How Justin Timberlake Convinced Beyoncé to Do SNL's "Single Ladies" Sketch
The pop singer told the wild tale in NBC's Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music documentary.
When Beyoncé appeared as a Musical Guest on Saturday Night Live over 15 years ago, anyone and everyone was listening to her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce. Her black and white music video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” was everywhere — and SNL's writers expertly captured this pop culture moment with a side-splitting sketch, featuring four dudes.
Starring November 18, 2008 Host Paul Rudd, Season 34 cast members Andy Samberg and Bobby Moynihan, and special guest Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé played herself in the "Single Ladies" sketch — and according to Timberlake, it took some convincing from her "Until the End of Time" collaborator himself. In fact, Timberlake truly had to walk the walk (in heels) to make it happen.
The SNL Five-Timers Club member told the tale in Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music, Questlove and Oz Rodriguez's documentary, which debuted on NBC on January 27.
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Beyonce's "Single Ladies" sketch first aired in 2008
Rudd plays the director of her “Single Ladies” music video, who introduces Bey to her new backup dancers. “Beyoncé! Oh my gosh, I’m so psyched to do this new video with you!” he tells Beyoncé as she enters the scene.
“Me too! You know, there’s one thing. I haven’t met the other dancers,” Bey says as a makeup artist powders her face. “Are we gonna have time to rehearse?”
“Oh look, don’t worry about the other dancers, B-Town,” Rudd says. “I hand-picked them myself, these guys are pros.”
“Hiiii, we’re the dancers,” Timberlake, Samberg, and Moynihan say in unison as the audience erupts in laughter.
“Are you guys warmed up?” Rudd asks.
“Oh, we’re warmed up,” Samberg says. Moynihan quickly adds, “Yeah, we’re warmed up like biscuits.”
“Yeah, dance biscuits,” Timberlake says, while staring directly into the camera.
“Alright, let’s turn this mother out!” Rudd says as the guys stretch their legs and wiggle their hips.
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The first cut starts with Beyoncé doing her signature “Single Ladies” dance, as the new backup dancers sharply try to keep up.
“What’s the beef, BK?” Rudd asks after Beyoncé calls cut. Reluctantly, Beyoncé goes for another take as the dancers pat each other on the butt. The three hilariously try to keep up with Bey’s dance moves while also doing the absolute most.
“Enough! I’m not feeling this, can we stop please?” Beyoncé says. “What were you clowns doing?”
“We were grinding,” Samberg says with Timberlake adding, “I thought that was obvious.” All three then strike a Charlie’s Angels pose.
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“Alright, I’m not gonna lie. They’re my stepsons,” Rudd's character admits. “My wife said I need to spend more time with them.”
“Aww, I didn’t know these were your sons,” Beyoncé says. “That’s very noble of you.”
“So you’ll let them be in your music video?” Rudd asks, to which Bey promptly replies, “Hell no.”
Justin Timberlake dressed up "Single Ladies" style to sell Beyoncé on the SNL sketch
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music, a new documentary co-directed by Questlove and Oz Rodriguez, provided a behind-the-scenes look at how the now-iconic sketch came to be.
Timberlake said it started with a text from Samberg asking if he was in town. “He said Bobby Moynihan has this great idea for a sketch about you, me, and him being Beyoncé’s background dancers that never made the cut,” he says in the documentary. “I was like ‘full leotard’? And he’s like, ‘yeah.’ I was like, ‘This is too funny. We have to do this.’”
“When you pitch a sketch that the Musical Guest is involved in potentially, it can always go wrong,” SNL cast member Bowen Yang adds in the documentary. “There are a million reasons why they might say no. It is your job to respectfully convince them.”
When it came to this sketch idea with Beyoncé, Timberlake said she was not initially on board.
“She was very polite about it, but she was very hesitant. And when I say hesitant, I mean like, she was not having it,” he recalled. “I’m like: Does she know how funny this is gonna be? How beloved this whole moment will be?”
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So Timberlake decided to get into character to convince her. “I put the leotard and the heels and the hose on and everything, and put a robe on,” he said. “I walked and knocked on her door, I threw the robe down and put my hands on my hips and she was like, ‘No you didn’t!’”
And voila, an iconic moment was born. And Beyoncé did perform “Single Ladies” as a Musical Guest that night (this time with fully-qualified backup dancers).
How to watch Ladies & Gentlemen ... 50 Years of SNL Music
Ladies & Gentlemen ... 50 Years of SNL Music premieres Monday, January 27, on NBC at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The three-hour documentary will be available to stream the next-day on Peacock.
