It’s not easy being the comedy king. And now “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels is finally ready to let the world see just how hard it is to captain a 50-year-old pop culture institution.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
Michaels, the guarded Canadian producer who launched the live late-night sketch comedy show in 1975, is the subject of a new documentary called “Lorne,” which Focus Features will release in theaters on Friday. (NBCUniversal is the parent company of Focus Features, NBC and NBC News.)
But the film isn’t a swan song for the 81-year-old showrunner. In fact, in one scene in the film, Michaels tells his longtime friend Steve Martin that he can’t retire because he needs to “protect” “SNL.”
“I think he feels if he opens the door on [retirement] too much, the wolves will circle,” director Morgan Neville said in a recent Zoom interview. “He likes having the leverage he has now to protect the show.”
Neville, who has also directed documentaries about Fred Rogers, Paul McCartney and Anthony Bourdain, said Michaels overcame his long-standing reluctance about being on camera in part to reveal just what it takes to keep a show like “SNL” running.
The film offers a window into Michaels’ singular management style — which has outlasted generations of sensitive performers and demanding NBC executives. Neville took his cameras behind the scenes at 30 Rock’s Studio 8H during multiple production weeks, capturing the frenzy of pitch meetings, writing night, table reads and dress rehearsals.
“As he says, when he does his job well, it leaves no fingerprints,” Neville said. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not working very hard. For all of his wanting to be the ‘Wizard of Oz,’ he also wants people to know it’s not easy being the Wizard of Oz.”
Neville interviewed over 50 people in Michaels’ orbit, including current and former “SNL” staffers like Tina Fey, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Conan O’Brien, Michael Che and Colin Jost; as well as people who have known Michaels the longest, like Howard Shore, the first music director of “SNL,” who met Michaels at summer camp when they were 14, and Rosie Shuster, an early “SNL” writer and Michaels’ first wife, whom he met in high school.
The documentary, narrated by Chris Parnell, also reveals some of Michaels’ quirks, and the way the show is built around his specific metabolism, like the fact that no meeting at “SNL” starts before 4 p.m., and there’s always popcorn around for Michaels to snack on.
Outside “SNL,” the cameras show, Michaels leads a life of predictable routines, starting his days with friend and neighbor Paul Simon, dining at the same Italian restaurant each Tuesday night with the show’s host that week, and retreating to his house in Maine during breaks in production.
“The show itself is a certain amount of chaos, so everything else in his life is organized so that he doesn’t have to think about it,” Neville said. “He’s understood at this point, not only how to ride the waves of chaos, but to almost embrace it.”
Michaels saw the film for the first time at the New York premiere earlier this month. It was held at Alice Tully Hall and attended by many celebrities, including the current members of the “SNL” cast, Condé Nast’s chief content officer Anna Wintour and comedian David Letterman.
At the afterparty, Neville approached his subject.
“I went up to him and I said, ‘Hi, Lorne,’” Neville said. “He just looked at me and he nodded and said, ‘Good.’ That was high praise. Everybody’s kind of never sure where they stand with Lorne. And that was absolutely my experience of making the film.”
Michaels and Neville took the film to Los Angeles for another star-studded premiere on the Universal Studios Lot on Tuesday, which was followed by a Q&A with NBCUniversal Chair Donna Langley and a reception.
Attendees included entertainment mogul David Geffen; reality TV star/entrepreneur Kris Jenner; comedian John Mulaney; actors Jon Hamm, Owen Wilson and Seth Rogen; and “SNL” alums Laraine Newman (part of the original 1975 cast), Kyle Mooney and Vanessa Bayer.
“I don’t know if it covers any of the succession rumors,” Mulaney said when introducing the film, which screened at the Steven Spielberg Theater (Spielberg himself was also there).
“Who would succeed Lorne Michaels if he ever left?” Mulaney said. “I don’t think Lorne Michaels is going to ever leave, but obviously a lot of people are excited. Which lucky duck will get to run that show, at a third of the salary, with none of the stature?”
When reflecting on the show, Michaels told Langley that he likes being “around funny people.”
“There’s not that many of them,” he joked. “When you recognize them, and when you see them come into their own and they realize that there’s this group of people who understand them and get them and who will make them better, it’s an exciting place to be. And also to be able to comment on what’s going on from that perspective, particularly in a time which is almost always serious.”
As for the film about him? Michaels confirmed he’s a fan.
“I watched it in New York for the first time and I had been completely dreading it,” he said. “And then I kind of liked it.”