Lorne Michaels
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Lorne Michael Lipowitz, aka Lorne Michaels (born November 17, 1944) is a television producer and writer, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Best known for creating and producing the American TV comedy-variety show, Saturday Night Live.
Michaels moved to Los Angeles from Toronto in 1968 to work as a writer for NBC’s Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. During the late 1960s and early 1970s Michaels wrote for a number of Canadian TV series and specials such as Barris & Company in 1968, The Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour in 1971. He was a cast member of the Canadian That's Show Biz in 1970.
In 1975, Michaels created the TV show, Saturday Night Live. The show, which was filmed 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 best-known comedians in North America, including: Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal and Mike Myers. Originally the producer of the show, Michaels was also a writer and later became executive producer. The show has been nominated for more than 80 Emmy Awards and has won 18. It has consistently been one of the highest rated late-night television programs.
Michaels started Broadway Video in 1979, producing such shows as The Kids in the Hall. In the 1980s, Lorne Michaels appeared in an HBO spoof documentary titled The Canadian Conspiracy about the supposed subversion of the United States by Canadian-born media personalities. He was the anointed successor to Lorne Greene. Michaels has been executive producer of NBC’s Late Night with Conan O'Brien since it debuted in 1993.
In 1999, Michaels was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. In 2002, Michaels was made a Member of the Order of Canada, that country's highest honor for lifetime achievement, and awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2004, he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the first non-American to earn this honor. Speaking at the awards ceremony, original Saturday Night Live cast member Dan Aykroyd described Michaels as "the primary satirical voice of the country.”
Selected filmography
- All You Need Is Cash (aka "The Rutles"), (1978) (TV) (executive producer)
- Gilda Live, (1980) (producer)
- The New Show, (1984) TV Series (producer)
- ¡Three Amigos!, (1986) (producer)
- The Kids in the Hall, (1989) TV Series (executive producer)
- Wayne's World, (1992) (producer)
- Coneheads, (1993) (producer)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien, (1993-present) TV Series (executive producer)
- Wayne's World 2, (1993) (producer)
- Lassie, (1994) (producer)
- Tommy Boy, (1995) (producer)
- Black Sheep, (1996) (producer)
- Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, (1996) (producer)
- A Night at the Roxbury, (1998) (producer)
- Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch, (2002) (TV) (executive producer)
- Mean Girls, (2004) (executive producer)
External links
- The Museum of Broadcast Communications - Encyclopedia of Television "Saturday Night Live" (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/saturdaynigh/saturdaynigh.htm)
- SNL creator Michaels honored (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6332188/)