Live From New York - James H. Miller [283]
ALAN ZWEIBEL:
Lorne’s modus operandi when it came to motivation was, we were a bunch of kids, and if we were denied Daddy’s — his — approval, we worked harder and harder to get it. Some thrived on that. Some didn’t.
HARRY SHEARER, Cast Member:
I found that if you try to approach Lorne on an adult basis, make an appointment, go into his office, wait the requisite two hours, and try to have an adult conversation, you would find a very interesting, polished, smooth discussion that basically led to no results and no change at all. But I found that, as I watched what went on in the show, and sort of heard the stories of the previous years, it became more and more apparent that that was not the way to approach Lorne — that you really had to, if you were a cast member, act out. And if you set fire to wastebaskets, you’d get Lorne’s attention much more effectively than if you, you know, scheduled a meeting, waited, and talked like a grown-up with him.
I believed, and I think the evidence pretty much shows, that Lorne’s approach to the cast was to try to infantilize them. He wanted them to be like children; he’d be the daddy. That was his preferred way of relating to people. And I didn’t particularly want to relate that way.
NORA DUNN, Cast Member:
Sometimes I would just get really, really mad and throw a fit to get attention. And then they’d think, “Uh-oh, something has to be done.”
You can’t help but make this sort of analogy that the show was our mother and Lorne was our father and you wanted to please both of them. You certainly didn’t want Lorne to be angry with you. The worst thing you could hear from Lorne was that you had “bad form.” He really meant it when he said that, and you really felt badly if you were accused of having “bad form.”
CANDICE BERGEN, Host:
To me, one of the most, if not the most, interesting aspects is the relationship of Lorne to the cast. And all of the permutations that Lorne, as father figure, or as authority figure, goes through. There’s a kind of ambivalence that the cast had for someone who had really found them and put them in this and created their careers. It’s just unbelievable the number of talents that have come out of that show. And the resentment of Lorne is consistent with being a father figure and an authority figure — the desperate need for attention and for Lorne’s approval. These people went through all of this transference with Lorne as the father figure, with all the attendant complexities of it. The relationship of the cast to Lorne was just very complicated. Even to trying to keep people clean, trying to keep people sober, to keep people straight. I always felt Lorne was never given anywhere near the fractional credit that he deserved for really having such an impact on our culture and on comedy and on television.
RICHARD DREYFUSS, Host:
We certainly were children. Actors can always be children. But Lorne was certainly an adult.
Of course, nobody knew he would do it for thirty years. But he was exactly the same then as he is now. He’s got good pace. He’s got a great rhythm. He never gets too excited — he never gets too up, he never gets too low. I would personally believe that he’s never been to a hockey game in his life.
JOHN GOODMAN, Host:
You know, these are sensitive people Lorne has to deal with. A lot of them are people who are going to get hurt, because every once in a while they’re going to get their feelings stepped on. That doesn’t happen maybe as often as it used to, but it’s bound to happen from time to time. And anytime you’re dealing with people like that, there’s going to be a little hand-holding involved. Obviously Lorne knows this.
DAVID SPADE, Cast Member:
When I first read “Hollywood Minute” at read-through, Lorne laughed all the way through it. It was