Lorne Michaels created Saturday Night Live and has guided the show through 50 years of comedy. He knows what works and what doesn't, so when one cast member ignored Michaels' note, it carried a heavy consequence.
Save for a five year hiatus, Lorne Michaels has been behind the scenes for everything at SNL. He's hired just about every kind of comedian and let the show (and its humor) change with the times. But he's always had the final say on what makes it to air.
Former cast member Chris Parnell learned that the hard way. In an interview with Cracked, Parnell recalled his favorite sketch. It featured host Bill Murray as Hollywood gynecologist Steve Baxter and Harper Steele wrote it.
"I came out as a song-and-dance man to introduce him, and I was always happy with how that performance came out," Parnell said. "I did this thing where I was getting funky and twisting my head around. But Lorne (Michaels) had given me a note between dress and air where he had asked me not to do that, and feeling like I really needed to do that for whatever stupid, naive reason, I did it."
That "stupid, naive" reason may have been the beginning of the end for Parnell at Saturday Night Live. According to the ex-cast member, Steele never wrote a similar role for Parnell. His theory is that a "pissed off" Michaels directed Steele to freeze him out.
"I definitely feel like I screwed up in not taking Lorne’s note, which is a pretty big no-no," Parnell admitted. "I paid the price for it. I can’t help but wonder if I would’ve been given more of those kinds of silly things."
Parnell joined Saturday Night Live as a featured player in 1998. The following year, SNL promoted him to a repertory player. Murray's "Steve Baxter" sketch aired in February 1999.
Michaels ultimately fired Parnell in the summer of 2001 along with Jerry Minor. Although SNL rehired him halfway through the year the following season, he was effectively fired again in 2006. The gap between the Baxter sketch and Parnell's first dismissal was over a year. But the actor still thinks it played a part in getting cut.
"I know what I did in ignoring Lorne’s note, and I know that he can take that out on you in ways you might or might not know," Parnell said. "I can’t fault him for it. It’s a live show, and he needs to be able to give actors notes and they should follow them."
Parnell's anecdote stands in stark contrast to one recently shared by David Spade. According to Spade, the season 50 cast is practically buddy-buddy with Lorne Michaels. The former cast member admitted he was shocked at how cast members like Sarah Sherman casually approached the SNL boss.
It sounds like Michaels has changed with the times in more ways than one. Unfortunately for Chris Parnell, his time came when Michaels wasn't as chummy with the cast.