Susan Morrison’s long-gestating Lorne Michaels biography finally has a release date: February 18, 2025.
First announced nearly 10 years ago, the 592-page Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live is billed as an “all-access, definitive biography” of the SNL creator.
Michaels gave the project his blessing early on, consenting to multiple one-on-one interviews. He also provided its author with access to his close friends (including Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, and Steve Martin) as well as SNL stars like Chris Rock, Amy Poehler, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, Buck Henry, Chevy Chase, and more.
Morrison worked with Michaels on his short-lived 1984 NBC sketch program The New Show, serving as an assistant to writer and producer Jim Downey. She went on to a distinguished journalism career, serving as a founding editor of Spy, the editor-in-chief of the New York Observer, and is currently the articles editor at The New Yorker.
“In the ’70s, Lorne noticed that while movies and music had kept pace with the counterculture, television was still square,” Morrison told The New York Times in 2016. “With SNL, he changed that: suddenly television could be smart and hip, transgressive.”
Today Saturday Night Live is firmly part of the establishment. It closed out its 49th season as TV’s highest rated entertainment program and holds the record for most Emmy wins for a single series.
Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live is set to hit bookstores just two days after SNL’s primetime 50th anniversary special, which airs February 16, 2024.
Season 50 of SNL kicks off on September 28.
How much of a “surprise” can a drop-in be if it was featured in the network’s pre-show promos?