Ego Nwodim knows Lorne Michaels has a charming side.
In a recent conversation with Interview, the Saturday Night Live star shared her thoughts on Michaels and revealed the hilarious nickname she coined for him—and even once accidentally called the SNL creator directly to his face.
“What a curious man,” Nwodim said of Michaels. “I get flowers from him for my birthday every year, and I’m like, ‘The man knows how to charm a woman.’ I know people are scared of him, but ain’t nothing to be scared of. One time, I slipped up and called him ‘Daddy Lorne’ to his face.”
Nwodim first joined the SNL cast as a featured player in 2018 for Season 44. In September 2020, she was promoted to repertory player just ahead of the show’s 46th season. Prior to boarding the series, she was a regular cast member at UCB in Los Angeles, where she performed her one-woman show, Great Black Women… and Then There’s Me.
During her time on SNL, Nwodim has become known for playing Lisa from Temecula. The quirky “auntie” character, who first appeared in Season 48, and frequently disrupts her sister’s events by shaking the table and causing a huge mess.
“I love playing characters who are strong and wrong, who are disruptive and indignant about it. Lisa was a perfect dream for me,” Nwodim said in a 2020 interview with Vulture. “All she’s concerned about is what she likes. She’s not concerned about what anyone thinks of it.”
As it turns out, it was none other than Michaels himself who helped come up with the name Lisa from Temecula.
“Friday evening, Lorne calls us into his office,” Nwodim told Vulture. “I was like, he’s going to just say, ‘Hey, guys. Lovely idea, but it’s not going to work.’ Every step of the way, I just thought, ‘It’s too silly. I’m having so much fun doing it. No way does it go.’ But he called us in to tell us to give the character a name … Lorne said to try to give her a more memorable name so people can cling to that. We came up with a bunch of names mashed together.”
Season 50 of SNL premieres September 28 on NBC.
