‘Saturday Night Live’ players pick their most memorable music performances
A lot of people think that Saturday Night Live is a comedy show, and they’re right… to an extent. However, there is a lot more to it than that. It is an American institution that marks cultural milestones throughout the country and, importantly, acts as a stage for some of the biggest musical stars in the world.
The Roots drummer Questlove has recently put together a documentary that examines some of the most significant musical moments from the show’s last 50 years. It documents some of the unbelievable guests that have taken to the stage, both the good and the bad, showcasing some of the huge moments that have occurred due to the musical memories on SNL.
“I was there from the very, very beginning,” said Questlove when discussing putting together the documentary, “[There] was nothing like it. I know that’s the cliché that you’re going to hear a lot about this 50th anniversary, but there was truly nothing like it on television.”
One of the hardest jobs in television is being an SNL cast member. The hours throughout the week are relentless; there is a huge amount of pressure on them to do a live show every week, and they have to write new material for different guests every week. However, when you listen to previous cast members talk about working on the show, they have great stories about the people they met and the experiences they had with them.
One of the main highlights for people working on the show is rubbing shoulders with bands and artists they previously admired. They get to rehearse alongside their heroes and help them perform some of the most exciting sets of their careers on stage.
On a recent panel on the Howard Stern Show, some of the biggest players in a previous series of SNL traded stories about who their favourite performers on the show have been. Most of the time, these performers did something that extended beyond their duties as musicians. Rather than just playing music on stage, they have done something which elevated their performance and made it a hall-of-fame moment.
For instance, Ana Gasteyer recalls when she saw U2 perform on the show and Bono went into the crowd, which the cameras were not ready for. She was already a fan of the band, but that moment cemented how good they were, not just at making music but delivering memorable performances. “Bono crowd surfed during U2,” she said, “No one was ready for it, like, it wasn’t locked for camera I don’t think. It was pretty unbelievable.”
Bobby Moynihan, the SNL veteran, also had a stand-out moment when he was working on the show. “Tina and Amy hosted the Christmas episode, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney sang ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ and brought the whole cast on stage during it,” he said.
Finally, Jon Lovitz recalled a brief moment of improvisation from Eric Clapton which has cemented itself as a perfect memory. “One time Eric Clapton was on stage at the end,” he recalled, “And then the show ended, and I go ‘Encore!’ And then he played for like another 15 minutes.”
