Synopsis: From Morgan Neville, Academy Award-winning filmmaker of 20 FEET FROM STARDOM and WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR, comes LORNE, an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes glimpse at the man who built the inimitable empire of comedy, shaping television and culture for generations. The documentary features exclusive footage, archival treasures, and candid interviews with the show’s most iconic cast members and writers including Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock and many more.
What We Thought:
Lorne is a fantastic look at the career of Lorne Michaels. I say career because despite being in the entertainment industry for five plus decades, very little is known about the personal life of Lorne Michaels. Even with a documentary film crew following him, not much new personal information comes out to no real surprise from anyone who’s ever called him boss.
I don’t think I realized just how little of his life Lorne lets out. He’s married with children and even in a documentary about his life, their faces are covered up. Not much about his childhood is known and despite having a farm in Maine for a long time, very few Saturday Night Live alumni have ever been there. It’s a fascinating dynamic that Lorne has crafted despite rubbing elbows with the most famous people of the past 50 years.
As the mastermind of Saturday Night Live, he’s the legend behind the legends and man does Morgan Neville’s documentary remind viewers of the superstars that have come out of SNL. From the Not Ready for Prime Time Players like Chevy Chase, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd to his return in the 1980s that sparked careers for Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Chris Farley and many others to the post 1995 NBC firing spree that lead to Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and more, most of Hollywood owes something to him. The documentary interviews lots of former cast members like some I mentioned and current members like Michael Che, Colin Jost and Kenan Thompson. It gives you an inside look at the day in and day out operations of SNL, the writing schedules, skit preparations, read throughs, Saturday run throughs and eventually going live at 11:30 PM.
As a long time fan of SNL, the documentary is hilarious and eye opening. Michaels is shown reacting to skits, watching crowd reactions and is as involved with the daily production as he was in the 1970s. He takes the weekly host out to dinner with cast members and is always looking for new talent. All of it is pretty impressive for a man of his age. He simply is not ready to walk away from his baby and no one involved is ready to lose him.
There are clips from old SNL shows that made me holler in the theater. I’m of the age bracket that my SNL is the late 80s to mid 90s. I consider it peak SNL with Sandler, Spade, Farley, Rock, Norm Macdonald, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey and more. But I can admit to laughing at the early stuff and even some of the newer things. That’s what makes Lorne so impressive, it reminds you of how funny and important the show was. It tackled everything, made stars out of people overnight and had viewers talking long before going viral was something people aimed to do. Lorne Michaels is the heart and soul of the show and Lorne shows us all why. He’s a beloved icon to all who have worked for him or hosted his show. Neville crafts another excellent documentary and if you’re a fan of SNL (from any decade) it’s a must watch.
The Nerds Templar 