Lorne Michaels

Lorne David Lipowitz was born on November 17, 1944, to Florence (née Becker) and Henry Abraham Lipowitz,^[7][8] on a kibbutz in the then British mandate of Palestine.^[9][8][10] His Jewish family immigrated to Toronto, Canada when he was an infant.^[11]

Michaels and his two younger siblings were raised in Toronto; he attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute. He graduated from University College, Toronto, where he majored in English, in 1966.^[12][13][14]

Early career

Michaels began his career as a writer and broadcaster for CBC Radio.^[15] He moved to Los Angeles from Toronto in 1968 to work as a writer for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show. He starred with Hart Pomerantz in The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour, a series of comedy specials that ran on CBC in the early 1970s.^[16][17]

Saturday Night Live

In 1975, Michaels created (with fellow NBC employee Dick Ebersol and president of the network Herb Schlosser) the TV show NBC's Saturday Night, which in 1977 changed its name to Saturday Night Live (initially there was a name conflict with an ABC show titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, which debuted September 20, 1975, and was cancelled on January 17, 1976). The show, which is performed live in front of a studio audience, immediately established a reputation for being cutting-edge and unpredictable. It became a vehicle for launching the careers of some of the most successful comedians in the United States.

Originally the producer of the show, Michaels was also a writer and later became executive producer. He occasionally appears on-screen as well, where he is known for his deadpan humor. Throughout the show's history, SNL has been nominated for more than 156 Emmy Awards and has won 36. It has consistently been one of the highest-rated late-night television programs. Michaels has been with SNL for all seasons except for his hiatus in the early 1980s (seasons 6–10).

Michaels appeared in the show during the first season, where he offered The Beatles $3,000 (a deliberately paltry sum) to reunite on the show.^[18] He later increased his offer to $3,200, but the money was never claimed. According to an interview with John Lennon in Playboy magazine,^[19] Lennon and Paul McCartney were in New York City that night and wanted to see the show. They decided against it though, as it was too late to get there in time, and they were both tired. This near-reunion was the basis for the TV movie Two of Us. On the November 20, 1976, show, musical guest George Harrison appeared, but Michaels told him the offer was conditional on all four members of the group showing up.^{[citation needed]}

Other work

Michaels founded the production company Broadway Video in 1979, which has produced SNL since 1981 as well as other shows such as Canadian sketch-comedy The Kids in the Hall which began airing in 1988 on CBC in Canada, debuting in the US market in 1989 on cable television network HBO until moving to CBS in 1993.

Whilst on his SNL hiatus, Michaels created another sketch show titled The New Show, which debuted on Friday nights in prime time on NBC in January 1984. The show failed to garner the same enthusiasm as SNL and was cancelled after 9 episodes.

In the 1980s, Michaels appeared in an HBO mockumentary titled The Canadian Conspiracy about the supposed subversion of the United States by Canadian-born media personalities, with Lorne Greene as the leader of the conspiracy. Michaels was identified as the anointed successor to Greene.

Michaels is also the executive producer of the NBC show Late Night, and was the executive producer of 30 Rock and Up All Night during their runs.

On April 3, 2013, it was announced that Michaels would be taking over as the executive producer for The Tonight Show. Consequently, The Tonight Show moved to New York in early 2014 as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Michaels has three children and has been married three times.^[20] During the early 1960s, he began a relationship with Rosie Shuster, daughter of his comedy mentor Frank Shuster of the Wayne and Shuster comedy team, who later worked with him on Saturday Night Live as a writer.^[16] Michaels and Shuster were married in 1971 and divorced in 1980.^[21] He married model Susan Forristal in 1981, a marriage that ended in divorce in 1987. Michaels is married to Alice Barry, his former assistant. The pair wed in 1991.^[20]

Michaels became a US citizen in 1987^[20] and was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2002.^[22]

Film

Television

Stage

In The Kids in the Hall movie Brain Candy, the character of Don Roritor was based heavily on actor Mark McKinney’s impersonation of Lorne Michaels.^[25]

The character Dr. Evil, the antagonist of Austin Powers in three films, has mannerisms and a speaking style based on Lorne Michaels. Dr. Evil was created and portrayed by SNL alumnus Mike Myers, who was at least partially influenced by fellow SNL performer Dana Carvey's impression of Michaels.^[26]

In a 2008 interview with Playboy, as well in various other interviews, Tina Fey admitted that Alec Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock is inspired by Michaels. In a different interview, on NPR's radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Baldwin stated that some of his inspiration for Donaghy was drawn from Michaels.^[27]

In 1999, Michaels was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame^[28] and was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[21]

Also in 1999, Michaels received an honorary degree from Ryerson University.^[29]

In 2003, he received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.^[30]

In 2004, he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Speaking at the awards ceremony, original Saturday Night Live cast member Dan Aykroyd described the show as "the primary satirical voice of the country".^[31]

Michaels received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in 2006, Canada's highest honor in the performing arts.^[15]

In 2008, Michaels was awarded the Webby for Film & Video Lifetime Achievement. With the allotted five words allowed to each recipient, his acceptance speech was "Five words is not enough".^[32]

In 2012, Michaels was awarded a rare Personal Peabody Award. He accepted at a ceremony in New York City at the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel.^[33]

In December 2021, Michaels was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors, along with Justino Diaz, Berry Gordy, Bette Midler, and Joni Mitchell.^[34]

In 2022, Michael received a Peabody Award for his work as an executive producer on the hit show Los Espookys. He was nominated for a second Peabody Award for his work producing Documentary Now!.^[35]

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Companion of the Order of Canada (C.C.)	Awarded on: May 11, 2018; This is a promotion within the order[36]
	Member of the Order of Canada (C.M.)	Awarded on: May 1, 2002 Invested on: February 21, 2003[36]
	Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal for Canada	2002: As a member of the Order of Canada, he was also awarded with The Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.[37]
	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for Canada	2012: As a member of the Order of Canada, he was also awarded with The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal.[38]
	Presidential Medal of Freedom	On November 22, 2016, Michaels was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States's highest civilian honor.[39]

• Official website
• Lorne Michaels at IMDb 
• Lorne Michaels discography at Discogs
• The Museum of Broadcast Communications – Encyclopedia of Television "Saturday Night Live"
• Talking About Lorne Michaels at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• Audio of Lorne Michaels 1967 comedy act with Hart Pomerantz
• Lorne Michaels on National Public Radio in 2005