Musical guest


A musical guest is a singer, band, or other musician who makes a brief musical appearance on a television program of a non-musical nature.
While some shows have a format that traditionally includes numerous performances by musical guests, other shows include popular musicians to boost ratings for particular episodes or to help new artists gain exposure.
While many shows employ their own live band, this regular band is not considered a musical "guest". Additionally, if the theme of a program revolves completely around live music, the musicians who appear are generally not considered musical guests, as they are either contestants or are performing a different, non-musical function.
Depending on the format of the show, musical guests may simply perform a song and leave the stage, while other shows include interviews with the musicians following their performance. On Saturday Night Live, some musical guests have participated in comedy sketches with the stars of the show.

Partial list of programs with musical guests