Questlove says upcoming ‘SNL’ special is ‘love letter’ to show’s 50 years of musical performances

NBC’s celebration of “Saturday Night Live’s” 50-year history will continues this week with a new 3-hour documentary titled “Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music.”

NBC’s celebration of “Saturday Night Live’s” 50-year history will continues this week with a new 3-hour documentary titled “Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music.” Nearly 1,000 artists have performed on the Studio 8H stage since “SNL” debuted on October 11, 1975, according to the show, with the first being funk and soul musician Billy Preston. “I remember when we come on the air, we’re following Watergate, the last helicopter out of Vietnam, the city is broke, the church is being questioned and so everything seemed to be, if not crumbling, at least open to question,” the show’s creator Lorne Michael said in a trailer for the doc, speaking of the series’ debut. At that moment in time, Michaels added, “we just came on and did a show that we would want to see and music was a big part of that.” According to an official synopsis, “Ladies & Gentleman” will look back at the hundreds of performers who’ve taken the stage at “SNL” and will reveal “untold stories behind the culture-defining, groundbreaking, and news-making musical performances, sketches, and cameos of the past 50 years.” “Ladies & Gentlemen” was co-produced by Oz Rodriguez and Roots drummer and Oscar-winning filmmaker Questlove, who wrote in an Instagram post over the weekend that “every second of this doc is a love letter of sorts.”