Questlove to Direct New Documentary on Saturday Night Live Musical Guests

Questlove is set to direct a new documentary about the history of Saturday Night Live’s musical guests, Deadline and Variety report. To coincide with SNL’s five decades on the air, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music will “feature untold stories behind the culture-defining, groundbreaking, and newsmaking musical performances, sketches, and cameos of the past 50 years.” The film will include interviews with over 50 artists, including Bad Bunny, Elvis Costello, Billie Eilish, Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, and Jack White. The documentary, co-directed by Oz Rodriguez, will air on January 27 on NBC.

Saturday Night Live’s 50th season has featured performances from Eilish, Gracie Abrams, Shaboozey, Mk.gee, Chappell Roan, Stevie Nicks, Coldplay, and Jelly Roll. Charli XCX also stopped by studio 8H to host and perform last month. This weekend, SNL’s last episode before breaking for the holidays will be hosted by Martin Short and feature Hozier as musical guest.

Questlove previously flexed his directorial muscles with Summer of Soul, his documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which won Best Music Film and Best Documentary at the 2022 Grammy Awards. It also won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Earlier this year, the Roots drummer released Hip-Hop Is History, a new book about “the creative and cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop.”