At the stroke of midnight Saturday night, at just about the time the tech staff will be rolling out the set for the latest, 900-somethingth edition of “Weekend Update,” in the middle of the 50th anniversary season of Saturday Night Live, the show’s creator and executive producer, Lorne Michaels, will be standing somewhere close by, observing—as he always does—the execution of an idea that has made him the most-celebrated producer in television history.
And he will turn 80 years old.
Maybe the show will pause to recognize it; maybe the boss will have vetoed any such effort, and the moment will quietly pass.
But it is definitely a moment. To be beginning a ninth decade in life, a sixth decade of work at the pinnacle of a professional career, and still commanding the attention of a nation, still standing at the center of cultural relevance, is a truly singular achievement.
The timing of the moment is actually nothing new for Lorne Michaels. He has been there at his post for a big chunk of birthdays during his stewardship over SNL.
More than a dozen times his birthday, Nov. 17, has fallen either on a Saturday or Sunday, meaning he’s frequently been deeply involved in producing an iconic live television show while his birthday was also live, and quietly happening, unobserved.
And during virtually every one of those years since 1975—with the exception of his five-year hiatus from the EP role during the early 1980’s—Michaels has had much more on his mind at the moment than his birthday.
Still, if you have enough birthdays, some surely kick up memorable moments here and there. Susan Morrison, whose much-awaited biography Lorne (usually it’s the performers—Cher, Prince, Beyonce, Madonna—not the producers who achieve one-name recognition) will be published in February, has collected a few birthday-related adventures from Michaels’ career.
They include one from the show’s now-much-examined first season, in 1975, when Michaels hit 31 years old the Monday after the fifth show of that season. It was a memorable occasion because Michaels had almost ended his role as producer a week earlier.
As Morrison explains it, Michaels walked off the show at the conclusion of the previous show, the fourth-ever episode of SNL, broadcast on November 8, 1975.
Why? Because a technician at one NBC affiliated station made what can only be called a classic in the field of boneheaded mistakes.
“Instead of putting on a parody commercial, for ‘The Ambassador Training Institute,’” Morrison said, “he had just run a real local ad. He hadn’t realized it was part of the show. Lorne blew his top.”
He walked off the show as soon as host Candice Bergen said the goodnights, and he didn’t show up on Monday for the next show, to be hosted by Robert Klein (musical guests, Abba, and Loudon Wainwright III). Morrison said Bernie Brillstein, Lorne’s manager, contacted NBC with a message: “Lorne’s out of here.”
NBC paved over the dispute and Michaels showed up on Wednesday. The cast was grateful Lorne had returned, and in honor of his birthday Chevy Chase took the opportunity during “Weekend Update” to offer some best wishes.
Morrison related how it went down. “Chevy said: ‘Happy birthday, Lorne Michaels, executive producer of the Saturday Night show and functioning schizophrenic.’ And then he said, ‘So, we’ll soon be replaced by the network, with their new series: ‘Hilarious Test Patterns of the Sixties.’ ”
Morrison said what struck her about the incident was: “They were five shows in, and they were still kind of teetering. Things were still touch and go.”
Five years later, Michaels was far away when SNL got to his birthday week. It was actually the first show under his surprising replacement, Jean Doumanian, on November 15, 1980.
“Lorne was in Paris celebrating his 36th birthday,” Morrison said. “And he didn’t watch. It must have been tough. The first show back after he left in painful circumstances.”
Michaels has subsequently had many years where his birthday arrived mid-show.
That’s what happened five years ago on his 75th birthday. The sixth episode of the 45th season fell on November 16, as it does this year. Certainly, the staff was aware Lorne would turn 75 when the clock struck midnight. In that instance, some effort was made to celebrate the occasion—not that viewers would have noticed.
Morrison reported that the host that night, singer Harry Styles, “had designed and had made for Lorne an elaborate birthday cake. It was a model of Studio 8H, with Lorne, made out of marzipan, standing in the middle of it.”
The cake was wheeled into the long hallway outside the studio, apparently ready for a surprise presentation to Michaels.
“Lorne never even saw it because of the chaos at the end of the show,” Morrison said. “Apparently the crew ate it.”
Not clear whether the marzipan Lorne was also consumed.
If someone does bake another cake, or “Weekend Update” tries another joke, or some other effort is made to mark the moment, nobody outside of the show’s inner circle is likely to know before it happens Saturday night.
But attention ought to be paid.
Susan Morrison has spent years researching and diving into the career and creative output of Lorne Michaels. She said: “What I think is great is this is exactly where he should be when he turns 80: in that studio. It’s exciting.”
