haljordan posted:

And the woman producing SNL in 1980 had to basically be forced to take Eddie, she wanted Robert Townsend instead

haljordan posted:

I wonder how much it costs to produce a typical SNL episode, apparently the pay for both performers and writers is notoriously lovely so I wonder if that's a factor in its longevity (plus what the hell else would NBC run at 11:30pm on a Saturday)

haljordan posted:

Yeah true it's a guaranteed paycheck that won't bounce, which a million comedians currently working lovely clubs would brutally kill each other for

MrQwerty posted:

I mean, Robinson got elevated from writer to player, knew he wasn't working as a player, so he went back to the writer's room before he left. Guaranteed paychecks are nice.

haljordan posted:

My thinking was more that the execs kind of just renew the show out of habit because it's not a huge hit to the bottom line even when the ratings are real bad

BATS FLY AT MOON posted:

Who’s keeping it alive now?

BATS FLY AT MOON posted:

Who’s keeping it alive now?

DaveWoo posted:

hey remember when aaron sorkin did a show about a fictionalized version of snl, and made it about how serious and important this sketch comedy show was

Hyrax Attack! posted:

As streaming culture gets more mainstream & old school networks are desperate for anything the youngs might watch that isn’t sports no way they’re gonna cancel something nearly all Americans have seen once or twice.

Who cares if it’s trash as long as the audience shows up and ads sell. Like how Simpsons will never end & someone keeps publishing Tom Clancy books.

haljordan posted:

Anyone who gets a meeting with Lorne has to wait outside his office for like an hour and a half no matter what, because he's a petty shithead

MrQwerty posted:

I mean, Robinson got elevated from writer to player, knew he wasn't working as a player, so he went back to the writer's room before he left. Guaranteed paychecks are nice.

Wendigee posted:

That doesn't make it even worse? Your dad worked 9-11 to pay you back a thousand bucks? loving hell

dr_rat posted:

Is there any good stories about Lorne. You hear a lot of people say "oh Lorne, he's great", but every story I hear about him make him sound like an unfunny, rear end in a top hat, hack, who's only talent being maintaining power.

N. Senada posted:

I was shocked to find out he wrote for SNL because his Netflix stuff was so good

pop fly to McGillicutty posted:

I heard Pete Taco Bell Davidson made some super cool and funny jokes about the Palestinian genocide.

Haptical Sales Slut posted:

I still can’t believe Jack Handy was actually the writers name lol. Deep thoughts was always good.

dr_rat posted:

Is there any good stories about Lorne. You hear a lot of people say "oh Lorne, he's great", but every story I hear about him make him sound like an unfunny, rear end in a top hat, hack, who's only talent being maintaining power.

Fred Wolf posted:

I had a turbulent family life and my dad wasn’t around that much, and I just think Lorne is the greatest. I’d be furious at him and I’d be like really happy sometimes and other times I’d be sullen, but he’s just the greatest guy that I’ve come in contact with, certainly in my career. Some people can get away with everything with him, and some people he would just never give a break to, and you can never really figure out why.

Paul Simon posted:

He was like one of the guys. He wasn’t a father figure to me. Not to Michael O’Donoghue. Not to Gilda. But Lorne became the father figure as the cast and writers became younger in comparison to his age. And I think that was one of his big transitional points, when he realized that he wasn’t one of their contemporaries; when he wasn’t one of the boys and he wasn’t looked upon as one of the gang. I think that’s when he started to act separate from everybody. He used to wear jeans and a blazer. Then he became a suit and tie guy.

Laraine Newman posted:

I think the worst you can say is that he mismanaged or underestimated the impact he had on people who depended on him, and when he couldn’t make it good for them, how betrayed they felt.

Tom Davis posted:

Lorne a snob? Sure he’s a snob. He’s a starfucker of the highest order...but you just have to get past it. He has a very sweet side. He also, in my opinion, does reward the squeaky wheels.

Candice Bergen posted:

Well, he’s an extraordinarily good friend. He’s a wonderful storyteller and he loves to talk. You’d think he wouldn’t have time to pay attention to you, but he pays real attention and he’s incredibly generous as a friend. And very loyal. He’s so smart and perceptive about people; he just gets people so quickly and he’s so astute in what he picks up about them. He’s amazingly measured and wonderfully witty. I love hearing Lorne’s point of view on everything, basically, because I just think what he has to say is so worth hearing. Lorne is only a force for good...
When my husband died and there was a tribute for him, without even asking, Lorne had it filmed and had videotapes made. And it was the kind of thing he would do and then never even refer to it.

Garrett Morris posted:

There’s this commercial with a guy sitting on top of a John Deere machine and the guy says, “How long does a John Deere last?” You know, they’re like a Maytag, nobody ever goes to repair these motherfuckers, right? That commercial always reminded me of Lorne. Nobody ever had to call the repairman on him...
Lorne dug me with all of my flaws, I dig him with all of his. I’m still a Lorne Michaels man.

Janeane Garofalo posted:

I waited in his office for hours. And then I decided I would refuse to be embarrassed like that again. You’ll wait a lot of hours - that’s a power thing.

Damon Wayans posted:

He never said anything but great things about me - even though he fired me. I remember there was a kid on the show who had a drug problem, and Lorne would put him in rehab and take care of him and pay him while he was there and then bring him back to the show. He was like a father to the kid, with the kind of patience a father would have.

James Signorelli posted:

I swear to God - and I’ve been around this guy for almost thirty years - Lorne has no interest in what you want to talk about. None. What Lorne thinks is, if you need him to help you solve it, it’s not worth solving. And you ultimately are going to solve it yourself, even if he told you a better solution.

Conan O’Brien posted:

...because Lorne will not usually confront you directly. He would just say things like, “oh, I loved how it had no ending,” or “it was brilliant how it just sort of dribbled off.” And he’s trying to talk about the lousy dress, and I think Bob Odenkirk, who was very junior at that point, whispered to somebody something, and Lorne just went, “Odenkirk, you speak again, I’ll break your loving legs.” And it was like the first time I had seen him actually swinging into action and actually beating someone up. It really made me laugh.”

Bernie Brillstein posted:

My dad died in New York and the funeral service was ten-thirty in the morning. The last person I think that’s going to be there at ten-thirty in the morning is Lorne. But he was the first one. That’s Lorne. His depth of feeling, his depth of being hurt, is really tremendous. And so is his depth for enjoyment. He’s really the most unique guy with his loyalty. We’ve been together some thirty years, and he was romanced by the best of them. But he’s never left me.

Marilyn Suzanne Miller posted:

...mine was advanced breast cancer, which is to say I didn’t have metastatic breast cancer, but I did have a huge tumor with many nodes, so I had experimental chemo. I told my manager, “I don’t want to go back to L.A. I’m too scared.” So I was going to stay in New York and have this chemo and radiation. And I was just in shock. At that point I didn’t know if I was going to live or die. It was very aggressive cancer.
Lorne had of course been on the phone with me. Everybody from the original show called - the family thing again. Our ties are very emotional. Then one day Lorne called me up. He knew that I wanted to be in New York for the treatments and that I had left a job in L.A. And he said, “How’d you like to come back to the show?” And I thought, “Yeah. I’d love to!” So in the spring I went back. Back home - to Saturday Night Live.

StrangersInTheNight posted:

I feel like Robinson being on SNL is proof that it doesn't actually 'elevate' the best talents - sure, it gets the incredibly funny people but then it waters their work down to moderate dreck.

FishBowlRobot posted:

Damon Wayans posted:

He never said anything but great things about me - even though he fired me.

Disco Pope posted:

The Replacements getting banned from the show and getting Harry Dean Stanton hammered is pretty good.

Disco Pope posted:

Is Sarah Squirm or whatever still on it? She seemed to run with a slightly more interesting type of comedian, but gently caress, if SNL pays the bills, whatever.

pencilhands posted:

shyduck posted:

Speaking of books, Jay Mohr's memoir about his 2 years on SNL was an interesting read. A lot of behind the scenes stuff but also he got into the mental health struggles he endured while on the show. For instance, he once had a panic attack during a live recording and literally sprinted out of the building and to his apartment.