A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Lorne Michaels created "Saturday Night Live" in 1975. And except for a five-year gap, he's been running the show ever since, so you would think that cast members would know him backwards and forwards. But as you learn in this clip from a new documentary, they are genuinely perplexed by the question - what was Lorne's childhood like in Toronto, Canada?
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "LORNE")
KENAN THOMPSON: A lot of, like, outdoor, hockey kind of stuff?
JIMMY FALLON: Fishing and, you know, stuff like that?
MIKE MYERS: If you told me he'd made maple syrup, I would believe you.
COLIN JOST: I guess I don't know what his dad did.
MICHAEL CHE: We should ask him. We should, like, meet Lorne...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Laughter).
CHE: ...And just talk to him.
MARTÍNEZ: Lorne Michaels is still a bit of a mystery. From back to front, those were the voices of Michael Che, Colin Jost, Mike Myers, Jimmy Fallon, and Kenan Thompson. That's from the film "Lorne." Morgan Neville is the director.
MORGAN NEVILLE: He's the Wizard of Oz. He definitely likes to keep a distance - I think because the people in his orbit would eat him up otherwise.
MARTÍNEZ: For this documentary, Neville somehow got Lorne Michaels to let down his guard.
NEVILLE: I'm not even quite sure why he agreed or if he even agreed.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
NEVILLE: It just kind of happened. I showed up in his office with a tape recorder, and I just kept going. And if Lorne respects anything, it's perseverance, and somehow we ended up with this film.
MARTÍNEZ: Morgan, can I just say that this film would even be better than it already is if he never agreed to it?
NEVILLE: Which is almost what happened, you know? And it's kind of like a nature documentary. Like, in the beginning, it's like me trying to film this rare spotted leopard who doesn't want to be seen.
MARTÍNEZ: Or miked up.
NEVILLE: Yeah. Definitely didn't want to be miked up. We had to hide microphones all over - everywhere.
MARTÍNEZ: He also seems to have a very disciplined approach to his work and his life. Tell us about how predictable Lorne Michaels can be.
NEVILLE: Lorne is the most set-in-his-ways person I've ever come across - I mean, from how he dresses, his shoes. I think he only eats at a couple of restaurants. He eats the same things. He's had the same driver. He's had the same trainer. So he's somebody who really doesn't change anything in his life except the show, and even the format of the show has not really changed in 50 years. But the show itself is such chaos and has changed so much in terms of the kind of comedy it does, and it's such a weekly dose of anarchy, that I think everything else in his life he keeps completely nailed down. You know, I talked to a lot of people who were at the show in 1975 when Lorne was 30 years old, and I kind of thought that they would talk about him differently - that he was just one of them or he was, you know, kind of a young counterculture guy. And to a person, every one of them said Lorne was always kind of like that.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, I think when people think of Lorne Michaels, they think that he has been with that show, with "Saturday Night Live" - the show he created - for its entire existence. It came on in 1975, but there was a time where Lorne Michaels was not a part of "Saturday Night Live." That was 1980. He was replaced. The original SNL cast left. Was that time away from his baby, the thing he created out of nothing - was that agonizing for him?
NEVILLE: Yeah. Completely. I mean, it was really his one period in his life where he wasn't really succeeding. You know, he comes out of the first five years of "Saturday Night Live" as the hottest producer in entertainment. And Lorne thinks, oh, I'm going to now be a big Hollywood producer. And he gets a big deal with a studio, and it's a complete disaster. Nothing really works. So then he goes back to television to try a new show called "The New Show," and it's a disaster, you know, and he has to figure out what it is he does well. And the fact of the matter is, "Saturday Night Live" is what he does well - you know, that last minute where he just makes all the decisions. Usually, in the last hour before the show, all the final decisions about that show are made.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. I love what he says about it, too, because anyone that has created a show or does a show understands this. He says the show doesn't go on because it's ready. It goes on because it's 11:30.
NEVILLE: Exactly.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
NEVILLE: And I think, you know, Lorne is a perfectionist, but I think it being live saves him from his own perfectionism. It means, OK, you can't fuss over this and edit for days and days. It is what it is. The first instinct is the best instinct, you know, and there's no time for network notes. You know, it just happens, and that's kind of the brilliance of it.
MARTÍNEZ: Do you think Lorne Michaels is still trying to prove himself?
NEVILLE: Absolutely.
MARTÍNEZ: He is? Wow.
NEVILLE: Yeah. I mean, I asked everybody I interviewed. I interviewed, you know, 60 people. When do you think "Saturday Night Live" became a show that was never going to go away? And certain people said it was after they recast the show and Will Ferrell came in and that cast in the late '90s or after 9/11. You know, it became a place where America came together. And when I asked Lorne, he said, oh, maybe this year. You know, this is 50 years in, saying, you know, OK. Maybe "Saturday Night Live" is not going to get canceled. But I think that's how he thinks about it, that it's about next week's show. It always feels precarious to him. It keeps him hungry and keeps him engaged for somebody who, at - now at the age of 81, is there, you know, in the middle of the night, working on silly sketches.
MARTÍNEZ: Did your perception of Lorne Michaels change as you finished this documentary?
NEVILLE: Yes. You know, I think people perceive Lorne as somebody sitting on this throne, deciding with a flick of his finger who makes it in comedy and who doesn't make it. You have to look at people like Louis B. Mayer to find people who've had the kind of a career he's had. But I think Lorne thinks of himself as in the trenches, beleaguered, trying to figure out who the music guest is going to be in two weeks and trying to figure out how this one, you know, cast member who's not getting enough sketches on is complaining to their agent. You know, I mean, there's all these little things right in front of him that he is worried about. And he is never one to sit back and just say, yeah, I - I've - we've done it. You know, good job. I think he is just focused on, you know, the task right in front of him.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
UNIDENTIFIED PRESENTER: Live from New York, it's Saturday night.
(APPLAUSE)
MARTÍNEZ: Morgan Neville is the director of the only documentary that Lorne Michaels would ever allow about himself. It's called "Lorne." Morgan, thanks a lot.
NEVILLE: Great talking to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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