Lorne Michaels, the creator of “Saturday Night Live,” is the subject of Susan Morrison’s upcoming biography “Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live,” a feature-length excerpt published by The New Yorker and reveals Michaels’ hot and cold relationship with the ever-changing cast over the years. Michaels may be the boss of “SNL,” but he wasn’t always a loving father figure.
Alec Baldwin, who hosted “SNL” 17 times and once played Donald Trump for a while, told Morrison that Michaels is “Darwinian” in his management style in that “Lorne just stands back and lets them cannibalize each other.” But Morrison writes that Michaels is “flexible about the talent management aspect of his role as producer. According to him, different personalities require different approaches.”
“To some, Michaels will bark, ‘Don’t screw it up,’” Morrison continues. “Bill Hader, who is prone to anxiety attacks, remembers Michaels coming into his dressing room when he was hosting and snapping, ‘Calm the hell down.’ Have fun. Jesus Christ.” In others it is warmer. Molly Shannon cherishes the memory of how, when Michaels was nervous just before going on stage, “he would reassure me with his eyes.”
But praising his cast members wasn’t routine for Michaels. Kevin Nealon, a cast member of “SNL” from 1986 to 1995, told Morrison that he encouraged Michaels to give co-star Jan Hooks positive support when she was struggling in the aftermath of her mother’s death. Nealon recalled Michaels refusing, telling him, “I understand what you’re saying, but you’ll find it’s never enough.”
Michaels’ pick-me-up advice to Hader during his behind-the-scenes anxiety attack didn’t always work. Hader has been quite vocal over the years about how his tenure on “SNL” fueled his battle with anxiety.
“When I was on ‘SNL,’ I was a bit of a basket case,” Hader once said Variety. “It couldn’t have been easy for my wife at the time. I was so consumed with work and anxiety. Sometimes I felt like people were like, “Oh, he just wants attention or something.” It was like, ‘Nah man, I’m legit. I’m going crazy now. ”
Many cast members have spoken about how the pressure cooker environment at “SNL” ultimately takes its toll on the performers’ mental health. Andy Samberg revealed last year that he left the sketch comedy series after seven years because “my life was falling apart” behind the scenes and he “couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Physically it took a toll on me and I got to a place where it felt like I hadn’t slept in seven years,” Samberg said. “We were up all night writing stuff for the live show on Tuesday night, the table read on Wednesday and then we were told we had to come up with a digital short film now, so write all Thursday, all Thursday night, don’t sleep , get up, shoot Friday, edit all night from Friday night to Saturday, so it’s basically like not sleeping four days a week for seven years. So I kind of fell apart physically.
Go to The New Yorker website to read the full excerpt from “Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live.” The book is available for pre-order now and will be released on February 18.