Saturday Night Live Lorne Michaels can make or break someone's career in comedy, and he's been doing it for 50 years. That kind of power can be intimidating, but apparently the current SNL cast has managed to cozy up to Michaels.
As creator and executive producer, Michaels has the final say on who joins the Saturday Night Live cast, who hosts, and what sketches make it to air. Cast members and writers, especially when first joining the show, have shared stories of feeling intimidated or nervous about interacting with Michaels.
It's a sentiment shared by Fly on the Wall co-hosts David Spade and Dana Carvey. As cast members during the late '80s and early '90s, they got a front-row seat to the Lorne Michaels experience. Both have had cameos during season 50 and noticed a stark difference between how the cast and Michaels interact.
Spade shared that cast member Sarah Sherman revealed she once reached out to Michaels directly with a question about the show. According to Spade, Sherman "texted and said, 'Why did my sketch get cut?' I'm like, you text Lorne? That floors me."
Spade continued, giving a behind-the-scenes story about rehearsal for the season 50 episode where he played Hunter Biden. "Lorne was giving notes when I did Hunter Biden. We're all sitting there and Lorne's got a microphone and he's like, 'Cold open.' He starts reading and then he goes, 'Sarah' - because she was Matt Gaetz - 'maybe you gotta face... you're not in the light enough. Can you face more towards the middle?' She goes, 'I'll try.' I'm like, 'How about yes, sir?'"
Has Lorne Michaels changed?
It sounds like Spade and Carvey had a much different philosophy when it came to talking with their SNL boss. His decisions were final and shouldn't have been questioned. And since he was in charge, you had to speak to him in a certain way.
To what extent that was taken can really only be known by Spade, Carvey, and those who worked with Michaels over the years. But if a cast member texting Michaels or casually speaking to him during rehearsal stood out enough for Spade to tell his podcast audience, then something must be different.
Maybe Michaels, 80, has become softer over the 50 years he's been running Saturday Night Live. Or maybe a new generation of performers needs to be handled differently than the in the '70s, '80s, and '90s.
Whatever Michaels did or is doing, it works. And he'll have countless former employees and cast members ready to return to Studio 8H and thank him when Saturday Night Live celebrates its 50th anniversary in February.