Live From New York - James H. Miller [217]
TIM MEADOWS:
The worst year from my perspective was the year before the big changeover. The last year with Sandler and Farley and Spade and all those guys was, I think, the most fun backstage, but the least fun on-camera. We had good times and we enjoyed each other’s friendships, but there were too many people. The writers and the cast people didn’t gel, you know. I think after doing a certain number of years, it seemed like there were thirty people trying to race to the finish line, instead of people sort of like being a relay team and the writers handing out funny pieces for the performers to do.
There were a lot of talented people, and it was weird, because when you looked at the people that left during that big changeover, a lot of those people went over to write and produce for The Simpsons and Seinfeld. Sandler and Farley and Spade and Jay Mohr, and all these talented people that were in the cast, went on to do other things.
ROBERT WRIGHT, NBC Chairman and CEO:
When Don Ohlmeyer first came in ’93, we had the issue of replacing Letterman, who’d jumped to CBS, and Lorne had cleverly got himself the commission to do that. And so Lorne was going to be the executive producer of the show starring someone. “Someone” didn’t exist, and Don was very anxious about this and wanted to participate in it. This was the first time they were really together. So we had this sort of open audition, and people were submitting tapes and whatever, and they’d gone through a number of people, and I saw the tape on Conan. Lorne already knew Conan was the one he wanted, and I thought it was the best of all the tapes we had seen, and there were lots. It was the beginning of our relationship with Conan. Don didn’t particularly like this, but he did agree that he was the best. The fact that he was totally unknown presented some huge problems for us. But Lorne got support from Don and got support from me and was willing to take on the issue that he wasn’t well known. Some of the other people were known, so that was a big deal. But it’s worked out well for all of us.
AL FRANKEN:
The last season of the show that I was on, Kevin Nealon had been the “Update” anchor and was going to leave as anchor next season. So the spot was open, and it was something I’d always wanted to do, so we had sort of a test. And I did it and Norm Macdonald did it. And it got sent out to Ohlmeyer. And this is something I’d always wanted. So Lorne and Jim take me out to dinner to give me the bad news, right? I know that’s what the dinner is about, but neither of them can kind of get up the courage to tell me. So we’re eating dinner. We’re talking about everything else. We go through the appetizer, the entrée, it’s a nice dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, some place downtown. Finally we get to dessert and coffee, and we’re having our coffee, and I go like, “Guys — what’s going on with the ‘Update’ thing?” “It’s Ohlmeyer, it’s Ohlmeyer.” And I go, “Well, okay.” But I’m heartbroken, and now I know I’m leaving the show. It’s this big blow to me. And then the check comes. And neither Lorne nor Jim has brought their credit cards. So I have to pay for the dinner. But I got reimbursed. It has a happy ending.
LORNE MICHAELS:
The writing was on the wall with Al when he didn’t get “Update” and Norm Macdonald did. Which was a very tough decision. I think there was a feeling at that moment, from Ohlmeyer in particular, that Al was too associated with the show — the “old” show.
NORM MACDONALD:
Adam Sandler liked me and he told Jim Downey about me, and then Jim Downey said I could come on the show. I wanted to be a writer and performer. I wasn’t a very good writer and I wasn’t a very good performer, but I could be a writer-performer. And the one place I could do that was SNL, because Lorne was always good with letting writers perform if they were funny.
I always thought Chevy was the