In a revealing moment from the new documentary "Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music," actor Bill Hader shared a memorable story about Adele's first Saturday Night Live appearance in 2008, when the then-unknown singer left the show's staff speechless during rehearsal.
"I remember us sitting at the rewrite table on [floor] 9, and Adele — not a lot of us had heard of her," Hader recounted. "And she started singing, and it was, like, we all stopped. We opened the curtain and everybody looked down, and went, 'Who is that?'"
The documentary features behind-the-scenes footage of a young Adele preparing for her SNL debut, including an endearing moment where she asks for direction during promo filming with Kristen Wiig and host Josh Brolin.
SNL creator Lorne Michaels shared how that particular episode, which also featured Sarah Palin, became a turning point in Adele's U.S. career. According to Michaels, Adele checked her rankings before departing New York and was at number 45. By the time her plane landed in the UK, she had nearly reached number one.
The performance marked a dramatic shift in Adele's American success. While her debut album "19" had already achieved success in the UK, it was her SNL appearance that launched her to stardom in the United States. The episode became one of the decade's most-watched, and "19" topped the iTunes charts the following day.
In archival footage from the documentary, Adele herself reflected on the impact of that night: "It ended up being a huge show, and literally overnight! Whenever I've heard that saying, 'overnight success,' I was like, 'Yeah, whatever, you've got to proper work for it.' And it was overnight, literally overnight."
The documentary, which explores SNL's musical legacy over five decades, is currently available for streaming on Peacock.