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Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live
A definitive biography of Lorne Michaels, the man behind America’s most beloved comedy show
Over the fifty years that Lorne Michaels has been at the helm of Saturday Night Live, he has become a revered, inimitable, and bewildering presence in the entertainment world. He’s a tastemaker, a mogul, a withholding father figure, a genius spotter of talent, a shrewd businessman, a name-dropper, a raconteur, the inspiration for Dr. Evil, the winner of more than a hundred Emmys—and, essentially, a mystery. Generations of writers and performers have spent their lives trying to figure him out, by turns demonizing and lionizing him. He’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi� (Tracy Morgan), the “great and powerful Oz� (Kate McKinnon), or “some kind of very distant, strange comedy god� (Bob Odenkirk).
Lorne will introduce you to him, in full, for the first time. With unprecedented access to Michaels and the entire SNL apparatus, Susan Morrison takes readers behind the curtain for the lively, up-and-down, definitive story of how Michaels created and maintained the institution that changed comedy forever.
Drawn from hundreds of interviews—with Michaels, his friends, and SNL’s iconic stars and writers, from Will Ferrell to Tina Fey to John Mulaney to Chris Rock to Dan Aykroyd�Lorne is a deeply reported, wildly entertaining account of a man singularly obsessed with the show that would define his life—and have a profound impact on American culture.
Over the fifty years that Lorne Michaels has been at the helm of Saturday Night Live, he has become a revered, inimitable, and bewildering presence in the entertainment world. He’s a tastemaker, a mogul, a withholding father figure, a genius spotter of talent, a shrewd businessman, a name-dropper, a raconteur, the inspiration for Dr. Evil, the winner of more than a hundred Emmys—and, essentially, a mystery. Generations of writers and performers have spent their lives trying to figure him out, by turns demonizing and lionizing him. He’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi� (Tracy Morgan), the “great and powerful Oz� (Kate McKinnon), or “some kind of very distant, strange comedy god� (Bob Odenkirk).
Lorne will introduce you to him, in full, for the first time. With unprecedented access to Michaels and the entire SNL apparatus, Susan Morrison takes readers behind the curtain for the lively, up-and-down, definitive story of how Michaels created and maintained the institution that changed comedy forever.
Drawn from hundreds of interviews—with Michaels, his friends, and SNL’s iconic stars and writers, from Will Ferrell to Tina Fey to John Mulaney to Chris Rock to Dan Aykroyd�Lorne is a deeply reported, wildly entertaining account of a man singularly obsessed with the show that would define his life—and have a profound impact on American culture.
656 pages, Hardcover
First published February 25, 2025
975 people are currently reading
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About the author
Susan Morrison
1Ìýbook47ÌýfollowersSusan Morrison is the articles editor of The New Yorker. She is the former editor in chief of the New York Observer and an original editor of SPY magazine. She lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 174 reviews
March 30, 2025
4.5 stars
Lorne Michaels (b. 1944) is a Canadian and American television writer and film producer. He's probably best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live (SNL), which has been on the air from 1975 to the present.
Lorne Michaels
This biography of Michaels toggles back and forth between Lorne's life and career, and the step-by-step preparations for the SNL episode that aired on November 3, 2018 - with host Jonah Hill and music guest Maggie Rogers.
Jonah Hill
Maggie Rogers
As always, the Writers' Meeting for the Hill-hosted show took place on the Monday before - October 29, 2018 - at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where SNL is based. The Writers' Meeting is where writers pitch ideas for sketches, and the following six days - during which the skits are tested and rewritten and rehearsed and winnowed - culminates in a live broadcast on Saturday night at 11:30, before a worldwide audience of millions. Preparations for the November 3 episode, under the eagle eye of Lorne Michaels, are described in great detail, and should interest fans of the show.
Original Cast of SNL. Not Ready for Prime Time Players: John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Dan Aykroyd, and Gilda Radnor
It seems like Lorne Michaels was destined for show business from the get-go. The SNL creator was born Lorne Lipowitz in Toronto, Canada, to parents Florence and Henry Lipowitz. The Lipowitz family loved the entertainment industry, and they would watch movies and TV shows, and talk about the actors and actresses. Lorne daydreamed about acting, writing, and directing, and he put on musicals in summer camp, wrote funny items for his high school newspaper, contributed comedy sketches to the school's 'Frolics', acted in school shows, etc.
Young Lorne Michaels
Teenage Lorne's friend (and later his first wife) Rosie Shuster was the daughter of comedian Frank Shuster, and Frank taught Lorne the fundamentals of television production.
Lorne Michaels' first wife Rosie Shuster
Frank Shuster
Lorne also steeped himself in culture: Victorian novels, Romantic poets, Shakespeare, newspapers, plays, comedy revues, comedy recordings, etc. Lorne and a friend would also take the bus to New York to sit in studio audiences and meet people working in the industry.
At the University of Toronto Lorne majored in English, and co-wrote and directed the University College Follies, a well-regarded theatrical revue. 'Lorne had organizational skills, a grip on the technical aspects of mounting a show, a knack for spotting talent, and a temperament that allowed people to flourish creatively.' Lorne was honing the talents he'd later need for SNL.
After college, Lorne spent time in Europe, especially London, then returned to Canada in 1966, determined to succeed in the entertainment industry. Lorne and his friend Earl Pomerantz formed a comedy team called Lipowitz and Pomerantz, and performed in local clubs and on radio and television shows.
Lipowitz and Pomerantz Comedy Team (Lorne Michaels and Earl Pomerantz)
Along the way, Lorne changed his name to Lorne Michaels and married Rosie Shuster - who was also a comedy writer. Lorne had originally planned to stay in Canada, but went to Los Angeles at the age of 24, to write for 'The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show'. Going on to write for 'Laugh-In', and with his knack for fraternizing, Lorne met all the right people: talent agent Bernie Brillstein; variety TV eminence Bob Finkel; sitcom writer Bob Schiller; producer George Schlatter; and more.
Lorne soon moved on to other aspects of show business, cultivating his skills. One of Lorne's triumphs is a hilarious skit on 'The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour' called 'The Puck Crisis'. This is a mockumentary about an invasive species that spread Dutch Puck Disease, which devastated the crops of Canada's hockey puck farmers. "Over grim footage of lab-coated scientists examining shriveled pucks drooping from branches, a dead-serious voiceover explains the blight's origins: puck pests, or puctococci, were accidently carried over on the sticks of a touring Dutch hockey team." This skit - and numerous others - stood Lorne in good stead as he pursued future endeavors.
SNL cast member Gilda Radner challenges the show's guest, professional football player Fran Tarkenton, to an arm wrestling competition on set
Will Ferrell on SNL
Lorne's ascent up the entertainment industry ladder is thoroughly documented by author Susan Morrison. Starting early on, Lorne worked with talents like Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Teri Garr, Candace Bergen, Neil Young, James Taylor, Garrett Morris, Albert Brooks, Lili Tomlin, Buck Henry, Richard Pryor, Molly Shannon, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Pete Davidson, Norm Macdonald, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, and on and on - creating many symbiotic relationships with show business folk. Lorne also became close friends with famous people like Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, and Paul McCartney, which added to his glittery image.
Paul McCartney and Lorne Michaels
George Carlin on SNL
Eddie Murphy on SNL
SNL cast members Bill Murray, John Belushi, Garrett Morris, and Steve Martin are seen hanging out backstage on set
Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, and Bill Hader on SNL
Chris Farley on SNL
On the subject of SNL, the book covers every aspect of the show, from conception, to creation, to birth pangs, to success, to Lorne leaving for five years, to good and bad shows, to sketches, to political philosophy, to budgets, to drug dealers on the set, to awards, to Lorne's management style, to props, to everything else you can think of. If you're interested in the people connected with SNL - producers, directors, writers, assistants, actors, actresses, comics, mimics, musicians, guest hosts, costume designers, supporters, detractors, critics, what have you - this is the book for you.
The control room for SNL in the late '70s was just as busy of a place as it is today, as the show has been live since its inception
Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey, and Tom Hanks on SNL
Joe Piscopo appears in a sketch impersonating David Letterman. As the comedian looks in the camera, his cue cards can be seen in the wings
Kenan Thompson on SNL
SNL has been on the air for half a century, and is the parent of a huge 'family'. Morrison writes, "When graduates of the show reunite for anniversaries, they feel a kinship across the decades. They are an elite tribe, like astronauts." And producer/comedian Paula Pell remarked, "It's like Lorne had a hundred children with nine wives. It blows your mind, the amount of connective tissue he's created in the world of comedy."
Paula Pell
Steve Martin joins magician Harry Anderson at a cast party after the show in the early '80s. To this day, the cast still gathers for an after-party following each episode
Candice Bergen practices her opening monologue during rehearsal for an episode in which she was the host. She was the first woman to host SNL and did so five times between 1975 to 1990
Part of Lorne's legacy includes show business ventures beyond SNL, and Morrison writes about these as well. The author also discusses Lorne's personal life: his mother, father, extended family, wives (Rosie Shuster, Susan Forristal, and Anne Barry), friends, lifestyle, homes, favorite restaurants, vacations, parties, gift-giving (Lorne has a knack for thoughtful presents), and so on. (Note: Lorne and Alice Barry have three children, Sophie, Henry, and Edward)
Lorne Michaels' second wife Susan Forristal
Lorne Michaels and his third wife Alice Barry
Lorne Michaels with his children Sophie, Henry, Edward
Morrison did an enormous amount of research for this 600+ page biography, which tells us a lot about Lorne Michaels. It would seem Lorne's most important legacy is the 'healing laughter' provided by SNL, which can draw a smile, and help us go on, even after a disaster or bad news.
It feels like every famous person in the modern western world is mentioned in this book, which I'd recommend to readers interested in the entertainment industry, especially fans of SNL.
Thanks to Netgalley, Susan Morrison, and Random House for a copy of the book.
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February 5, 2025
I don’t read them often, but I do like old behind-the-scenes showbiz stories. When an early review copy of this became available, I thought it might be a breezy, superficial cash-in of a book marketed to coincide with SNL’s 50th anniversary year. Since I’m not above a quick perusal of a breezy, superficial cash-in of a book, I figured it might be worth a look.
So I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this is a substantial, deeply-researched, fully-fleshed-out, definitive biography of one of television’s most influential producers and comedy pacesetters, which I only later found out has been nearly a decade in the making.
Few TV producers are famous in their own right, and most who are currently known by name (like, say, Chuck Lorre or Shonda Rhimes) are known for a prolific body of work. You have to go back to the likes of Rod Serling or Gene Roddenberry to find TV producers who are essentially known for one career-defining thing. Lorne Michaels, you could say, is as current as Lorre and Rhimes in his output and influence, and as old-school as Serling and Roddenberry in his connection to one definitive project.
And that bridge between the old and the new, between Michaels� reverence for what has come before and his push to help define what comes next, is a major theme of the book. As mainstream as SNL is today, it’s easy to forget how subversive it was when it debuted. And yet even then, it had its roots in classic comedy, Morrison observes, as Michaels “was hoping to be able to recreate the Colgate Comedy Hour and the Sid Caesar Show� for a younger, modern audience.
Long before SNL, though, a large part of the book is devoted to Michaels� upbringing and his influences. We learn how the young Lorne Lipowitz grew up enchanted by comedy and entertainment, absorbing the lore of old showbiz from his neighbor/later first wife’s comedian father. Putting on SNL-like weekly shows at summer camp eventually led to putting on an SNL-like show on Canadian TV, which eventually led to� not SNL, but a career dead-end in Hollywood.
SNL would come, but not just yet. Michaels once again found himself straddling the old and the new, the hip and the hoary, embracing the counterculture of the 1960’s and 70’s while making a living writing for a lot of schlocky old-fashioned variety shows of the era. As one who was “as much an old showbiz buff as he was a young man in a hurry,� he found himself “caught between feeling like he was going places and panicking that he had dead-ended.�
It was a combination of talent and serendipity that led to Saturday Night Live. This is the part of Michaels� story that most readers have probably come for, while simultaneously being the part that’s most often told. But Morrison tells it with engaging writing and compelling detail. It was actually NBC executives who thought up much of the show’s structure - that it should be called Saturday Night, that it would be live, broadcast from NBC headquarters in Rockefeller Center, and have guest hosts. It all meshed with the ideas that Michaels himself had, for a youth-oriented comedy sketch show with live rock music, featuring a repertory company that often satirized television itself, with fake commercials, game shows, newscasts and the like.
The early years of the show are well-covered by other books, but Morrison differentiates her take by keeping the focus on Michaels, his theories and analysis of comedy, and how to generate a show from scratch every week, as she deconstructs early sketches and their influences instead of merely summarizing them. Complaints that the show wasn’t as good as it used to be started only a few years in, as “success made it seem mainstream� and Michaels found that “maintaining a hit was almost harder than creating one.�
Tensions with less creative-minded executives are a recurring theme, particularly during Michaels� “wilderness years,� when he left the show after its fifth season and was lured back for its eleventh; during the rocky 1984-85 and 1994-95 seasons when the show was at risk of being cancelled; and in 1998, when humorless execs got Norm Macdonald and longtime writer Jim Downey fired. By this time, Michaels comes across as somewhat more detached, making decisions that weren’t always best for the show, inviting more executive interference. While every story seems to end with Michaels coming out ahead and outsmarting the suits, Morrison does manage to show that the one-time wunderkind is far from infallible in his approach to comedy and his management style.
With no real rocky periods to speak of in the show’s second quarter-century, this portion of the book is somewhat less interesting, as everything seems to coast along and the stories about how the show handled challenges like 9/11, recent presidential elections and Covid are much more familiar. At this point, the book is less about Michaels� rise and the creative process, and more about the show itself, as the one-time counterculture darling developed into an old showbiz-style institution itself. I'm not sure it would have been realistic to do so, but I don't think the book would have lost anything had all of the past 25 years or so been truncated into a shorter summary rather than stretched into full chapters.
Over time, Michaels himself became a mogul, rich and well-connected beyond his wildest dreams. And yet some of his dreams, from becoming a successful filmmaker to becoming, improbably, editor of the New Yorker, never came to pass, as most of his successes are directly linked to SNL - overseeing the rest of NBC late night, with his hoped-for movie career largely limited to producing SNL spinoffs.
The book’s structure is unusual, in that it’s divided into “parts� named for days of the week, each one starting with a chapter describing a day in the production process leading up to a 2018 episode of SNL (it’s unclear why Morrison didn’t manage to get insider access to a more recent production week - 2018 was a long time ago, after all). Then, after each of these opening chapters, the book reverts to its original timeline right where it left off in the previous part. So it can be a little jarring, lurching back and forth in time - but it all comes together in the end, where the final chapter describes show day and you really get to see Michaels in action, making decisions large and small, being incredibly hands-on in some cases, surprisingly hands-off in others, and choreographing the entire process of turning what appears to be endless chaos into live television.
“He is the real star of the show,� Morrison writes of Michaels early in the book. By the book’s end, that’s hard to dispute. After 50 years, the show may not always be funny, but it’s undoubtedly still influential, as a marriage of the old and the new, the hip and the hokey, the subversive and the institutional, the likes of which we’re unlikely ever to see again.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House for providing an advance copy of this book for review, ahead of its February 18th release.
So I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this is a substantial, deeply-researched, fully-fleshed-out, definitive biography of one of television’s most influential producers and comedy pacesetters, which I only later found out has been nearly a decade in the making.
Few TV producers are famous in their own right, and most who are currently known by name (like, say, Chuck Lorre or Shonda Rhimes) are known for a prolific body of work. You have to go back to the likes of Rod Serling or Gene Roddenberry to find TV producers who are essentially known for one career-defining thing. Lorne Michaels, you could say, is as current as Lorre and Rhimes in his output and influence, and as old-school as Serling and Roddenberry in his connection to one definitive project.
And that bridge between the old and the new, between Michaels� reverence for what has come before and his push to help define what comes next, is a major theme of the book. As mainstream as SNL is today, it’s easy to forget how subversive it was when it debuted. And yet even then, it had its roots in classic comedy, Morrison observes, as Michaels “was hoping to be able to recreate the Colgate Comedy Hour and the Sid Caesar Show� for a younger, modern audience.
Long before SNL, though, a large part of the book is devoted to Michaels� upbringing and his influences. We learn how the young Lorne Lipowitz grew up enchanted by comedy and entertainment, absorbing the lore of old showbiz from his neighbor/later first wife’s comedian father. Putting on SNL-like weekly shows at summer camp eventually led to putting on an SNL-like show on Canadian TV, which eventually led to� not SNL, but a career dead-end in Hollywood.
SNL would come, but not just yet. Michaels once again found himself straddling the old and the new, the hip and the hoary, embracing the counterculture of the 1960’s and 70’s while making a living writing for a lot of schlocky old-fashioned variety shows of the era. As one who was “as much an old showbiz buff as he was a young man in a hurry,� he found himself “caught between feeling like he was going places and panicking that he had dead-ended.�
It was a combination of talent and serendipity that led to Saturday Night Live. This is the part of Michaels� story that most readers have probably come for, while simultaneously being the part that’s most often told. But Morrison tells it with engaging writing and compelling detail. It was actually NBC executives who thought up much of the show’s structure - that it should be called Saturday Night, that it would be live, broadcast from NBC headquarters in Rockefeller Center, and have guest hosts. It all meshed with the ideas that Michaels himself had, for a youth-oriented comedy sketch show with live rock music, featuring a repertory company that often satirized television itself, with fake commercials, game shows, newscasts and the like.
The early years of the show are well-covered by other books, but Morrison differentiates her take by keeping the focus on Michaels, his theories and analysis of comedy, and how to generate a show from scratch every week, as she deconstructs early sketches and their influences instead of merely summarizing them. Complaints that the show wasn’t as good as it used to be started only a few years in, as “success made it seem mainstream� and Michaels found that “maintaining a hit was almost harder than creating one.�
Tensions with less creative-minded executives are a recurring theme, particularly during Michaels� “wilderness years,� when he left the show after its fifth season and was lured back for its eleventh; during the rocky 1984-85 and 1994-95 seasons when the show was at risk of being cancelled; and in 1998, when humorless execs got Norm Macdonald and longtime writer Jim Downey fired. By this time, Michaels comes across as somewhat more detached, making decisions that weren’t always best for the show, inviting more executive interference. While every story seems to end with Michaels coming out ahead and outsmarting the suits, Morrison does manage to show that the one-time wunderkind is far from infallible in his approach to comedy and his management style.
With no real rocky periods to speak of in the show’s second quarter-century, this portion of the book is somewhat less interesting, as everything seems to coast along and the stories about how the show handled challenges like 9/11, recent presidential elections and Covid are much more familiar. At this point, the book is less about Michaels� rise and the creative process, and more about the show itself, as the one-time counterculture darling developed into an old showbiz-style institution itself. I'm not sure it would have been realistic to do so, but I don't think the book would have lost anything had all of the past 25 years or so been truncated into a shorter summary rather than stretched into full chapters.
Over time, Michaels himself became a mogul, rich and well-connected beyond his wildest dreams. And yet some of his dreams, from becoming a successful filmmaker to becoming, improbably, editor of the New Yorker, never came to pass, as most of his successes are directly linked to SNL - overseeing the rest of NBC late night, with his hoped-for movie career largely limited to producing SNL spinoffs.
The book’s structure is unusual, in that it’s divided into “parts� named for days of the week, each one starting with a chapter describing a day in the production process leading up to a 2018 episode of SNL (it’s unclear why Morrison didn’t manage to get insider access to a more recent production week - 2018 was a long time ago, after all). Then, after each of these opening chapters, the book reverts to its original timeline right where it left off in the previous part. So it can be a little jarring, lurching back and forth in time - but it all comes together in the end, where the final chapter describes show day and you really get to see Michaels in action, making decisions large and small, being incredibly hands-on in some cases, surprisingly hands-off in others, and choreographing the entire process of turning what appears to be endless chaos into live television.
“He is the real star of the show,� Morrison writes of Michaels early in the book. By the book’s end, that’s hard to dispute. After 50 years, the show may not always be funny, but it’s undoubtedly still influential, as a marriage of the old and the new, the hip and the hokey, the subversive and the institutional, the likes of which we’re unlikely ever to see again.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House for providing an advance copy of this book for review, ahead of its February 18th release.
March 5, 2025
I’ve been a fan of SNL since the first show in 1975.
As Lorne willingly admits the show has had its ups and downs through the 50 years it has been on TV.
I enjoyed the more in-depth view of Lorne Michaels and the backstage look at the production of SNL.
Lots of info I never knew with lots I did know. Thoroughly enjoyable especially if you’re a fan.
As Lorne willingly admits the show has had its ups and downs through the 50 years it has been on TV.
I enjoyed the more in-depth view of Lorne Michaels and the backstage look at the production of SNL.
Lots of info I never knew with lots I did know. Thoroughly enjoyable especially if you’re a fan.
March 27, 2025
I devoured this 600 pager like it was nothing, and I will definitely re-read "Lorne" again soon, so I can suck out all its marrow. The best biographies for me are the ones where learning about someone else's life/world helps me make sense of my own. Lorne was one of those books.
Susan Morrison's portrait of Lorne works on so many levels--as a celebrity biography, as a business book, as an essential piece of comedy history, and as a behind-the-scenes peak at how an episode of SNL gets made. The biography alternates between a straightforward account of Lorne's life, and an exhilarating piece of "embedded journalism", as Morrison describes the chaotic experience of watching Lorne put an episode of SNL together in real-ish time.
You see how he handles host Jonah Hill (Morrison is able to convey a lot about Hill just by quoting him lol), glimpse some behind the scenes drama with then-cast member Leslie Jones, learn the different stages of production leading up to show night, and are even made privy to the ruthless, rapid fire production notes Michaels provides the writing staff during dress rehearsal. You see Michaels navigate political fallout after Pete Davidson makes a flippant remark about a veteran. You even get to tag along to an SNL post-show party.
I learned a ton about Lorne, and while it wasn't all flattering, it was compelling. Michaels sees himself as a problem solver, and he has an incredible ability to crystallize every moment of his life into wisdom. Surprisingly, many of the lessons Lorne has learned in showbiz has helped me process/understand a few things in my own non-showbiz life! It was kind of an inspiring read in that way.
You don't have to be a diehard SNL fan to relish this book (I'm not), but I imagine it would be a lot to absorb if you didn't know anything about the show going in. Even so, I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone who is even slightly aware of/interested in Lorne Michaels.
Susan Morrison's portrait of Lorne works on so many levels--as a celebrity biography, as a business book, as an essential piece of comedy history, and as a behind-the-scenes peak at how an episode of SNL gets made. The biography alternates between a straightforward account of Lorne's life, and an exhilarating piece of "embedded journalism", as Morrison describes the chaotic experience of watching Lorne put an episode of SNL together in real-ish time.
You see how he handles host Jonah Hill (Morrison is able to convey a lot about Hill just by quoting him lol), glimpse some behind the scenes drama with then-cast member Leslie Jones, learn the different stages of production leading up to show night, and are even made privy to the ruthless, rapid fire production notes Michaels provides the writing staff during dress rehearsal. You see Michaels navigate political fallout after Pete Davidson makes a flippant remark about a veteran. You even get to tag along to an SNL post-show party.
I learned a ton about Lorne, and while it wasn't all flattering, it was compelling. Michaels sees himself as a problem solver, and he has an incredible ability to crystallize every moment of his life into wisdom. Surprisingly, many of the lessons Lorne has learned in showbiz has helped me process/understand a few things in my own non-showbiz life! It was kind of an inspiring read in that way.
You don't have to be a diehard SNL fan to relish this book (I'm not), but I imagine it would be a lot to absorb if you didn't know anything about the show going in. Even so, I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone who is even slightly aware of/interested in Lorne Michaels.
January 23, 2025
When it began 50 (yikes) years ago, Saturday Night Live relished in its image of gonzo television, and helmed by Lorne Michaels has somehow retained that aura while gaining respect. This heavily researched biography does a great job of telling Michaels's story and how he shaped the show featuring the kind of humor that he appreciates. The most interesting parts to me were of how the show is crafted, the creative forces necessary to go live from New York at precisely 11:30 on Saturday nights. He has remarked that they go on not because they are ready, but because it's time. Fascinating but not a perfect 5 because it could have used a bit of trimming.
December 16, 2024
This is what you want in a celebrity biography - or any biography, really. Deep reporting. Stories you haven’t heard a million times. Clean, incisive writing. And the feeling that you never know, moment to moment, just what you think about the subject, your assessment changing with the evidence.
Lorne Michaels is a source of constant fascination of anyone who comes into contact with him. Seemingly every SNL alumnus has a theory about him, and literally every SNL alumnus can’t seem to stop thinking about him.
Michaels, through author Morrison’s reporting, emerges as an act of will and self-creation. What he has made of himself is not always flattering, but is always fascinating. I simply loved and devoured this book.
Many thanks to Random Hoise and NetGalley for the advance reviewer copy.
Lorne Michaels is a source of constant fascination of anyone who comes into contact with him. Seemingly every SNL alumnus has a theory about him, and literally every SNL alumnus can’t seem to stop thinking about him.
Michaels, through author Morrison’s reporting, emerges as an act of will and self-creation. What he has made of himself is not always flattering, but is always fascinating. I simply loved and devoured this book.
Many thanks to Random Hoise and NetGalley for the advance reviewer copy.
March 3, 2025
I guess a 50 year institution’s creator deserves a biography, but something this massive seems like a strange choice.
It’s unusual how unfunny this book is. The few really funny lines (Henry Kissinger actually calls the show trying to get tickets for his son and Al Franken tells him he could of had them if he hadn’t bombed Cambodia) almost seem like accidents they are so rare.
Michaels come across as so in love with his wealth and famous friends that if you looked up insufferable in the dictionary, his picture would appear next to the definition. It’s a puzzling choice to make the subject so unlikable, but maybe the research she did gave her no other choice.
If you listen to it as an audible book, you keep wondering if the narrator is making a conscious choice to be so bad it is somehow good. The way she renders his voice would get her booed off the stage at a high school reader’s theater. I can’t remember a worst narrator.
I like SNL and I appreciate Michaels talents so I’m not sad that I read it, but boy howdy I can’t imagine recommending it to anyone but a hard core fan.
It’s unusual how unfunny this book is. The few really funny lines (Henry Kissinger actually calls the show trying to get tickets for his son and Al Franken tells him he could of had them if he hadn’t bombed Cambodia) almost seem like accidents they are so rare.
Michaels come across as so in love with his wealth and famous friends that if you looked up insufferable in the dictionary, his picture would appear next to the definition. It’s a puzzling choice to make the subject so unlikable, but maybe the research she did gave her no other choice.
If you listen to it as an audible book, you keep wondering if the narrator is making a conscious choice to be so bad it is somehow good. The way she renders his voice would get her booed off the stage at a high school reader’s theater. I can’t remember a worst narrator.
I like SNL and I appreciate Michaels talents so I’m not sad that I read it, but boy howdy I can’t imagine recommending it to anyone but a hard core fan.
February 22, 2025
This did not have to be a 23 hr audiobook. While it had some fun bits, the lack of clear timeline was not my favorite.
January 14, 2025
I’ve wished for this book for so many years. Lorne Michaels has always fascinated me and my expectations were very high. I wasn’t disappointed.
Lorne goes deep. This book covers him from his childhood to now and it really covers everything. That made the book a little longer than necessary. It also name drops as much as Lorne does. That’s my only issue with it.
The research and writing are so well done. I really recommend this one!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.
Lorne goes deep. This book covers him from his childhood to now and it really covers everything. That made the book a little longer than necessary. It also name drops as much as Lorne does. That’s my only issue with it.
The research and writing are so well done. I really recommend this one!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.
April 2, 2025
If you’ve ever wondered how SNL was made. We’re curious to what happened when this happened, it’s all in this book. For a comedy nerd and a tv junkie and even a pop culture fan this biography was much more than that, it was a behind the scenes style monologue but it wasn’t fake it was real. You became a fly on the wall at SNL, and no one swatted you down until Congressman Dan Crenshaw noticed you and it was over. (That’s not a political statement but more of when the book ends)
Awesome to learn more
Awesome to learn more
February 27, 2025
Anyone who knows me knows that Saturday Night Live has and will always be a hyper-fixation for me. So this VERY LONG BOOK (and even longer audiobook) was purely fascinating. But this is not a memoir and definitely not the faint of heart.
March 6, 2025
Well written and a great read for any fan of SNL.
It was a bit long, at over 600 pages, but written in a way that kept your attention.
I was 15 in 1975 when it first aired and I remember lying in my bed after a night spent with good friends and SNL popped on at 11:30 and I was hooked.
Definitely groundbreaking stuff.
Lorne was a visionary and he had the guts to put stuff out there that would make a parent in the 70’s cringe. Mine never knew what I was watching since they were already asleep.
It became my Saturday Night Ritual. I stopped watching a few years back. I just don’t find it enjoyable anymore. I guess the torch has passed to a new generation or two, but I’m so glad I got on for the ride at the very beginning when it was truly good.
It was a bit long, at over 600 pages, but written in a way that kept your attention.
I was 15 in 1975 when it first aired and I remember lying in my bed after a night spent with good friends and SNL popped on at 11:30 and I was hooked.
Definitely groundbreaking stuff.
Lorne was a visionary and he had the guts to put stuff out there that would make a parent in the 70’s cringe. Mine never knew what I was watching since they were already asleep.
It became my Saturday Night Ritual. I stopped watching a few years back. I just don’t find it enjoyable anymore. I guess the torch has passed to a new generation or two, but I’m so glad I got on for the ride at the very beginning when it was truly good.
April 1, 2025
Part biography of Lorne Michaels and part biography of SNL, this book was so deliciously showbizzy!
Several times I thought Lorne Michaels, plainly elusive and quick to turn a situation into an aphorism, was so much like myself. When he was worried that a letter from Conan O Brien might be insulting, he had an assistant read it first to gauge the tone and I immediately had another level of success to strive for.
If “that’s showbiz, baby� were a person it would be Lorne Michaels. He is completely repelled by emotion in others yet nobody is better at dealing with Hollywood egos. I was thrilled with how much he hates confrontation and sentimentality. “Make it funny!�
What was most amazing is that no matter how people see him, (God, Father, Wizard) there’s never any bad blood between him and others. He’s respected and admired and he really takes care of the SNL team. He paid for Amy Poehler to get her teeth done before she started filming! I mean come on!
He’s been married three times but you would hardly know it from this book because the focus was rarely on his home life (a double scorpio for you) but that was fine by me because the book was total access in the mind of a mogul who wheels and deals as an anachronism and I fully enjoyed it.
Overall Michael’s is like a father: loose with advice and material gifts and stiff on the hugs and compliments.
four stars
Several times I thought Lorne Michaels, plainly elusive and quick to turn a situation into an aphorism, was so much like myself. When he was worried that a letter from Conan O Brien might be insulting, he had an assistant read it first to gauge the tone and I immediately had another level of success to strive for.
If “that’s showbiz, baby� were a person it would be Lorne Michaels. He is completely repelled by emotion in others yet nobody is better at dealing with Hollywood egos. I was thrilled with how much he hates confrontation and sentimentality. “Make it funny!�
What was most amazing is that no matter how people see him, (God, Father, Wizard) there’s never any bad blood between him and others. He’s respected and admired and he really takes care of the SNL team. He paid for Amy Poehler to get her teeth done before she started filming! I mean come on!
He’s been married three times but you would hardly know it from this book because the focus was rarely on his home life (a double scorpio for you) but that was fine by me because the book was total access in the mind of a mogul who wheels and deals as an anachronism and I fully enjoyed it.
Overall Michael’s is like a father: loose with advice and material gifts and stiff on the hugs and compliments.
four stars
March 29, 2025
This exhaustive 600 page biography of Lorne Michaels paints a complicated picture. He is clearly a comedic genius, but he’s also a celebrity obsessed social climber who rules his show using emotional manipulation and passive aggressive communication. It was really interesting to read that the only person who didn’t fall under his spell was Chris Rock - simply because he knew something few others want to admit - Lorne’s not cool. This book is full of juicy tidbits and I’m very glad I read it, especially when the 50th anniversary special & documentaries are out, glorifying this man. I find the history of SNL truly fascinating, but the man behind it pretty odious. I do not think he will allow anyone to take over for him, so now I will understand better when the show ends. It’s an incredible work of art, and a new thing will have to arise - hopefully something less like “a monarchy�.
April 1, 2025
The book I just finished reading was a very detailed and interesting read about how Saturday night live was created. It takes the reader into mind of Lorne Michaels how he negotiated with Hollywood to make and produce the biggest show in television history. The list of people who starred in the show is remarkable.
March 13, 2025
every dad in america's new favorite book
4.5
4.5
March 20, 2025
I remember my American History teacher telling my class that no one can really capture George Washington. After reading this overlong biography about Lorne Michaels, I think Lorne also fits that category. Tom Shales� Live From New York book remains the only book you need to read if you are an SNL fan. This book fills in some of that gaps regarding what Lorne did prior to creating SNL. His father died suddenly when he was a teenager and he adopted a second family, the Shusters, who were comedy royalty in Toronto. But the book doesn’t really give you much insight into what makes Michaels tick or how he managed to create a show that has managed to remain must watch tv for 50’years. Mainly, the book reinforces that Lorne has lived a particularly charmed life and that he has a LOT of famous friends, some of which, like Mick Jagger, write lovely thank you notes. Recommended for only the biggest SNL fans.
January 20, 2025
When I saw a biography of longtime SNL producer, Lorne Michaels, available as an ARC from Random House and NetGalley, I speedily requested a chance to read it.
Growing up my mom was always an SNL fan and I remember the first night I was allowed to watch it when we had to stay up late to pick someone up from the airport. Rather than miss watching my mom allowed me to lay on the couch and watch when it came on. Then as I got older I stayed up with her to watch and caught all the reruns on Comedy Central. In the late 2000’s I transformed my now husband from a sporadic viewer to a regular watcher and now we share age appropriate skits with our kids. Our family has multiple SNL quotes that infuse our family vernacular.
The author, Susan Morrison, structured this book in such a great way. Each section corresponds to a day of the week of an SNL production week. Monday, when the production for an episode first begins, started with a section following a modern Monday on SNL and then explored Lorne’s early years. This continues on, section by section with each SNL day corresponding to a period in Lorne’s life until Saturday when we get a glimpse of a show day, followed by an epilogue to the book.
Ms Morrison did a great job presenting Lorne as a real person with both strengths and weaknesses. I laughed out loud multiple times and learned a number of things I didn’t already know, both about Lorne and the show. She also did a great job curating quotes to go along with her story telling and choosing anecdotes around SNL that painted a picture even if they didn’t directly reference Lorne.
This biography could easily appeal to fans of biographies, fans of SNL, or anyone looking at a glimpse behind the curtain of one of Hollywoods most well known producers. It was well timed for the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live and makes a worthy add to anyone considering an SNL deep dive to commemorate the occasion.
Thank you Random House and NetGalley for this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Growing up my mom was always an SNL fan and I remember the first night I was allowed to watch it when we had to stay up late to pick someone up from the airport. Rather than miss watching my mom allowed me to lay on the couch and watch when it came on. Then as I got older I stayed up with her to watch and caught all the reruns on Comedy Central. In the late 2000’s I transformed my now husband from a sporadic viewer to a regular watcher and now we share age appropriate skits with our kids. Our family has multiple SNL quotes that infuse our family vernacular.
The author, Susan Morrison, structured this book in such a great way. Each section corresponds to a day of the week of an SNL production week. Monday, when the production for an episode first begins, started with a section following a modern Monday on SNL and then explored Lorne’s early years. This continues on, section by section with each SNL day corresponding to a period in Lorne’s life until Saturday when we get a glimpse of a show day, followed by an epilogue to the book.
Ms Morrison did a great job presenting Lorne as a real person with both strengths and weaknesses. I laughed out loud multiple times and learned a number of things I didn’t already know, both about Lorne and the show. She also did a great job curating quotes to go along with her story telling and choosing anecdotes around SNL that painted a picture even if they didn’t directly reference Lorne.
This biography could easily appeal to fans of biographies, fans of SNL, or anyone looking at a glimpse behind the curtain of one of Hollywoods most well known producers. It was well timed for the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live and makes a worthy add to anyone considering an SNL deep dive to commemorate the occasion.
Thank you Random House and NetGalley for this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Read
January 15, 2025Take any and all books/materials on SNL and inject them directly into my veins. I started watching about three years ago at the encouragement of a former coworker (Hi, Cara!) and haven't looked back since. Nothing gets me hyped more for my Sunday morning long run than watching the previous night's SNL.
However, most deep-dives into SNL leave out the mastermind himself: Lorne Michaels. It's always interesting to me to see how certain key events in a person's life shapes who they become (revisionist history novel on if HRC hadn't gotten back together with Bill, anyone?). I've always wondered how Lorne has the stamina to handle running SNL for nearly 50 years (Yeah, I won't talk about the years he wasn't there), and now I have it.
I also liked how it talked about how he got to have his fingers in the pies of various projects his former cast members have done. Probably my favorite part was how each section of the book was titled after a day of the week, and outlined what that day would look like in the 30 Rock offices, centered around the real life experiences of the show introducing Jonah Hill to the 5 Timers Club. Do I wish they had chosen a different show to model in 2025 given all the crap with Jonah Hill? Yes. C'est la vie.
Thanks, NetGalley!
However, most deep-dives into SNL leave out the mastermind himself: Lorne Michaels. It's always interesting to me to see how certain key events in a person's life shapes who they become (revisionist history novel on if HRC hadn't gotten back together with Bill, anyone?). I've always wondered how Lorne has the stamina to handle running SNL for nearly 50 years (Yeah, I won't talk about the years he wasn't there), and now I have it.
I also liked how it talked about how he got to have his fingers in the pies of various projects his former cast members have done. Probably my favorite part was how each section of the book was titled after a day of the week, and outlined what that day would look like in the 30 Rock offices, centered around the real life experiences of the show introducing Jonah Hill to the 5 Timers Club. Do I wish they had chosen a different show to model in 2025 given all the crap with Jonah Hill? Yes. C'est la vie.
Thanks, NetGalley!
March 27, 2025
Massive, biased biography of the SNL chief, written with the blessing of Lorne Michaels himself. That should give readers concern because Michaels is Mafia-like control freak and rarely grants interviews.
I've read so many SNL books and all draw him as a softspoken dictator who is difficult to please, and I've come to dislike his leadership style as well as the crap he puts on the air late Saturday nights.
This book didn't change my opinion of the disgustingly self-serving and liberal producer. Over three-fourths of his show segments are amateurish, he has no problem allowing staff to push a distorted anti-conservative agenda, and (in my view watching it from the start) he should have been replaced at least a decade ago. The 50th Anniversary special had a few good bits but most of it was lame and failed to honor some of the most significant stars in the show's history (because Lorne avoids them when they don't bow down to him or say something negative publicly about him).
This brings a lot of interesting background detail while breezing through the years (as fast as the author can in 600 pages!), but it's also filled with first-person speculation by Morrison and leaves out a whole lot of negative perspectives that should have been included. Pages are packed with bits of supposed facts without any attribution, and despite having a footnotes index most references to where she got the information is never included. Morrison makes all sorts of claims about Michaels' emotions, feelings and motivations without any source shown.
It's not a whitewash but it is a propaganda piece that concludes Lorne Michaels is a soft-hearted benevolent family man who has found a peace-loving Canadian way to treat others. Remember how Mafia leaders claim to be all about family and preach about keeping peace through loyalty to the man in charge?
I prefer to think of Lorne as the book states in one spot: "Colleagues have mentally linked Michaels to...The Godfather," with John Mulaney saying: "He was like a hit man." Maybe the title of the book should have been Hit Man, which has multiple meanings that would reflect the mob-like producer's personality and life.
I've read so many SNL books and all draw him as a softspoken dictator who is difficult to please, and I've come to dislike his leadership style as well as the crap he puts on the air late Saturday nights.
This book didn't change my opinion of the disgustingly self-serving and liberal producer. Over three-fourths of his show segments are amateurish, he has no problem allowing staff to push a distorted anti-conservative agenda, and (in my view watching it from the start) he should have been replaced at least a decade ago. The 50th Anniversary special had a few good bits but most of it was lame and failed to honor some of the most significant stars in the show's history (because Lorne avoids them when they don't bow down to him or say something negative publicly about him).
This brings a lot of interesting background detail while breezing through the years (as fast as the author can in 600 pages!), but it's also filled with first-person speculation by Morrison and leaves out a whole lot of negative perspectives that should have been included. Pages are packed with bits of supposed facts without any attribution, and despite having a footnotes index most references to where she got the information is never included. Morrison makes all sorts of claims about Michaels' emotions, feelings and motivations without any source shown.
It's not a whitewash but it is a propaganda piece that concludes Lorne Michaels is a soft-hearted benevolent family man who has found a peace-loving Canadian way to treat others. Remember how Mafia leaders claim to be all about family and preach about keeping peace through loyalty to the man in charge?
I prefer to think of Lorne as the book states in one spot: "Colleagues have mentally linked Michaels to...The Godfather," with John Mulaney saying: "He was like a hit man." Maybe the title of the book should have been Hit Man, which has multiple meanings that would reflect the mob-like producer's personality and life.
January 2, 2025
Susan Morrison, an editor from The New Yorker, expertly tells the story of Lorne Michaels and the institution he created in Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, which releases on February 18. Thanks to Random House for offering me an advanced eBook copy in exchange for an honest review.
The expansive book � 656 pages, which was intimidating at first � is broken up into six parts, Monday through Saturday. Monday begins on October 29, 2018, as Michaels and his troops begin preparing for an episode hosted by Jonah Hill. Before they get down to business, though, he checks in with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon (Michaels, of course, executive produces the show), who’d just received a death threat and some justifiable criticism for a decades-old blackface performance on an episode of SNL. Then we get an introduction to the intense preparation process for Hill’s episode.
We soon travel back in time to Michaels’s time in Canada. We’re introduced to his family and given insight into his first experience in broadcasting. Each section has several chapters that alternate between that era, the early days of SNL, and the aforementioned prep work for Hill’s episode. Insight is also given into Lorne’s relationship with the network, Conan vs. Leno, and easing Fallon into becoming a late-night host.
Morrison spoke with many SNL luminaries and spent a good deal of time with Lorne himself. I applaud her for her unbiased depiction of her subject. You hear good things, bad things, and everything in between. This is one of the most honest, insightful and riveting biographies I’ve read. Now I feel like I should watch Jason Rietmen’s Saturday Night again.
The expansive book � 656 pages, which was intimidating at first � is broken up into six parts, Monday through Saturday. Monday begins on October 29, 2018, as Michaels and his troops begin preparing for an episode hosted by Jonah Hill. Before they get down to business, though, he checks in with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon (Michaels, of course, executive produces the show), who’d just received a death threat and some justifiable criticism for a decades-old blackface performance on an episode of SNL. Then we get an introduction to the intense preparation process for Hill’s episode.
We soon travel back in time to Michaels’s time in Canada. We’re introduced to his family and given insight into his first experience in broadcasting. Each section has several chapters that alternate between that era, the early days of SNL, and the aforementioned prep work for Hill’s episode. Insight is also given into Lorne’s relationship with the network, Conan vs. Leno, and easing Fallon into becoming a late-night host.
Morrison spoke with many SNL luminaries and spent a good deal of time with Lorne himself. I applaud her for her unbiased depiction of her subject. You hear good things, bad things, and everything in between. This is one of the most honest, insightful and riveting biographies I’ve read. Now I feel like I should watch Jason Rietmen’s Saturday Night again.
March 11, 2025
Really enjoyable book. I came in knowing virtually nothing about SNL, essentially a blank slate, so I was amazed at how deep the lore goes.
For one, I can't believe how many of my favorite TV / movie actors did their time at SNL. I knew the big ones like Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler, but people like Bob Odenkirk, Larry David, John Mulaney, Julia Louis Dreyfus -- going forward, I will just assume anyone who's funny and on my TV made a pitstop at SNL at some point.
And then there is the chaos of making the show -- not just how it functions week to week, but the behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing between seasons and how Lorne had to fight to stay alive at different points in time. It really made me appreciate not only the longevity of the show but also his political savvy. With the wrong person at the helm, the show likely would have been canceled or fallen apart years ago.
Lastly, I found that the author painted a fair and balanced picture of Lorne. On the one hand, he is a kind and caring paternal figure who just happens to be the centrifugal force of the comedy world, while on the other hand, he can be aloof, cold, and biting, with a tendency to cut people off who don't listen to him at every turn. Love him or hate him, it's clear that everyone who's gone through the SNL universe admires and respects him, and with his 50-year track record, how could you not?
Now it's time for a YouTube deep dive to bring the sketches described in this book to life...
For one, I can't believe how many of my favorite TV / movie actors did their time at SNL. I knew the big ones like Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler, but people like Bob Odenkirk, Larry David, John Mulaney, Julia Louis Dreyfus -- going forward, I will just assume anyone who's funny and on my TV made a pitstop at SNL at some point.
And then there is the chaos of making the show -- not just how it functions week to week, but the behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing between seasons and how Lorne had to fight to stay alive at different points in time. It really made me appreciate not only the longevity of the show but also his political savvy. With the wrong person at the helm, the show likely would have been canceled or fallen apart years ago.
Lastly, I found that the author painted a fair and balanced picture of Lorne. On the one hand, he is a kind and caring paternal figure who just happens to be the centrifugal force of the comedy world, while on the other hand, he can be aloof, cold, and biting, with a tendency to cut people off who don't listen to him at every turn. Love him or hate him, it's clear that everyone who's gone through the SNL universe admires and respects him, and with his 50-year track record, how could you not?
Now it's time for a YouTube deep dive to bring the sketches described in this book to life...
February 5, 2025
Random House provided an early galley for review.
This year marks the 50th anniversary for Saturday Night Live, so there is no better time for this biography to drop. As a fan of the show for much of my life, I was very excited to check this one out.
Morrison structures this memoir in an interesting way. With six sections, each starts with a day-in-the-life as the reader is walked through a weekly breakdown of how an SNL episode is created (which I found very enlightening). Then, within those sections, we get to see Lorne's life unfold from his youth in Canada to his start in television all the way up today.
As an entertainment sponge, I learned a lot from this one. His connections to earlier programs and specials were fascinating. It helped to show the evolution of his approach to programming. Of course, I enjoyed the section covering the creation of and first five years of SNL (a most infamous era). I had not realized that he had zero involvement for seasons 6 to 10, or that, when he returned for the 11th, that season's cast was all a one-and-done. The sections that focused on his work with The Kids in the Hall as well as the other late-night shows were also enlightening.
All in all, this was a solid look at the man who had major influence on American television for five decades.
This year marks the 50th anniversary for Saturday Night Live, so there is no better time for this biography to drop. As a fan of the show for much of my life, I was very excited to check this one out.
Morrison structures this memoir in an interesting way. With six sections, each starts with a day-in-the-life as the reader is walked through a weekly breakdown of how an SNL episode is created (which I found very enlightening). Then, within those sections, we get to see Lorne's life unfold from his youth in Canada to his start in television all the way up today.
As an entertainment sponge, I learned a lot from this one. His connections to earlier programs and specials were fascinating. It helped to show the evolution of his approach to programming. Of course, I enjoyed the section covering the creation of and first five years of SNL (a most infamous era). I had not realized that he had zero involvement for seasons 6 to 10, or that, when he returned for the 11th, that season's cast was all a one-and-done. The sections that focused on his work with The Kids in the Hall as well as the other late-night shows were also enlightening.
All in all, this was a solid look at the man who had major influence on American television for five decades.
March 25, 2025
The main reason I don’t rate this higher is because it is a 600+ page book and i think easily about 100 pages could be cut. There are so many names of people that the author writes about who are in Lorne’s orbit and we just don’t need to know them all. I wanted to read about the SNL drama and the cast, both old and new, and maybe a little bit about Lorne’s upbringing, but just a little bit�. (it is after all a bio).
The second reason is someone wrote a review here and described the writing a little bit like reading a term paper. (I agree.)
The third reason is because the one episode the author chose to write about to illustrate the behind the scenes of how SNL is produced during the week was when Jonah Hill hosted. Jonah Hill comes off as a tool, (which wasn’t surprising, given all that tabloid news about the texts his former girlfriend disclosed that showed his controlling behavior.)
The episodes that would have been more interesting would be Kanye West, Dave Chappelle (after Hillary lost), Sinead O’Connor or Norm Macdonald, (when he returned to SNL after having been fired.) Who among us remembers the Jonah Hill episode? (I tried to find that episode On Demand and it wasn’t available, though most all the rest of them were.)
I realized after reading it that I did not like Lorne as much as i thought i would. Yes, he is an enigmatic genius, (I guess), but he is not someone i would want to work for, nor would i want him in my family.
Much like the the Rolling Stone’s bio I read about Jann Wenner, (which also disappointed), Lorne comes across as name dropping and fawning over celebrities. The author writes how Lorne holds back communication and uses it as a weapon. This is one of my least favorite traits in a man’s personality. (Though i need to add that Jann comes across to be more of an egomaniac and narcissist than Lorne.)
Having said all of this, it was a pretty decent read, but maybe just because it’s been raining every day here for about two weeks so having a thick book was good. I just wish i hadn’t purchased it and checked it out of the library instead. It’s not a book i need to own in my stacks and i can’t really recommend it.
When Lorne dies i would much rather read a tell all book about him from one of the former cast members. Maybe John Mulaney, Tina Fey, Pete Davidson or Kenan Thompson.
The second reason is someone wrote a review here and described the writing a little bit like reading a term paper. (I agree.)
The third reason is because the one episode the author chose to write about to illustrate the behind the scenes of how SNL is produced during the week was when Jonah Hill hosted. Jonah Hill comes off as a tool, (which wasn’t surprising, given all that tabloid news about the texts his former girlfriend disclosed that showed his controlling behavior.)
The episodes that would have been more interesting would be Kanye West, Dave Chappelle (after Hillary lost), Sinead O’Connor or Norm Macdonald, (when he returned to SNL after having been fired.) Who among us remembers the Jonah Hill episode? (I tried to find that episode On Demand and it wasn’t available, though most all the rest of them were.)
I realized after reading it that I did not like Lorne as much as i thought i would. Yes, he is an enigmatic genius, (I guess), but he is not someone i would want to work for, nor would i want him in my family.
Much like the the Rolling Stone’s bio I read about Jann Wenner, (which also disappointed), Lorne comes across as name dropping and fawning over celebrities. The author writes how Lorne holds back communication and uses it as a weapon. This is one of my least favorite traits in a man’s personality. (Though i need to add that Jann comes across to be more of an egomaniac and narcissist than Lorne.)
Having said all of this, it was a pretty decent read, but maybe just because it’s been raining every day here for about two weeks so having a thick book was good. I just wish i hadn’t purchased it and checked it out of the library instead. It’s not a book i need to own in my stacks and i can’t really recommend it.
When Lorne dies i would much rather read a tell all book about him from one of the former cast members. Maybe John Mulaney, Tina Fey, Pete Davidson or Kenan Thompson.
March 5, 2025
I’ve always been an SNL fan and fascinated with behind the scene tales of the cast, comedy writers, Lorne’s management style and his philosophies for producing SNL. I think casual SNL fans might find this book a bit too long at 600 pages, but I ate it up. It was written by a journalist, so I appreciated the unbiased approach, and it alternated between chapters focusing on Lorne and the show’s history and chapters narrowing in on each day in one week preparing for an episode of SNL. Loved it.
March 30, 2025
Even though I haven’t watched the show all the way through in ages, I’ve always loved the legacy and history of SNL. When I was 12 I used to get the SNL 20th anniversary coffee table book from the library constantly. It had pictures, script excerpts etc. I owned so many of the best of DVDs, and I often site Live from New York the SNL oral history as my favorite book. I think “Lorne� the book may be even better. Loved it.
March 30, 2025
Good Biography
It’s like a pretty slick celebrity biography and a bit disappointing but it gets better. The classic SNL was too slick for me but when the book gets to the part when he’s fired in the early 80s and finally rehired, the book takes a more earnest tone. I appreciated that.
It’s like a pretty slick celebrity biography and a bit disappointing but it gets better. The classic SNL was too slick for me but when the book gets to the part when he’s fired in the early 80s and finally rehired, the book takes a more earnest tone. I appreciated that.
March 8, 2025
I liked it, very informative and interesting given I care about the subject. Style wise I thought it moved fairly fast, but it is written by an editor at the New Yorker so if you don’t like the New Yorker well you may not like it.
March 27, 2025
Long, but worth it. If you've ever had any interest in SNL, or have at least watched enough to have a favorite season or cast member, this will probably appeal to you. Plenty of interesting inside information about the show and how it came about, but mostly a fascinating look at the central character still behind it after 50 years. A singular personality and force within pop culture, Lorne is given a mostly balanced biography treatment by Morrison, who wisely arranges the book as a look at both the history of SNL and a boots-on-the-ground view of a current episode's insane week.
April 3, 2025
As a lover of pop culture, this was the perfect book for me. Similar to Lorne Michaels, author Susan Morrison can name drop celebrities like no one else. I loved the transition between historic SNL and the insanity of a typical week in modern SNL production.
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