Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music is a 2025 American documentary film, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Oz Rodriguez. The film focuses on the late-night sketch show Saturday Night Live and its half-century of musical performances. The film premiered on NBC on January 27, 2025, and began streaming on Peacock the next day, as part of the lead up to the show's 50th anniversary special.[1][2]
The documentary examines the late-night sketch program Saturday Night Live and its musical guests across its 50-year run. Dozens of cast and crew members are interviewed as well as musical guests and the show's house band. The film examines the show's relationship to the New York music scene, as well as changing and evolving popular styles. It dives deep into its musical history in its sketches, with segments on impressions, Adam Sandler, the origin of the Blues Brothers[3] and The Lonely Island's rise to prominence.[4]
The film also explores key musical performances and moments throughout the show's half-century run, including:
Kanye West's history on the show, both his impact on guests' visual capabilities[14] and many controversies, including a 2018 MAGA rant[15]
Production
Thompson was first approached about making the documentary in 2021, following the release of his first film, Summer of Soul.[16] An SNL obsessive, Thompson had long been a fan of the show since his childhood, viewing it as a paradigm-shifting program like Soul Train.[17] When he became a member of the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2009, he began working just two floors down from the show's studio. "When I first got to 30 Rock in 2009, I purposely waited six months to figure out how I was going to infiltrate the SNL ecosystem," he joked. "Who am I going to be friends with so I can see how it works?" Directing the feature required that Thompson view every episode of SNL—900 by the time of its creation—which was a daunting task.[18] To prepare, he watched between three and seven episodes daily.[14]
Reception
Jem Aswad of Variety extolled the film as "definitive," writing that "Even though the doc is three hours long and loaded with interviews [...] it never falls into hubristic self-congratulation."[19] Late-night commentator Bill Carter, author of The Late Shift, called it "fascinating and engrossing."[4] Jen Chaney from Vulture viewed it as "throroughtly spectacular," commenting, "the documentary offers a comprehensive, dynamic, and genuinely exciting tour through five decades of rock, hip-hop, punk, and other genres as manifested within the walls of 30 Rock."[20] Many critics heaped praise on Questlove's "mega mix" cold open.[20][21][22][23]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.