711bet Questlove on Parsing 50 Years of Music for His ‘S.N.L.’ Documentary

When “Summer of Soul” debuted in 2021711bet, the director Ahmir Thompson, better known as Questlove, was inundated with offers — and that was before the film won the Oscar for best documentary.

Among those who approached him was the creator of “Saturday Night Live,” Lorne Michaels, with the idea of a film dedicated to the history of music on the show — part of its 50th anniversary celebration this year.

The job would include digging through more than 900 episodes to assemble a single film — a potentially daunting prospect. Thompson’s response, he said in a recent video interview, was “an instant yes.”

“They’re actually paying us to watch ‘Saturday Night Live’ and decide what’s cool?,” he said. “It seemed like the best version of fantasy football.”

Among national universities, Princeton was ranked No. 1 again, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. Stanford, which tied for third last year,fhm63 casino fell to No. 4. U.S. News again judged Williams College the best among national liberal arts colleges. Spelman College was declared the country’s top historically Black institution.

But the resulting film, “Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of ‘S.N.L.’ Music,” which premieres on Jan. 27 on NBC, is more than a greatest-hits clip show. Of course, the memorable moments are represented, including the groundbreaking performances (Funky 4 + 1, Nirvana); the controversies (Sinead O’Connor tearing up a photo of the pope, Ashlee Simpson being caught lip-syncing); and the chaos (Kanye West storming off the set mid-broadcast, the punk band Fear inciting audience mayhem).

But Thompson — who is perhaps best known as the drummer for the pioneering hip-hop group the Roots — and his co-director, Oz Rodriguez, also created narrative pieces looking into the ways in which music has always been a central part of the comedy and culture of “S.N.L.”

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