Yesterday night, comedian and Super Mario Galaxy Movie star Jack Black entered Saturday Night Live’s prestigious Five-Timers Club—with a little help from rock god, White Stripes member, and Paste’s 2024 Artist of the Year, Jack White. The guitarist first appeared in Black’s monologue, when he joined the actor for a very Tenacious D-rendition of “Seven Nation Army.” Black, bedecked in a flamed-covered button-down shirt à la Guy Fieri, donned his velvet jacket to an SNL-themed version of the song. (Note: Jonah Hill also appeared in the monologue and called White his “hero, Professor Snape”). Though Black told Jimmy Fallon that this week’s “Jack Gray” jokes carry a “negative connotation,” the pair rocked out as promised.
On Friday, White released two new songs ahead of the late-night gig: “Derecho Demonico” and “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs,” his first singles since 2024’s No Name. He played both on SNL, beginning with “Derecho Demonico,” a rollicking, bluesy track first premiered on tour last year. Energetic and sharp, White’s stage presence reminded viewers why the singer remains one of the show’s can’t-miss musical guests. The performance’s highlight was a live organ solo, with a slick riff from White’s own guitar on its tail. A-side “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs,” a psychedelic shredder playing on the theme of Adam and Eve, fared similarly. White spun around the stage before breaking into a theatrical recitation of the song’s Biblical reverie. White’s voice was full and rich, undergirded by drummer Patrick Keeler, keyboardist Bobby Emmett, and bassist Dominic Davis’ expert playing and doused in blue light.
White is no stranger to SNL: last night marked his sixth time as a musical guest on the show, and his fifth time there as a solo artist (though there is no Five-Timers Club equivalency for musicians). No performance will top his last-minute COVID rendition of “Ball and Biscuit/Don’t Hurt Yourself/Jesus Is Coming Soon” and “Lazaretto,” but “Derecho Demonico” and “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” were superb asides in an otherwise enjoyable episode. The Third Man Records founder also joined his Walk Hard co-star Black for an original country song skit, “Words to Live By,” in which he purposefully boofed a guitar solo while Black, James Austin Johnson, Kenan Thompson, and Andrew Dismukes sang about forgetting life’s important wisdoms.
Watch White’s performances, and the “Words to Live By” sketch, below.
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