Latest news with #Ladies&Gentlemen...50Yearsof
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Roy Wood Jr. Mocks White House, CNN and Patti LuPone in Peabody Awards Monologue
After announcing its full list of winners last month, the Peabody Awards celebrated those honorees in person Sunday night with a ceremony hosted by Roy Wood Jr. in Los Angeles. The comedian kicked things off inside the Beverly Wilshire by joking, 'Last year's host was Kumail Nanjiani, so that is back-to-back years with a minority host. The Peabodys standing up for diversity, how about that? Which means in a few months, the White House will cut their funding and so they'll have John Mulaney, that's on y'all.' More from The Hollywood Reporter How Reginald Hudlin and Shola Lynch Put Together the Greatest Call Sheet Ever Are Music and Other Celebrity Films Killing the Documentary? Questlove Reveals the Standout Musical Performance He Omitted From 'Ladies & Gentlemen ... 50 Years of SNL Music' - And Why The event honored 34 winners across entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children'sand youth, public service, and interactive and immersive programming, with a focus on storytelling that reflects the social issues and emerging voices of today. Baby Reindeer, Ripley, Shogun and Will & Harper were among the recognized Hollywood projects. 'We're celebrating the fact that everyone in this room has done one of the boldest things you can do in these times, and that is just straight up tell the truth,' Wood told the crowd, acknowledging the stress of having to know all of the horrible things going on in the world to tell the truth. 'It's hard to create stuff about terrible things without knowing all of the terrible things. It's hard — that's why I quit The Daily Show, it was too much stress.' He then deadpanned, 'I work at CNN now [with comedy show Have I Got News for You], I ain't got to do nothing but plug Jake Tapper's book.' Elsewhere in his monologue, Wood told the winners — who knew they'd be winning ahead of time — to be short and sweet, joking, 'We want your acceptance speeches tonight to be brief and full of sincerities that you don't really mean, like an apology from Patti LuPone.' (The Broadway star apologized Saturday for previous comments she had made about Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald.) 'We're celebrating the storytellers who risk, who did, who investigate, who create and illuminate,' the comedian declared before launching into the categories, which featured a star-studded roster of presenters including Aloe Blacc, Anna Kendrick, Andrew Lack, Benito Skinner, Indya Moore, Joel KimBooster, Jurnee Smollett, Linda Perry, Mandy Moore, Marissa Bode, Michael Schur, Nava Mau, Niecy Nash, Randall Park, Stephen Merchant, Uzo Aduba, Van Jones and Yvonne Orji. The night also featured two special honors, the first being the Peabody Institutional Award, given to Saturday Night Live. Jon Hamm presented, musing the 'secret sauce of the show has always been 'holding up a mirror and reflecting America's culture to us — politics, contradictions, all of it, right back at you. Yes, SNL is wigs and cue cards and gigs and gags and all of this stuff, but it's always something that dares to confront who we really are.' Lorne Michaels was on hand to accept, accompanied on stage by alums Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon and Fred Armisen. 'I don't really deserve this, but in a way I do,' Michaels teased, noting, 'During SNL 50 this year, which is stunning to even say, all of those people coming back from the first season on, all being in one room, performing and applauding, I think was one of the most moving experiences of my life. I'm not planning a 60th, but I think that getting to do what I get to do is sort of everything that makes me happy; it also makes me angry.' To close out the night, Andrea Mitchell was given the Career Achievement Award, as she reflected on her early days in news and how far women have come in the business. She added, 'All of us journalists have to be fearless. It is no exaggeration to say that strong journalism, providing accurate information to the American people, is critical to the survival of our democracy. As Thomas Jefferson wrote to the continental Congress in 1787, 'Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.'' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
USA Today
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'SNL' music documentary spills thrills and tea with Prince, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley and more
'SNL' music documentary spills thrills and tea with Prince, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley and more Show Caption Hide Caption 'Saturday Night Live' celebrates 50 years of comedy Live from New York, it's the 50th anniversary of "Saturday Night Live." Six and a half minutes. That's all it will take to entice you to watch NBC's three-hour documentary 'Ladies & Gentlemen ... 50 Years of SNL Music" (Monday, 8 EST/PST, and streaming Tuesday on Peacock). Yes, the deep dive into the genre-hopping performances from Billy Preston, the late-night sketch comedy show's first musical guest in 1975, to current pop sensations including Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo, is a romp. But the brilliantly edited opening montage featuring an encyclopedia of music stars performing on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" is jaw-dropping in its execution. A clip of Run-D.M.C. singing 'Walk This Way,' segueing to Cher singing 'And you walked away when I needed you most' from 'I Found Someone.' *NSYNC 'Bye Bye Bye'-ing across the stage melding on the beat to Destiny's Child's 'Survivor.' The slashing guitar of U2's 'Vertigo' meshing flawlessly with Eilish bopping through 'Bad Guy.' It's an electrifying collage and a fitting opening to the three-hour documentary, part of "Saturday Night Live"'s 50th anniversary celebration. How Questlove steered the 'SNL' music documentary The architect behind 'Ladies & Gentlemen' is Roots drummer and music aficionado Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson, who co-directed the special with Oz Rodriguez, an "SNL" producer from seasons 38 to 44. Questlove, 54, who DJs in clubs and plays with The Roots, the house band for NBC's 'Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon,' believes that people mostly remember the first and last five minutes of anything they watch. So when his editor suggested blending Vanilla Ice's performance with Queen's 'Under Pressure' (famously sampled in 'Ice Ice Baby') for the opening of the documentary, Questlove knew they were about to create history. Eleven months later, the chills-inspiring introduction was complete. 'I mean, the Captain Obvious thing would have been to do, like, the 50 best performances in the past 50 years on 'SNL.' That would have been easy,' Questlove says on a recent video call. 'But I don't do things easy.' Questlove watched every episode of 'SNL' over three years 'SNL' executive producer Lorne Michaels pitched Questlove on a documentary about the show's music in early 2021, shortly after Questlove won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for his documentary 'Summer of Soul' (which also would nab an Oscar that year). Questlove and Rodriguez were granted access to every episode of the show, including dress rehearsals, audio from the control room and the filming of promos. For almost three years, Questlove watched three to seven full episodes a day, on an endless loop. Despite the avalanche of material, the pair wasn't interested in churning out a clip show. So, Questlove says, 'it became 'What is the story I want to tell?'' That story ranges from a funked-up Prince making his first appearance in 1981 with 'Partyup' to Rodrigo confessing she had a panic attack before her first appearance in 2021 with 'Drivers License.' The performance that co-director Rodriguez spotlights as a possible best-of-all-time is David Bowie's avant-garde depiction of 'The Man Who Sold the World,' which fit the experimental vibe of the show circa 1979. 'The first five years of the show they were throwing stuff against the wall to see what stuck," Rodriguez says. Miley Cyrus says 'SNL' does what 'no other show can do' The show, as Miley Cyrus observes, 'changes the way you're seen in a way no other show can do.' And for proof, consider a baby-faced Adele, who says in a vintage clip that her 2008 performance of 'Chasing Pavements' sent her album from No. 45 to the top of the charts almost overnight. 'SNL' was also instrumental in promoting hip-hop. Debbie Harry, an unlikely ambassador for rap, pushed for Funky 4 + 1 to perform with her on an episode she hosted in 1981, marking the first national TV appearance by a hip-hop group. Decades later, Kanye West created controversy, whether sporting a MAGA hat and giving a rambling political speech in 2018 or stomping off set because he was unhappy with lighting changes. 'Every time Kanye went on it was chaotic,' Rodriguez says. 'The performances were always cool, but there was always chaos.' More: The best Season 50 'SNL' sketches from Season 50, from Nancy Grace to 'Sabado Gigante' 'SNL' doc explores Sinead O'Connor and Ashlee Simpson controversies Two other frenzied moments in 'SNL' lore are explored thoroughly in the documentary: Sinead O'Connor ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul II at the end of her striking performance of Bob Marley's 'War' in 1992 and Ashlee Simpson's 2004 lip-syncing debacle. O'Connor essentially tricked producers, holding up a photo of a child at the song's end during dress rehearsal and requesting only a tight camera shot in the live show. "I saw this as a chance to put history in its proper context," Questlove says. "Because that was a heroic act." The Simpson controversy also stems from dress rehearsal, where she lip-synced her second song to preserve her voice. Between rehearsal and air time, it was determined Simpson would lip-sync both songs. Her first song unspooled uneventfully, but in the second performance her drummer accidentally re-cued the vocals for the first. Hearing the audio from the director's microphone while watching the scene unfold is a case study in the stress of live TV. Questlove, who calls such frantic moments "teachable lessons," said he reached out to Simpson − 'and everyone who had a controversial moment on the show' − to be interviewed for the documentary. He understood when she declined, but says, 'I would like my fellow musical peers and creatives to see the type of storyteller that I am and that I'm not in the gotcha journalism business.' In "Ladies & Gentlemen ... ," Questlove is firmly in the lively documentary business.
