Saturday Night Live is going big in celebration of its 50th anniversary, and part of that effort was announced last month, when it was revealed Questlove and Oz Rodriguez co-directed a new documentary, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years Of SNL Music. For the making of the film, Questlove went ahead and just watched all 900-plus episodes of the show since its debut in 1975.
He talked about it with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show yesterday (January 22), explaining:
Lorne [Michaels] put this in my lap, maybe April of 2021, like, a year before the Oscars. So, pretty much, I had about two-and-a-half years to watch all 900-plus episodes of SNL. Initially, in the beginning, I think I was just going to compile maybe the 50 best performances on the show, but around ’87, I realized there were way more iconic comedic moments musically on the show, like surpassing just the legendary performances.
He went on to explain with a few Fallon examples, saying, “Like, even for you, I would say your top three are all music-related. First, you know, the Mick Jagger bit. And then cowbell, of course. And then I would even say with Debbie Downer, like, the trombone. That is music. But music plays a major part on that show. And most of the iconic sketches that people remember, be it King Tut or, you know, anything Eddie Murphy’s done, the Lonely Island stuff: it’s all music-related.
Check out the full interview above.