Musician and director Questlove spent nearly two and a half years creating a seven-minute mash-up of about 100 SNL performances, which he revealed was driven by his desire to “gobsmack” viewers right from the start. With the help of Lorne Michaels, Questlove watched every single episode of SNL for research and prepared the montage like a DJ gig. However, he expressed disappointment with the editor’s reliance on artificial intelligence, which he felt hindered the creative process.
Source: https://www.vulture.com/article/questlove-snl-50-music-montage.html