‘Saturday Night Live’ Pays Tribute To David Bowie: Watch

Christina Lee | January 17, 2016 11:37 am
Silent Shout: Bowie Edition
Fact: Nothing in Idolator's alt-pop column would exist without David Bowie.

Saturday Night Live paid tribute to David Bowie during its January 16 episode. Fred Armisen, a cast member from 2002 to 2013, returned to 30 Rockefeller Center briefly to talk of how he stayed up late as a teen to catch David’s 1979 SNL set as musical guest.

“David Bowie transformed whatever space he was in, whatever medium he was using and, that night for me, he transformed live television,” Fred said to introduce a minute-long clip of David’s performance of “The Man Who Sold the World.”

David performed three songs total, to also include his then-more recent songs “TVC-15” and “Boys Keep Swinging.” To start, New York drag artist Joey Arias and German performance artist Klaus Nomi actually carried David to his microphone. From there, the Thin White Duke appeared on stage in a skirt suit and, using green-screen technology, as a puppet that was half-naked (and NSFW, toward the end anyway).

Watch Fred Armisen’s SNL tribute to David Bowie up top, then see all three songs from David’s 1979 appearance below.

“The Man Who Sold the World”

“TVC-15”

“Boys Keep Swinging”

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