Questlovecan still remember seeing Billy Preston perform on the firstSaturday Night Liveon Oct. 11, 1975.
And so, waiting forSoul Trainto come on, I would watch the music act onSNLperform.
And thats how I got drawn into the system.
Of his thorough preparation, Questlove jokes, “I’m not in my phone-it-in era yet.“Christian Germoso/NBC
Thompson was fresh off a Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance forSummer of Souland instantly said yes.
I watched every day without fail, he says.
Three to seven episodes every day.
Half ofSNLs existence, musics involved …
I had to beg for an additional hour [of programming].
This was my number one.
We know the benefit of this moment even if its controversial.
For Thompson and others, it burnished the lore of Costello as a difficult artist.
Having worked with Elvis Costello, we talked about all the taboos of Elvis Costello.
And I was like, Well, youre kind of the poster boy for the troubled artist.
He didnt have to do that.
He couldve just been like, Guys.
I hate this song.
1, 2, 3.
That one moment defines the legend.
It served him well.
Hes just like, Nah, I didnt like the song, so I changed it.
In 1994, the Roots were exiled to the U.K. We would do three to four weeks in every territory.
We became friends and hung out anytime that we went to Ireland.
This is three or four years after herSNLordeal, which affected her greatly.
She was quietly hiding out, and every once in a while, coming up from out the shadows.
That was such a vindicating moment for her.
(Simpson blamed vocal-cord nodules that prevented her from singing live.)
I got something better, although it wasnt the story that I thought I was going to get.
I wanted to reach out to anyone thats ever caught bullets for a performance.
And so instantly I reached out to both Lana Del Rey and to Ashlee Simpson.
Both, understandably, not knowing what kind of storyteller I am, declined, and I get it.
This is something I want to put behind me.
I dont want to be known as the person that messed up onSNL.
And you gotta hear the control rooms response when that was happening.
How prepared isSNLwhen thats happening?
And to hear the control room freak out to hear them scream What do we do?!
Im sending Wolf over.
Its the best choreography ever to sit and watch them figure out stuff in real time.
And at the time of filming, thats when Kanye Loose-Cannon-Gate was at its highest.
you might make musical visual statements.
you’ve got the option to almost damn near do a video to your song performance.
And I was struggling to find someone thats willing to get on record and talk about it.
Ego Nwodim was the gift that kept on giving, because thats her first day of school.
[Kanyes MAGA appearance was Nwodims first show after joining the cast for the 2018 season.]
