A month before the publication of Susan Morrison’s biography Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, a lengthy excerpt appears in Morrison’s home magazine. (She’s been The New Yorker‘s articles editor for years.) It’s a friendly profile of the show’s creator and leader, but an incisive one; Morrison has seemingly spoken to every living SNL alum, and sketches a portrait of a man who has balanced ego management and emotional withholding on a knife’s edge for 50 years.
The one time writers were certain to hear Michaels’s feedback directly was during dress rehearsal, when they saw him in laser-focus mode under the bleachers. . . . Many writers have sat beside him watching their sketches die, only to have him turn and say, with stony sarcasm, “You must be very proud.” If the host’s monologue is flat, he’ll moan, “Can we get any charm out of him?” If a piece is too erudite, he might tell its writer, “Can they take the Emmy away?” John Mulaney said, “May the cast members go to their graves never knowing the things I heard under the bleachers.”
More picks about comedy
The Cult of “Kill Tony”
“Tony Hinchcliffe’s fame skyrocketed after he made a joke that spooked even Donald Trump. In Texas, I watched how he became the most powerful comic in America.”
After Lorne
“The ringmaster of ‘Saturday Night Live’ is 80 years old. What happens to the show, not to mention American comedy, when he retires?”
Cole Escola’s Great Day on Broadway
“With their deranged portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln, the actor and writer emerges from the ‘gay shadows’ in a hysterical farce.”
Whatever Happened to Fun?
“Did I mention Carol Burnett is 90?”
Laugh Riot
“To understand Trump’s continuing hold over his fans, we have to ask: Why do they find him so funny?”
The Jerk Aficionados
“Playing a sleazy, blustering buffoon the audience loves takes skill—just ask Adam Scott, Ben Stiller, or Julia Louis-Dreyfus.”
