Watch Prince’s All-Star ‘SNL 40’ After Party Performance
Saturday Night Live will air a tribute to Prince titled “Good Night Sweet Prince” in their 11:30 p.m. time slot tonight, and while footage from the icon’s three visits to the SNL stage will likely be featured, it’s a good bet that this won’t make it to broadcast: SNL alum Tim Kazurinsky has shared video of Prince’s impromptu performance at the all-star SNL 40 afterparty.
According to Kazurinsky, and later corroborated by the Tonight Show host himself, it was Jimmy Fallon who convinced Prince to take the stage at the Plaza Hotel during the festivities. “Dearly inebriated,” Prince said into the microphone before launching into a grooved-out rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy” surrounded by Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Haim’s Esta Haim and Fallon.
Midway through the performance, more celebrities stormed the stage, with Emma Stone grabbing a tambourine, the other Haim sisters joining in, and then Chris Rock, Cuba Gooding Jr., the Roots and finally Bill Murray. At one point, Prince handed his guitar to someone in the crowd of Not Ready for Prime Time admirers.
On an episode of The Tonight Show that aired after the SNL 40 special, Fallon revealed how he managed to corral Prince onstage. After Dave Chappelle, another Prince devotee, notified him that Prince was at the party, an imbibing Fallon hopped on the microphone and said simply, “Prince, if you’re here, I dare you to come up onstage.” “All of a sudden, the crowd parts and there’s a purple smoke and the dude’s floating toward the stage,” Fallon said (via Stereogum).