Lorne Michaels

Q: For years now, shows like Meet the Press have been broadcasting clips of an SNL sketch, a spoof of political reality, to have a conversation with their audience about the actual political reality. How are you getting to the core ingredients of what’s going on in a way that people like Tom Brokaw can’t seem to articulate?

A: I think they’d like to make sarcastic comments about candidates, but their role as news people prevents that, so I think showing our clips permits them to let us make the point.

I think it would be awkward for even some of the people on cable to be as out-and-out mocking as we can be, and I also think it sort of makes their shows more entertaining—they can do it for free.  read more »

It turns out Seth Meyers was right. Despite some last minute innuendos by Lorne Michaels, Governor Sarah Palin did not appear on Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Thursday (could they squeeze a few more days into that title?). Instead, the first of three planned prime-time SNL specials featured appearances by former cast members Chris Parnell and Bill Murray.

While it's always nice to see Mr. Murray, who played an audience member during the opening Presidential Debate skit, the 30-minute show was a microcosm for a lot of SNL's recent failings. Again, a major character in a keystone sketch had to be farmed out to a former player.  read more »

Whether the Sarah Palin VP-pick ultimately pays off for John McCain remains to be seen. But for one group of Americans, Gov. Palin's sudden arrival on the national scene promises to be an instant boon: comics!

Judging from what's already made its way to YouTube  (haven't you seen this, this or this?), the moose-hunting hockey mom is in for a ribbing. So who will Saturday Night Live pick to play the small screen version of Sarah Barracuda?

We checked in this afternoon with Mr. Michaels' office in New York to get some answers, and according to Marc Liepis, a spokesperson for the show, the cast is still working on it.

They won't have to crash anything too fast either: the first new episode is slated for a week from Saturday. Here's hoping they have an easier time than they did with Barack Obama .

According to The New York Post, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels has a stalker.

Evan Pidhajecky, a 31-year-old Long Island resident, didn't send Mr. Michaels love letters or threaten to commit suicide as Uma Thurman's personal stalker did earlier this year. Rather, he just wanted the SNL producer to admit that he had stolen his material for the show.

In a letter sent to Mr. Michaels in December, Mr. Pidhajecky claimed that Mr. Michaels overheard his private "conversations, singing and/or other utterances" and used it for the show without his permission. To make his case, Mr. Pidhajecky repeatedly called Mr. Michaels at his office and his home asking for a "chat." When the producer didn't respond, Mr. Pidhajecky started paying visits to Mr. Michaels' Central Park South apartment building.  read more »

Lorne Michaels told reporters Sunday that he plans to premiere Jimmy Fallon as the new host of Late Night on the internet. He plans five or six months of webcasts prior to the 2009 debut of Mr. Fallon's version of the show, according to TV Week.

The Observer interviewed Mr. Michaels about preparing Mr. Fallon for the dubious taks of replacing Conan O'Brien last May:  read more »

According to The Hollywood Reporter's Alex Woodson, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels received a "lifetime achievement award for the role that 'Saturday Night Live' has played in the development of online video" at last night's Webby Awards.  read more »

Last week, at a press conference at NBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center announcing that he would take over for Conan O’Brien on NBC’s Late Night next year, when Mr. O’Brien moves into Jay Leno’s big chair, Jimmy Fallon looked just a little sheepish.

“I’m very excited about this,” he told the crowd of reporters. “It’s just unbelievable to be in the building I used to work at! It’s gonna be a grind, is the advice I heard from everybody, and it’s gonna be really hard, and I’m ready to work really hard. I’m just excited about this. I hope to make this the best show, and the show to make everyone choose me to fall asleep during.” The crowd laughed politely. On the podium with him was his mentor, NBC comedy guru Lorne Michaels, who produces Late Night, which airs nightly at 12:30 a.m., and who had selected Mr. Fallon as its new host, just as he had anointed an unknown 30-year-old Conan O’Brien 15 years earlier.  read more »

There were no surprises at 30 Rock today as NBC announced the new host of Late Night when current host Conan O'Brien decamps to 11:30 PM sometime in 2009. As far back as February 2007, Bill Carter, The New York Times' veteran TV reporter and de facto historian of late night, had been reporting that Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon would be tapped to host the show. As reporters and film crews assembled on the 67th floor to take their lucite seats in a room with floor-to-ceiling windows dramatically framing a rainy, overcast day, Fallon's name was openly bandied about.  read more »

They’re killing Hillary, but only because she’s so Nixonian.  read more »

In case you missed it, here's how the producers of Saturday Night Live found a solution—albeit a temporary one—to their Barack Obama casting dilemma.