Fred Armisen Recalls Getting Dave Grohl to Drum in ‘Punk Band Reunion’ on ‘SNL’

Fred Armisen recalls how Saturday Night Live helped shape his musical taste and led him to create one of his own great sketches — “Band Reunion at the Wedding” — in a new exclusive clip from Questlove’s upcoming documentary, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music. 

“SNL was such a huge part of my musical taste,” Armisen says at the top of the clip. “Not just that I liked the bands that were on there, but it influenced the way I wanted to make art. And ‘Band Reunion at the Wedding’ is a very personal sketch or me.”

The original sketch aired back in Feb. 2010, on an episode hosted by Ashton Kutcher and featuring musical guests Them Crooked Vultures. The premise is simple: A proud dad gets his old band back together to play a song at his daughter’s wedding, only for the group to bash out an early Eighties-style hardcore song, replete with diatribes about Ronald Reagan and white picket fences, all while destroying the venue. 

“We’re Crisis of Conformity, thank you,” Armisen deadpans after the song, while all of (well, at least some of) the wedding attendees stand up and cheer. 

In the new Ladies & Gentleman clip, Armisen remembers how the sketch came together. He enlisted Bill Nader to play bass, Kutcher to play guitar, and luckily, with Dave Grohl already around to play with Them Crooked Vultures, they had the perfect drummer available. 

“I didn’t have to explain anything,” Armisen says of Grohl. “He comes from that music.” 

Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music is set to premiere next Monday, Jan. 27. The massive three-hour feature will dig into SNL‘s most famous music-based sketches and monumental live performances, featuring interviews with past musical guests, cast members, writers, and producers to examine the show’s musical legacy. The film will feature interviews with artists like Dua Lipa, Mick Jagger, Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, and Jack White.