written,
she would not have sung it
that way.
Climb the rainbow of truth
I was trying to convey,
I am a fan,
I am not making fun of anybody.
My musical impressions
without a doubt
started my whole career.
I love The Rolling Stones,
I love Mick Jagger.
And Lorne said, Mick is
looking to do a sketch.
I go, cool.
And I did an impression of Mick.
I go, maybe I can do a sketch
for him in the mirror
opposite Mick Jagger.
And I'm like, I'm doing
an impression and...
and Lorne goes,
please don't do that.
It's been done a zillion times.
Groucho Marx did it.
Lucille Ball has done it.
I go with a bunch of ideas.
I go, here you go.
And Lorne goes, no,
you go talk to him.
I go, oh, I don't wanna do that.
You're the producer.
You should go talk
to Mick Jagger.
I'm afraid of Mick Jagger.
He's like, just go talk to him.
So I go in. I'm nervous.
I go, hello.
We kind of
pitched each other ideas.
And we didn't really
like any of them.
I have an idea where
me and you work on the beach,
and we're selling suntan lotion.
And he's like,
no, I don't wanna do that. No.
Okay, I have another idea
where you play Keith,
and Keith cloned himself
so that he
could party with himself.
And he goes, no.
No, I don't wanna do that.
I go through, like,
five or six terrible ideas.
I go, all right.
And I'm sweating, flop sweat.
- So I didn't like the ideas.
- We weren't getting anywhere.
And then Jimmy said...
I got this other idea
where I'm you in the mirror.
And it's like, you know,
why are you doing this show?
You've done it in every decade.
And I said, that sounds great.
I go, okay.
And I left.
I go, Lorne,
good news, bad news.
Mick wants to do the sketch.
Bad news is, it's the mirror.
It's me in the mirror.
Here we are,
"Saturday Night Live" again.
I mean, what more can I do?
I mean, I did this show
in the '70s.
I did it in the '80s.
I did it in the '90s.
And now I'm doing it in...
whatever you call this decade.
I mean... I mean, think.
Think.
Come on, Mick.
Come on.
You can do this, right?
- Yeah.
- That's not the point.
I mean, I've done this.
That's the problem.
I've done it.
All right, well, what were
you planning on doing?
Well, I was gonna come out.
And I'd go like
that, and like that.
Right.
And then I was gonna do
maybe, like...
- like that.
- Yeah, pretty good.
- Right.
- Yeah, that's pretty good.
Yeah, right.
And then the thing
with the Stones,
like punching the air like that.
- Yeah, that's pretty good.
- Right.
What else?
What else have you got?
- Well, I dunno.
- Uh, pointing fingers.
We do pointing fingers.
Yeah, what's pointing fingers?
You know, like...
I'm pointing my fingers
And I'm pointing my
fingers, pointing at you
That's great.
Right, it's a little...
A little... a little stale.
- A little stale?
- Yeah.
We did the sketch, me and Mick
Jagger, and the place shook.
I remember it.
I remember it to this day.
By the way, you look great.
No, no. We look great.
Oh, yeah.
Hey, let's... let's go over
pointing fingers again, okay?
- Ah, cool.
- Okay.
And I point
My finger
I'm pointing, pointing,
pointing, pointing at you
And I don't know if it's
real or if I just thought it
in my head, but when I got off
the stage, everything was hot.
And everyone was clapping.
And the thing was
kind of vibrating.
It was one of the most
surreal moments of my life.
I'll never forget that.
And I was like, whew,
that will never happen again.
And... and it didn't.
They said I couldn't
light my joint,
you know what I'm saying?
But we ain't going
out like that.
We ain't going out.
When it's live television,
you know,
you gotta be ready for
things to go left or right.
We've got a great show,
and I totally care
that I'm here,
because it's the coolest
f*cking thing... oop!
Why don't presidents
fight the w*r
Why do they always
send the poor
Why do they always
send the poor
Why do they always
send the poor
f*ck you!
I had never seen "SNL"
until I was on it.
Here's Elvis Costello.
In the dress rehearsal,
we did a song
that was on my first album.
But I thought it sounded
a little too slow.
It was a medium tempo song,
and I didn't think
it was exciting enough.
And I realized,
this show is live.
We can do anything we want.
Calling Mister Oswald
with the swastika tattoo
There is a vacancy
waiting in the...
Stop!
I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen.
There's no reason
to do this song here.
When he stopped,
the hubbub in the studio
was like, oh, my God.
Oh, my God, what's gonna happen?
You could hear it.
- "Radio, Radio."
- Okay.
One, two, three, four.
With the Elvis thing,
I was sitting
with Dan Aykroyd on Home Base.
We were just watching.
And I went, oh, I think
maybe we're being hijacked.
I was tuning in the shine
on the light night dial
Doing anything
my radio advised
With every one of those
late night stations
Playing songs,
bringing tears to my eyes
All of this stuff, it builds
up in legend in the retelling.
But I didn't
come out there to give
a political lecture, you know.
I came out to kind of
shake it up.
So you had better
do as you are told
You'd better
listen to the radio
Wonderful radio
As we finished the song, the
initial reaction in the moment
was, I think we'd
better get out of here.
Somewhere in it,
somebody said in anger,
you'll never work on
American television again.
But the idea I was banned
from television is nonsense.
- He's back.
- Elvis Costello.
Veronica
Veronica
Ladies and gentlemen,
Elvis Costello.
To the burning forests
in the hills of AstroTurf
The other side of summer
Ladies and gentlemen,
Beastie Boys.
I can't stand it...
I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen,
but there's just
really no reason
to do this song here tonight.
One two, three, four!
I was tuning in the shine
of the light night dial
Doing anything
my radio advised
I'll read it
occasionally in the "Post,"
so-and-so is banned for life.
And no, we've never
banned anyone.
We're way too crass
and opportunistic.
If something's hot, we're gonna
go for it and have it on.
We are rare.
Taking nothing away
from all the other shows,
they have the opportunity
to fix something.
We don't.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Ashlee Simpson.
I had heard rumblings that
Ashlee had a sore throat
or wasn't feeling well.
But it seemed okay.
At dress rehearsal, she had
problems with her voice.
And it was decreed
that she will lip sync
for the second song
just to save her voice.
And then somehow,
between dress and air,
it was decreed that she
will lip sync both songs.
I mean, I can hear myself
being fired by saying... anyway.
On a Monday I am waiting
On Tuesday
The first song went fine.
And then the second
song happened.
Once again, Ashlee Simpson.
And the two guitarists
and the bass all launch
into song two,
and the drummer
has cued up song one.
And I heard the director say
something like, holy sh*t!
Uh-oh.
On a Monday
- Oh, sh*t.
- Ooh.
Fuh... wrong song, wrong song.
This is bad.
They should play it. Play it.
And it was just like,
you know, those old movies
of two locomotives hitting
each other full bore.
What are we doing?
I don't know.
She should sing.
People were people running
in and out of the studio,
and it just seemed like the
show came to a screeching halt.
I was in my basement,
13 years old,
sexually confused
because Jude Law was the host.
And it's on three.
In the moment
of it happening, like,
you weren't really sure
what was going on.
She's walking off the stage.
What am I doing?
Am I going to bumper?
Am I going to bumper?
- Should I go to bumper?
- Stand by.
It's one of those things
where it can either go
one way if all goes well,
or be the complete opposite
if it doesn't.
If you were watching
"Saturday Night Live"
last weekend on Halloween
night, you may have
noticed that not all of the
show stayed on the air live.
A punk band called Fear,
booked as the show's
musical guests,
brought on a contingent
of their fans
near the end of the program.
Joining us now is d*ck Ebersol,
who is the executive producer
of "Saturday Night Live."
Do you plan to cut away from
the live show and go to...
- No. No, no.
- Some sort of piece of tape?
One, two, three, four!
I'm from South Street
Philadelphia
I'm from Avenue C
I've seen empty eyes
Waiting to freeze
I'm from the Bowery too
I don't care about you
John Belushi found out about us.
He liked our music.
He became a fan of ours.
Good Lord, here we are,
this riff-raff ragtag bunch.
We don't have distribution.
We had a record deal
with "Slash" magazine.
Pretty much, that was it.
Through Belushi,
Fear was booked,
with the understanding,
I think, that Belushi
was gonna make a cameo.
And that was a chance for,
like, this really kind of
hardcore punk to be
on nationwide television
in a way that most people
hadn't seen before.
It was kind of a dangerous move.
We thought it was crazy
sh*t that John Belushi
was making them put on TV.
He wasn't even a cast member
anymore in 1981.
But what a soldier for punk
that he was like,
I'm gonna get this band on TV.
So I remember having to talk
to Lee Ving, the lead singer,
about his lyrics.
She just wants
my beef bologna
She just likes my beef bologna.
- Beef, beef, beef...
- beef bologna
- Beef, beef, beef...
- beef bologna.
She don't want no chicken,
don't want a roast
She just wants
my double dose
Of beef, beef, beef
- Beef bologna!
- Beef bologna.
It was one of
the great phone calls.
And then I heard
that Belushi was
gonna bring in
a crew from Washington
to dance around the stage.
You see, I've got
a bad reputation around NBC
as a troublemaker.
But although I could easily
do it, I would never, never...
oh, what's the word
I'm looking for...
betray the network's
trust in me.
John felt that in order
to allow it to look
the way that it looks genuinely,
there had to be this contingent.
I think it's the only time
up to that point in the show
that there had been
participatory dancing
during the musical act,
which I don't think I'd
really figured out in my head
what slam-dancing was,
so talk about naive.
They really didn't have
a complete idea of what
it was gonna be, and they
especially didn't have
a very in-depth idea
of what the situation
was gonna be between this
first 12 rows and the band.
They're really nice people,
you know.
They... they are... hmm.
They look very frightening,
but they're really very nice.
Our Halloween night guest...
and by the way, tonight,
look out for surprises.
Ladies and gentlemen, Fear.
My baby
Talkin' 'bout
a low-down skag-a-doo
Yeah
We come on to play
our first sequence,
and Mr. and Mrs.
Normal America,
who usually go see
"Saturday Night Live,"
they're sort of looking
askance at the punk rockers,
wondering what the hell this is.
And I picked my guitar up.
We count them off.
One-two-three-four,
one-two-three-four!
One-two-three-four,
one-two-three-four!
Don't like cash,
she don't like phonies
She don't like junkies,
she don't like
Beef, beef, beef,
beef bologna
Beef, beef, beef,
beef bologna
Beef, beef, beef,
beef bologna
Kids are just tossing
each other through the air,
like there's gonna be
no tomorrow.
Don't like salami,
she don't want pastrami
She don't want no chicken,
she don't want no roast
She just wants
a double dose of my
Beef, beef, beef,
beef bologna
Beef, beef, beef
Mr. and Mrs. Tourist
America are back,
and they're looking at this.
By God, what is this?
Oh, Jesus. We're gonna die.
New York's all right
if you like saxophone
John just looks
at us and goes...
I wish the tape would show it,
because John was part of it,
God rest his soul.
One-two-three-four,
one-two-three-four!
Many of us,
there's so many of us
There's so many,
there's so many of us
At the end
of the Fear performance,
I jump up on the stage.
And I'm in the back,
like, when it gets...
I act like I'm with the group.
I was just playing.
Good or bad, those kind
of moments are great.
And I think that's what's great
about "Saturday Night Live."
I mean, we're still talking
about that moment right now.
There's been a thousand
bands on other TV shows
that we're not talking about.
So that meant something
to a lot of people.
But there wasn't a riot.
I mean, they didn't
destroy equipment.
I mean, that was a good story.
But, in other words,
they were totally nice people
and acted totally
professionally.
I don't care about you
No
I don't care about you
It was a hallmark
for punk rock music.
It didn't have to be in some
armpit basement somewhere.
It could now be
on a legitimate stage.
And it was John's doing.
John was the best thing
that ever happened to us.
I love him like a brother,
and I always will.
Well he died while we just
stood there looking at him
May he rest in peace.
I love you, John.
Thank you, brother.
Oh-wee
I don't care about you
Kanye.
That's all I should have
to say, is just Kanye, right?
And we're done
with that interview.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Kanye West.
I gotta testify
Come up in the spot
looking extra fly
- The artist always performed...
- no matter who you were,
whether you were Bruce
Springsteen or U2 or Madonna...
you always played in front of
the brick wall, until Kanye.
There never needs to be
a rule that applies.
And "Saturday Night Live,"
which has broken a lot of rules,
was now allowing artists
to break one more.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Kanye West.
I guess every superhero
need his theme music
No one man should
have all that power
It was kind of like
a gauntlet had been thrown,
where it's like, that's
the best "SNL" performance.
And it was that thing
of certain artists
coming in
and wanting to compete.
Kanye West was
the leader of that.
Whenever somebody would
submit their creative
and we'd be like,
no, we can't do that.
And they'd be like,
well, Kanye did.
He was always
kind of like, nice,
but then also really
contentious, you know?
He had no problem telling us
that he found the show
incredibly unfunny.
He would tell us that
on the regular.
Hell no, I ain't doing
no m*therf*cking "SNL" skits.
This is my g*dd*mn life.
This ain't no
m*therf*cking joke.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Kanye West.
Hey, I need every
bad chick up in equinox
Have a good show, guys.
Five, four, three...
Okay, here we go, folks.
Two, one.
We got a great show!
Kanye West is here,
so stick around.
We'll be right back.
Ready three, take three.
- Five.
- Stand by music.
- Ready three, five.
- Ready, four.
- Drop the mic.
- He's walking out.
- What? No.
- Let him go.
Let him go. Let him go.
Let him go.
And Kanye's leaving the
building, and they had to...
Lorne had to chase him down
and go, don't go.
Come on, just come
sing the song.
We talked.
And we just went over
what had happened.
I said, didn't you tell
everybody that you're on
and that they'll
be hearing this stuff?
So we'll be here regardless,
and we'll figure it out.
But this is more damaging to you
than it is to us,
so I think you should do it.
We on a ultralight beam
This is a God dream
This is a God dream
Oh, yeah, that is
a MAGA hat, huh?
Kenan, can you
come in a little bit?
You didn't notice that till now?
- I'm just now noticing.
- I'm putting it all together.
- Yeah.
- He's serious.
- Here we go.
- Five, four, three, two.
Hi, I'm Adam Driver,
and I'm hosting
the season premiere of "SNL"
with musical guest, Kanye West.
Uh-oh.
- Kanye got that look.
- Oh, no.
What are you up to, Kanye?
Oh, he's definitely
gonna do something.
He's saving it for the show.
Yeah, probably.
Mm!
This is the thing about
"Saturday Night Live"...
it's really live.
You could go rogue,
and some people do.
I was super-excited to hear that
they were gonna transform
"Good Nights" into...
into a Kanye song.
"SNL" band played it at dress
with Kanye, k*lled it.
Everybody was happy.
It was like... it was amazing.
First episode
I moved to New York
exactly eight days
prior for this job.
I just remember at air
it was like, okay,
it's gonna be
my first "Good Nights."
And this...
Thanks to Matt Damon,
Rachel Dratch,
Teyana Taylor,
Lil Pump, this cast,
these writers, Lorne Michaels.
Once again, Kanye West.
And then when we got on stage,
he went kind of off-book.
Still the kids
we used to be
Hey, y'all come up here with us.
Y'all come up here with us.
Y'all come up here.
I could cry right now
Something inside me
right now
And the liberals
bully you and tell you
What you can and cannot wear
Actually, Blacks weren't
always Democrats.
We can't be controlled
by monolithic thought.
If someone inspires me
and I connect with them,
I don't have to believe
in all their policies.
And when I said
I'm running 2020,
all my smart friends talked
so much sh*t about me.
And when I saw that man win,
I say, see?
I told you.
I could have been.
I was like, I don't wanna
be up here for this,
because I don't agree with this.
And standing up here,
it looks like
I'm standing in solidarity.
So I was like,
don't make any faces.
Neutral face, neutral face.
Everyone's gotta know
I'm just fulfilling
my duties as a cast member.
It's like your
first day at school.
And you're like,
I don't wanna get in trouble.
Y'all told me to come up here.
I'm up here.
Then I remember
looking around the stage.
Something made me be like, oh,
are there other Black people
up here up in the cast?
And I look.
And no, I was the only one.
And I thought,
they had a meeting.
And so then I'm like,
these m*therf*ckers.
When he grabbed the mic
and was just like, you know,
wandering around,
you could see he was, like,
gearing up to say something,
I was like, I'm out.
It would have been cool if he
just had did the music thing.
And, you know, I don't know,
just spoke through the hat,
I guess, because
the hat was loud.
And then they say,
I'm in a sunken place.
You wanna see the sunken place?
Okay, I'ma listen to y'all now.
When it was happening,
we kind of went
like, okay, this is Kanye.
But it went on and on and on.
And at one point, it was
just me playing, and Kanye.
If I was concerned about racism,
I would have moved out
of America a long time ago.
I guess my musical instinct
just said, keep playing.
Just keep playing.
And I think only a snippet
of that actually made it
to air before they
went off to the news,
or whatever the heck else.
Thank y'all
for giving me this platform.
I know some of y'all
don't agree.
This is a non-censoring show.
It's one of the last places
you do what you wanna do,
whether you're Woody Harrelson
or Chappelle or Ramy.
You know, as long as they don't
swear, break the FCC rules...
because people do forget
we're broadcast.
They think we're HBO
where you can say swear words
and stuff like that.
And it's like,
as long as you don't do that,
I had just officially
moved to New York
right before September 11th.
It was just overwhelming.
No one knew what to do,
didn't know where to turn
or what to think or how to
be funny and all or laugh.
I knew that Lorne
was going to handle that
in the most thoughtful way,
and in a way that felt right
for the show
and for people that needed to
watch the show in order to feel
like someone was
talking about it,
and also talking about New York.
I gave it a lot of thought.
The mayor, he agreed to come.
And he brought
the fire chief and the head
of the Port Authority.
And they all came to the studio.
There's something
about "The Boxer"
that's about the resilience
of New York City.
I am just a poor boy
Though my story
is seldom told
I squandered my resistance
for a pocket full of mumbles
Such are promises
The thing I remember most was
walking from the dressing room,
past a long line of firemen.
I mean, the sadness,
that they'd lost colleagues.
Of all the times I did the show,
that might have been the only
time I was ever nervous.
And then, of course,
there's the famous joke
that he wrote with Giuliani.
When we rehearsed,
I knew we needed a joke.
"Saturday Night Live" is one
of our great New York City
institutions, and that's
why it's important for you
to do your show tonight.
Can we be funny?
Why start now?
It really was, like, the
perfect way to get back in it.
And it just... kind of like
that spirit of, like,
it's New York.
This is what we do.
This is a show.
And we're gonna do this
and we're gonna survive.
Lorne really works well
when he's given a problem
and he has to solve it,
and he's put in the corner.
Like, he'll figure it out.
- Hello.
- Whoo!
- Yes.
- Yeah.
Let's go.
And live from Zoom,
it's sometime
between March and August.
Yeah!
It's "Saturday Night Live."
Um, as you might have noticed,
this is a little scary.
There was never any point
in which I wasn't coming back.
I just knew that if
we worked at it somehow,
we'd be able to figure it out.
On some level, it was
comforting to get the call
from Lorne that
we were going back.
And then it was completely
confusing and confounding
of how we were gonna do it.
Morgan Wallen was maybe gonna
be a risky person to have
in the building
because of the way
COVID regulations
were back then.
It wasn't the best idea
to, like, go to
a college party and, um,
suck face with people.
And it became this big story.
Rising country star
Morgan Wallen
was seen on social media
partying without a mask.
He actually was canceled
from the show.
Have you booked
another musical guest?
Yeah, I, uh...
You have 48 hours till the show.
We're in the... we're
still in the middle of it.
Calling somebody on a Thursday
to be here for Friday,
you know, is complicated.
Yeah.
It has to be people
who are ready to go.
When Lorne called on Wednesday,
I had to call my band
and fly them in.
And we didn't rehearse
till Thursday.
And then we had to fly to
New York, I think, that night.
People were kind
of wondering, well,
what song are you gonna do?
What does Lorne want us to do?
And it was such a blessing
for Lorne to just say,
he can do whatever he wants.
But yeah, I don't
think a lot of people
would have enjoyed the tension
of having two days to prepare
to play on live television.
I had a couple ideas
of things to do.
One of them was to reference
the pandemic in some way.
And I found this old
blues song to reference
the 1918 flu pandemic.
Great disease was mighty
And the people were sick
everywhere
It was an epidemic
It floated through the air
- All right, you guys good?
- Yeah.
- Okay, cool.
- Let's do it.
Here we go.
In five, four, three, two, one.
The entire week was wild,
because a month before
I had done a fast
of, like, five days.
And I noticed something
happened on the third day.
I had this immense
amount of energy.
You actually get
filled with energy
because your body is trying to
get you out and get you fed.
So on Wednesday,
when I got the call,
I decided to fast
all the way until I performed
on "Saturday Night Live."
By the time we got
to the 8:00 rehearsal,
my manager was like,
you're gonna pass out
on stage on live television.
Coming back in ten.
And I was on fire.
I was ready to, like,
tackle a footballteam
before we went out.
It was exactly what
I hoped was gonna happen.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Jack White.
The great disease
was mighty
And people were
sick everywhere
The great disease was mighty
And people were
sick everywhere
Yeah, it was an epidemic
And it traveled
through the air
It felt good to talk
about that and compare this
to something that had
happened 100 years ago.
It's just so similar,
and we were
going through it once again.
Let's have a ball
Take our sweet
little time about it
Everybody in the place
can just get out
We'll get clean together
And I'll find me a soapbox
where I can shout it
It's gonna sound like this
I felt kind of that
responsibility of,
I haven't seen anything on TV
during this whole COVID thing
that I saw and said, man,
that makes me miss live music.
Whatever I do, I don't even care
what the song is, I'm going to
try to emote that to people.
Like, this is what
we're missing right now.
Whatever band or whatever
kind of music you like,
this is what I'm hoping that
can give you that energy.
And it felt so good.
The legacy is unspeakable.
I really can't think
of another thing
that's as powerful
and inspirational and huge
as "SNL" is.
I think there was something
spiritually important
about Studio 8H because
it was built for music.
It was built for
the NBC Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
And it is situated and built
like a symphony space.
I just think it's
all of the people
that you've ever looked up to
have performed on that stage.
It's just such a magical place.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Philip Glass
and the Philip Glass Ensemble.
"SNL" has served
as a time capsule
through the decades for America.
From introducing new artists
to one-hit wonders
to making careers.
I mean, if you think about it,
what you've got
is something which
wouldn't have existed
if it hadn't been
for "Saturday Night Live."
You've got this huge, broad,
popular music library
of performances
from this period.
You know, when the
music changes, it changes.
And you can say,
that's not really music.
But if it's the music,
it's the music.
And the show has to look
and sound like today.
You should be able
to look at a rerun
and tell what was going on
in the country.
I think "SNL" has been
that enduring thing.
So many musicians' careers can
be distilled down to, like,
the first times
they were on "SNL."
It's really just fertile
ground for an artist
to really express themselves.
It's so important.
It's just as important right
now to perform on "SNL"
as it was 50 years ago,
20 years ago.
If I stood on the floor at
8H tonight and watched them
do a show at my age, after
everything I've seen and done,
I would feel
just as much excitement.
How can I overcome
negative energy
While I give infinity
and survive
It is impossible to describe,
and I get chills even talking
about it right now.
Ladies and gentlemen,
you are so lucky tonight.
Charlie XCX.
- Tame Impala.
- Lil Wayne.
Justin Bieber.
- Rihanna.
- Arctic Monkeys.
- Oasis.
- Lauryn Hill.
- Garth Brooks.
- Metallica.
Spice Girls.
Salt-N-Pepa.
Bon Jovi.
The Smashing Pumpkins.
- Public Enemy.
- Public Enemy.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
- Aretha Franklin.
- Bob Dylan.
- Billy Joel.
- Elton John.
Willie Nelson.
- LL Cool J.
- Tom Waits.
Anybody who's ever
been to a live concert
can attest that when you're
getting something closer
to the source, the more powerful
an emotional impact it's
going to have on you.
All
That you turned out to
Be
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Mm-hmm
I think it's
important for people
to see live music on television.
Hey, Jude
Don't make it bad
Take a sad song
And make it better
When you see a human being
on a stage
actually doing the thing,
it can be inspiring,
because it seems accessible
in a way.
Like, you watch that
guitar player and you think,
okay, he's just holding
a piece of wood with wires.
I'm gonna go get
one of those things
and learn how to do it
like that guy.
Upon your shoulder
I think it inspires
a younger generation of people
to go out and f*cking
try to do it.
Nah nah-nah
Nah-nah nah-nah
Nah-nah nah-nah
Hey, Jude
Oh, you sound
so sweet tonight
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Nah-nah nah-nah
Nah-nah nah-nah
Hey, Jude
One more time
Yeah, baby
Yeah, baby
Come on
- Nah-nah nah-nah
- Come one
I can't stop it now
I just can't stop it
Nah nah-nah
Nah-nah nah-nah
Nah-nah nah-nah
- Hey, Jude
- It's so good today
I love you
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Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music (2025)
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