Live From New York - James H. Miller [285]
CHRIS ELLIOTT, Cast Member:
When people talk about Lorne, “pompous” and “self-centered” usually come up. A lot of people say he enjoys hearing himself talk, and I’m not necessarily saying that in a bad way, because to me that’s who he is. It never bugged me. It was always kind of entertaining. I always enjoyed those Monday evening dinners with Lorne and the host. They were always fun. And if you got Lorne and Steve Martin together, the two of them would really go off.
TOM HANKS, Host:
I think he’s one of the most mesmerizing conversationalists you’ll ever meet. He is a fabulous person to sit down and have a dinner conversation with, because it just never stops. Sometimes it’s flashy like, “Oh, you know, Mick came over last night, and Mick and I…” You know, “Mick” came by. “I’m going to guess that’s Mick Jagger, right?” “Oh, understood.” But you know, he’s also got kids, he’s also got the same vision of the business I think that we all have, that we respond to excellence. You know how a lot of times you’ll meet royalty and they’re kind of boring? He’s not. He’s this kind of royalty that ends up being convivial and intelligent and, in some ways, inclusive, even though he has an inclination to tell the same story over and over again if you haven’t seen him for a few years. But he’s magnificent, well-read, hip company to keep.
BILL MURRAY, Cast Member:
I had a different relationship with Lorne than the others, I think. I was adopted. You can love an adopted kid, but there’s still something different.
Lorne’s social life is different than mine. He travels in a more rarefied circle than mine. He travels the world. He sees it from a different point of view. Part of it’s because he’s an alien, you know — a Canadian. They have sort of like British echoes that they have to fulfill. They have to go to Wimbledon and they have to do stuff like that that we Americans don’t really feel anything about.
When I hosted the show a couple years ago, I remember just turning to Lorne and saying, “God, you really learned how to do this.” He was really good at it, much better than I knew or appreciated at the time. I think he’s better now than he was in the old days. He used to seem sort of arbitrary sometimes, but he really did learn how to do it. I think given the firepower of that group in the first couple of years, there were a couple people besides him that could have done it.
But he fought the great fights; he really was good at that. He fought the fights against the network. He fought the fights for the best crew. He got the network off our backs, he put us on a different floor, he kept us away from everybody, he gave us the independence that we needed so we didn’t feel like we were under a microscope. And it worked. He made great choices. And now just in terms of producing a TV show, he’s really good at it.
CANDICE BERGEN:
Well, he’s an extraordinarily good friend. He’s a wonderful storyteller and he loves to talk. You’d think he wouldn’t have time to pay attention to you, but he pays real attention and he’s incredibly generous as a friend. And very loyal. He’s so smart and perceptive about people; he just gets people so quickly and he’s so astute in what he picks up about them. He’s amazingly measured and wonderfully witty. I love hearing Lorne’s point of view on everything, basically, because I just think what he has to say is so worth hearing. Lorne is only a force for good.
I loved Lorne immediately, as soon as I met him, and he’s just one of the people that really matters in my life, and in hundreds of people’s lives. When my husband died and there was a tribute for him, without even asking, Lorne had it filmed and had videotapes made. And it was the kind of thing he would do and never