Live From New York - James H. Miller [289]
ALBERT BROOKS, Filmmaker:
If you interviewed somebody from a movie I made and they said it was the worst set they’d ever worked on, I’d have to take that hit. Here we are thirty years later, and I can remember it all. Lorne was in charge, and he didn’t behave very well toward me.
JANEANE GAROFALO:
I waited in his office for hours. And then I decided I would refuse to be embarrassed like that again. You’ll wait a lot of hours — that’s a power thing. Then, when he realizes you’ll do it, he can’t respect you. How could he? You’ve shown him your weakness. You’ve shown him that you will wait four or five hours and that you’ll take it. There’s your first mistake.
PAUL SIMON:
For a lot of these people who come out and say nasty things, I think hey, he’s not perfect. For the most part, I don’t think Lorne ever screwed over anybody. Maybe they didn’t like something about Lorne’s personality, or maybe they didn’t like his judgment or something like that. But he never hurt anybody’s career. People from Saturday Night Live went on to huge careers, and Lorne didn’t have any piece of them. He didn’t own them or take them or control them.
He’s a decent guy and he’s a very powerful guy, and it’s unusual to find somebody who’s really, really powerful who is that decent. He doesn’t push people and throw his weight around. And he never did. He was nasty when he was young, but he mellowed. I think that’s why he’s a helluva boss to work for, really. You’re lucky if Lorne is in your life. For the most part, for most people, their life is improved. I know that’s the case with me.
DAMON WAYANS, Cast Member:
I have gained an enormous respect for Lorne Michaels and his ability to see beyond his ego. He never said anything but great things about me — even though he fired me. I remember there was a kid on the show who had a drug problem, and Lorne would put him in rehab and take care of him and pay him while he was there and then bring him back to the show. He was like a father to the kid, with the kind of patience that a father would have.
ANDY BRECKMAN, Writer:
If there’s one thing you can’t fault Lorne for, it’s the format of the show and how the show comes together, because more than any other show in the history of television, it’s withstood the test of time. I mean, that format is fuckin’ indestructible, isn’t it? If that’s all Lorne came up with in his life, I think he’d have earned a place in the television hall of fame.
JON STEWART, Host:
Lorne doesn’t have much of a track record, so that’s why it was really hard to trust him that everything was going to be okay, but I thought, “Well, I’ll give this kid a shot and see what he can do for me.”
I think the thing that probably strikes me most is, here’s a guy who clearly doesn’t have to work this hard but still does. And you can only attribute that to either he’s insane or he’s still excited about the show, he still enjoys it, he still has passion for it, and he still wants it to be good.
LILY TARTIKOFF:
Lorne is Saturday Night Live. I mean, Dick is too. Dick did a fantastic job, and I don’t really know how to define who did what — no one’s ever going to know, actually. But, you know, there are things that Dick can do. I mean, you would not have Lorne Michaels run NBC Sports. But you would only have Lorne run Saturday Night Live and make these movies with those guys. That defines who he is. And that’s why he probably has done it for so long, because he probably can’t stop.
DANA CARVEY, Cast Member:
Lorne had your career and your fate in his hands. He definitely was the centerpiece, because he owned the baseball field. Ultimately, he decided how much you got on-air, how much access you had to your audience. He was like the principal of the school. There was a lot of weighty energy around Lorne. And