Live From New York - James H. Miller [218]
JAMES DOWNEY:
Most of my friends liked the Norm “Update.” They thought it was better than previous incarnations of “Update.” They liked the way we did it — deadpan, just very straight, no frills, and the jokes were smart — and they would say it was the reason they watched the show or the best thing in the show. The prevailing attitude at the show and at the network was that “Update” was the problem of the show, and I know Lorne felt it was really hurting the show. He would never say it to me directly.
When we brought Norm in, Herb was still in charge of it, but because Norm was my protégé, I had for the first time a lot of influence, and then I brought other people in. So “Update” was suddenly being group-written again. A lot of writers would kick in things. We liked writing stuff for Norm, because he was great at handling words. He worked with us at editing things down so they could be as tight as possible.
JANEANE GAROFALO:
I certainly am a big fan of Jim Downey as a person. I really like Jim. But he was not in control when I was there, when he should have been. He should have been looking out for some of the cast’s best interests too, and he wasn’t. And he was not available for meetings. He is a great guy and an extremely funny guy and, as a person, I would hang out with Jim Downey anytime. But at that time, he was not there for the cast.
NORM MACDONALD:
Jim Downey is the best. He was producer the first year I did “Update,” and then after that he got fired as producer and I got him just to do “Update,” which was good for me because I got to work with him full-time and he was great. He was a brilliant guy. He was the funniest guy there and the smartest. He would work as sort of like a great editor. You know, he would take the jokes and figure out ways to sharpen them and improve them and, you know, narrow them and stuff like that. And he knew about politics, which I had no interest in at all. So he could think politically and stuff.
JAMES DOWNEY:
There’d be some giant hack joke that you knew would destroy but it would be an embarrassing thing to do, and I could always say to Norm, “This thing will kill, but you know it’s tacky.” And he would not do it. Or I would say, “This is brilliant, but there’s not a chance it’ll get a laugh from the audience” — and we would do those.
ADAM SANDLER:
Downey taught us our taste. I’m not sure if Jim would like that, all the bad reviews I get, but I think I’m doing stuff that Downey would like. But if Herlihy and I wrote a skit and we showed it to Downey and he smiled and then said, “What if the Canteen Boy says this,” me and Herlihy would bump chests and go, “Yes! Downey gave us greatness!”
FRED WOLF:
After Chris Rock left the show, he came back like six or seven months later to visit. And my office, at that time, it was me, Norm Macdonald, Adam Sandler, and David Spade. And we were back there and Chris Rock came to visit all of us. And he said he’s been out there in the world, doing some other shows, doing some other comedies, and doing some movies, and working with In Living Color, and all this sort of stuff. And he said that it’s really great but the one thing that he has recognized is that there is no one like Jim Downey out there. And that was a sad thing.
DAVID MANDEL:
Some of the greatest jokes that were ever added to other writers’ sketches at the table came from Jim Downey. So even in something he didn’t necessarily write, I just — I can’t explain it except to say he impacted everything that went through, and this is not to take anything away from the current people at Saturday Night Live, who I think are great. But I’ve sat through the way they rewrite, and they rewrite relatively quickly, and you just know they don’t stay until five in the morning. And that’s not a bad thing. I’m not sure it was great that we stayed until five in the