Lorne Michaels might retire from Saturday Night Live in time for its 50th season
The SNL creator already has some idea of how to keep the show going in his absence
Aux News Lorne Michaels
It’s been nearly 50 years since Lorne Michaels created Saturday Night Live, and he’s been running it and executive producing it ever since—save for a stretch when he left to do other things in the ‘80s that was so infamously disastrous it seemingly proved that he’s never allowed to leave ever again. NBC better start coming up with a better plan to replace him than last time, though, because Michaels might be ready to retire from the show fairly soon.
This comes from an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings, during which Michaels suggested the show’s 50th anniversary could be a “really good time to leave.” That’s three years away still, so NBC doesn’t need to panic yet about finding a replacement or losing its direct line to Michaels’ best friend Paul Simon, but Michaels did note to King that he has “a sense of where we’re headed” in terms of who might serve as showrunner/executive producer after him. Maybe they could have a long “audition” process like Jeopardy! did and then choose the worst option and then a back-up option that is also bad when the first one doesn’t work out?
One thing that weighs on Michaels’ mind when it comes to contemplating his departure is that he “won’t want the show ever to be bad,” because it’s been his “life’s work” and he intends to do what we can to “see it carry on and carry on well.” As for the show ever being bad, we have some unfortunate news for him: Everyone thinks the show was better when they were younger, just like how everyone thinks everything was better when they were younger, so he probably doesn’t need to worry that much.
In the lead-up to season 100, old people will be talking about how much better season 50 was and how it’s weird to think of President Pete Davidson being on a comedy show. (We assume that Pete Davidson will become president in the next few decades, alongside Secretary Of State Machine Gun Kelly.)
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he “won’t want the show ever to be bad,” about 20 years too late, pal.
One thing that weighs on Michaels’ mind when it comes to contemplating
his departure is that he “won’t want the show ever to be bad…”
WAAAAAAAY too late for that.
This comment, on the other hand, was timed perfectly.
Well that was a low hanging fruit
last I checked they can still taste sweet…
SNL has pretty much always been uneven…I think the times it came closest to outright horrible were in the mid ‘90s and the early and mid ‘00s, both of which involved him. So it’s one of those Lorne statements that doesn’t mean much at all.
Between the Happy Madison regulars/Mike Myers/Will Ferrell and the Tiny Fey/Poehler/Sudeikis/Rudolph/Kenan eras, I think you’re going to find just as many people citing those eras as golden ages. I basically agree that the show is wildly uneven, but I think we underestimate the fluctuations within seasons and even from sketch to sketch and overestimate the difference across eras because most people were just more forgiving of the crap when they were younger and less bored with the format.
I certainly agree with you there. Many do see those as golden periods (I’m especially amused when I hear some fans talk about how you wouldn’t hear Tina’s Update era saying something problematic like today’s Update…). I just think it’s a bit deluded, in that Lorne way, to not know that there’s a good chance the show will be bad, or have bad moments, no matter who is producing.
I’m not sure if this is the experience for most, but when I started watching SNL, I’d also watch the reruns that were aired on Comedy Central and DVDs of the “best” of certain cast members. Of course a DVD containing only the most successful sketches will put the show in its best light, but watching the reruns had me thinking, even at the time, that “the old ones were better.”I eventually realized that the reruns were cut down to fit in an hour timeslot while the new live episodes dragged on for 90 minutes. When the dull parts are cut out (and when you can hack away a third of the program, there’s no excuse to leave any dull parts in), it’s no wonder that the old ones seemed so much better.The media will change (now YouTube has replaced syndicated reruns and DVD sets as the preferred way to watch the best of the old content), but the process will continue and perpetuate the “it was better back when…” cycle.
The early 80s were truly bad.
Fine, but honestly I think this season was pretty damn strong.
To him, probably the only time the show was ever truly bad was the year he was fired. And that season was ROTTEN so he wouldn’t be wrong.
This is a pretty long video, but it’s entertaining. The TLDW version is that the show has always been a hit or miss.
More like Worn Michaels, amirite?
Because he’s worn out his welcome. Long ago.
This is the jerkface that brought us Pete Davidson! PETE DAVIDSON FOR CHRISSAKES!!!
GET THIS MAN AN UPDATE POST
But only if I’m replacing Jost. I don’t like that dude. I don’t wanna work with him. I know Che has had some no-no’s on social media, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s by far the funnier one.
Not on Update. Jost can read off cue cards, at least.
It’s going to be Keenan right?
Sure hope not.
I know its unlikely, and there’s a huge difference in being a cast member and actually running the show, but I can’t help thinking Kenan might be a really good choice. At this point, he’s the one person after Lorne who really has a grasp on how the show works and what it takes to run it.
Keenan or Tina Fey have got to be the two most likely candidates right? I guess Amy P is possible too since she doesn’t seem to be doing *that* much at the moment. [not a knock on her career, just saying isn’t in a regular gig]
Seems like Amy P. is producing A LOT of shows these days.
Plus she’s got young-ish kids and is a single mom. I doubt she’s looking for a full time gig right now. Maybe in a few years.
Yah – I should have qualified it as regular acting like Parks & Rec or even frequent movies. Her producing activity would certainly be good experience!
The main reason why I don’t think they would, is because I doubt running SNL would give them the ability to work on other projects.
For sure. That is probably the biggest hurdle. Who would be willing to drop nearly everything else to focus on SNL?
Tina has said she is glad she doesn’t work on the current show because of the heightened political environment, so I don’t think she would want the job. I don’t think Kenan would get it either. I think it will be someone NBC brings in or someone who has worked with Lorne behind the scenes a long time. (many assume it will be Steve Higgins)
Yeah, I feel like a lot of current and former cast members are going to get floated because that’s who viewers have the best sense of, but more likely it’s going to be some producer with NBC or Broadway Video whose name the average person doesn’t know.
My money would be on Tina Fey. She has a lot of experience writing and producing, yet is still close to Lorne and SNL. She would also be more likely to serve the god of comedy, rather than just remake the show in their own image like you would think Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler might do, neither of whom seem to have stayed close to Lorne.Other than Tina, if it were to be a writer and performer, the natural choice would be Al Franken, but he’s 70 and that wouldn’t really be passing the baton.
an arrangement with Tina Fey running things and maybe Kenan as 2nd in command might work…she has experience running a show (and a great one at that) and Kenan would command the respect of the performers. The more I think about it, Tina Fey would be an incredible, great choice that would (at least temporarily) renew my enthusiasm for the show.
What are people smoking?? Kenan is not funny!!! He has been on television since I’ve been a child and I cannot fathom how he is still on SNL. He just makes stupid voices and smirks into the camera. That’s his whole thing. You want to know why SNL feels off forever it’s because he won’t leave.
“Making It” and Duncanville are regular gigs, I’d say. Also, Amy’s producing like 5 different shows at once. Whatchu talkin bout?
That’s my bad. I really should have qualified not a regular sitcom gig. I can’t say for Makin It, but voiceover work on Duncanville isn’t a massive scheduling hurdle. That was really my point — scheduling wouldn’t be as hard for her.
I love Amy P…it wasn’t meant as a knock on her at all. Just she’s somebody in addition to Tina who would appear to have the skills and is high profile enough to fit.
I saw another comment about Steve Higgins….I hadn’t thought of him, but that would make sense too.
That would be so amazing.
What about G.E. Smith?
What about G.E. Smith?Because we want to see him mugging for the camera at every commercial break.
Except, there’s a difference between being a skilled performer and being a competent producer of a live variety show every week. It’d have been like expecting Gilda Radner or Bill Murray to take over as showrunners when Lorne left the first time.
Tina Fey seems more adept with the behind-the-scenes stuff.
She definitely has the superior production experience. I’m not sure Kenan is mercenary enough to do some of the necessary wet work to keep a show like this running.
I know what you mean by wetwork but it’s also very funny to imagine Tina Fey just stone-cold icing a motherfucker to lock in a Pizza Hut sponsorship for a sketch or something.
I don’t think Chris Kattan has a lot going on right now so…
..in his brain.
I thought Seth Meyers was the unofficial heir apparent? I don’t doubt Tina Fey and/or Amy Poehler would be on a shortlist, though. The three of them seem to have the management skills to handle this. No knock on Keenan, who is great, but I don’t get the sense that he has worked out those same muscles.
They’ve long talked about how integral Kenan is to the writing process. I don’t know about managing the whole thing, but I suspect if it is a former cast member, they will want Kenan in the mix somehow.
Where are you getting this from? Kenan doesn’t write or produce, and has never claimed to. He himself has said that there are many roles he’s no good for. The only time anyone said he was involved in the writing process was an NYT profile which said that, but didn’t provide any examples of it, and for which Itzoff got immediately called out and corrected. (Even your earlier “glue” comment from Meyers was about his “cheerleader” role for the group, not writing or producing or doing anything “behind the scenes” in any way.)
All of the performers write on the show including Kenan. Here are a selection of quotes about Kenon:
*Lorne Michaels: “He knows the best way to do just about everything…He’s the person I rely on most in the cast…There’s nothing he can’t do. He’s one of the greatest of all time. … Kenan may be a genius. We just make eye contact. I’ll smile; he’ll smile. Occasionally, he’ll do something so remarkable that I’ll walk over and say, ‘God, that was amazing.’ He knows I’m there for him, and I know he’ll always be there for me in the same way.””*Aidy Bryant: “So much of a funny sketch can be made or broken by the way it’s shot, or the production elements of it. Having Kenan in your sketch means you also have a producer, director and a writer.”Again, I’m not saying he should run the whole thing, but he has a level of respect that I suspect he’ll be kept in work.
Not really. He’s literally never originated a sketch or character. All the performers are technically (by virtue of the live sketch show and the performance union rules) writers, and most will do a run-through with the actual writer before any presentation (because the writer is writing it for/to them specifically) and giving them any feedback or thoughts makes them technically a writer as well. But there are usually a few performers that do no originating of the sketch ideas; even their WU desk appearances as “themselves” are primarily written by the many writers that were actually hired to write (a la Kenan, or Pete). It has literally always been this way on the show. While I personally believe Kenan to be talentless, good only for cheerleading and esprit-de-corps, with a range from A to B – he’s hardly the first cast member like that.But it’s cute that you swallow the show p.r. whole, truly.
I forget that you’re an expert on and an experience sketch writer. Oh, you’re not. That’s cute too. Lorne Michaels has regularly chosen to say little on performers. He sees value there whether you want to accept that or not.Saying he never originated a character or a sketch is untrue. He was Emmy nominated for writing the song Last Christmas in 2017. He was nominated again for “Come Back Barack” with Chris Redd and Will Stephen. Diondre Cole was also largely his creation in terms of creating a character.If you actually care and don’t have a weird grudge against Kenan Thompson, you might want to watch Live from New York! where you will repeatedly see his contributions behind the scenes.I don’t foresee him being the future showrunner, but I do think he has the type of experience in sketch development, blocking, and fine-tuning to make him a valuable asset to whoever comes in after Michaels.
If you think that one needs to be a practitioner of sketch in order to comprehend how it’s made (or indeed the legal writing and songwriting publishing crediting of writers and/or performers, which determines Emmy noms), then we’ll have to expand your ignorance classification from solely SNL to “all of sketch comedy”. For the record, I have many friends and clients from UCB & Groundlings, and am in touch with the scene – but that doesn’t really matter: you’d still be losing the argument if I wasn’t responding at all.Lorne’s silence on performer-contributions exists regardless of my “acceptance” of it (whatever that is intended to mean) – but, tellingly, it also doesn’t lend any support to your ‘take’ in the least. Nor, of course, does any viewing of Franco’s lame doc, nor any reading of “Live From New York”, nor any of the other amateur-feeding authorized releases. (Wrong on Cole, too.)(BTW, it’s not a “weird grudge”, but an honest assessment. He’s not the worst cast member they’ve ever had, but he’s far from the best and below average. He’s easily the least-talented BIPOC they’ve ever had, and I’m including Finesse Mitchell. Showrunner? Jesus.)Happy holidays to whoever has to put up with your yammering ass – I’m done.
What a weird axe you seem to have to grind with me, Kenan Thompson and SNL. Who hurt you, buddy? As I said repeatedly, I don’t think he should or would be show runner, but I suspect whoever it is – and Seth Meyers seems likely depending on his own interest in it – will keep Kenan in the mix for as long as Kenan wishes to be so based on everything that has ever been said about it.
I would throw Seth Meyers in the mix depending on how he’s feeling about giving up his talk show and being off screen more.I suspect Seth would want to keep someone like Kenan in the mix at some level though because he’s long talked about how Kenan is the glue.
How about Mike Richards?
Yes, but THIS Mike Richards
The obvious choice is Charles Rocket
How about Jean Doumanian?
Al Franken did just move back to New York…
I think the skill set needed to be a hands-on producer is vastly different than that needed to be a performer. There’s a reason Michaels became a producer.
Mike Myers for the win.
Ugh, no.
You know what was definitely better when I was younger, though?THE A.V. CLUB
Nailed it.Pack it up folks, we’re done here.
Maybe whoever they’ll find in L.A. will be better writers.
we were.. younger? No.. no that doesn’t sound right…
Television Without Pity > AV Club
And the search for a new out-of-touch star-fucker begins.
I guess that rules me out. I’m very much in-touch.
Holy shit John Oates is joining Nine Inch Nails?
This isn’t good.
alongside Secretary Of State Machine Gun Kelly
So it just might be possible to see peace with Conor MaGregor in our time.
‘80s that was so infamously disastrous Counterpoint: While the 1980-81 season was aggressively unfunny, the 1981-85 seasons weren’t half bad. Heck, Michaels’ return season (85-86) was worse then any of those four years.
Right on! The 84-85 season in particular (with Christopher Guest, Martin Short, Billy Crystal, et al.) doesn’t get enough recognition.
Neal Brennan?
Nah, head’s too small.
And the secretary of defense, Megan Theee Secretary
I hear Mike Richards is free
I hope he’s replaced with a straight white male.
I personally would like to throw the name Internet Commentor into the mix since Internet Commentator has so often declared how much better the show would be if they were in charge
Does this mean The Replacements can play?
Maybe wait until his strongly-rumored COVID is over before jinxing him with talk about three years from now?
It’s very much going to be Tina I don’t understand why people keep saying Kenan who’s about to take all the roles Ice Cube now has to turn down because he won’t get vaccinated.
Who the hell watches this show anymore? lol…