Editing Lorne Michaels (section)

==Career==
===Early career===
Michaels began his career as a writer and broadcaster for [[CBC Radio]], working with partner [[Hart Pomerantz]].<ref name="ggbio">{{cite web|title=Award Recipients: Lorne Michaels 2006 Lifetime Artistic Achievement (Broadcasting)|url=http://ggpaa.ca/award-recipients/2006/michaels-lorne.aspx|website=Governor General's Performing Arts Awards|access-date=August 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826113415/http://ggpaa.ca/award-recipients/2006/michaels-lorne.aspx|archive-date=August 26, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> He and Pomerantz moved to Los Angeles from Toronto in 1968 to work as writers for ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]'' and ''[[Phyllis Diller|The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show]]''. They returned to Canada to star in ''[[The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour]]'', a series of comedy specials that ran on [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] in the early 1970s.<ref name=Smith/><ref>{{Cite news |title=Remembering 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In' |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

Michaels returned to the United States in 1973 to write for ''The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour''. This brought him to the attention of [[Lily Tomlin]] who hired him to produce a series of specials, the [[Lily (1973 special)|first of which]] won an [[Emmy]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schwartz |first1=Lana |title=Inside Lorne Michaels' Friendship With Lily Tomlin |url=https://www.thelist.com/632294/inside-lorne-michaels-friendship-with-lily-tomlin/ |website=TheList.com |access-date=18 February 2025 |date=13 October 2021}}</ref> Michaels credits his work with Tomlin for giving him the credibility needed for NBC to hire him to create ''Saturday Night Live''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Love |first1=Matthew |title=10 Things We Learned from Lorne Michaels' WTF Interview |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/10-things-we-learned-from-lorne-michaels-wtf-interview-49734/3/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=18 February 2025 |date=9 November 2015}}</ref>

===''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 [[television producer|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 Award]]s 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).
[[File:Lorne Michaels (1988 FOX press photo).jpg|thumb|Michaels in 1988]]
Michaels appeared in the show during the first season, where he offered [[The Beatles]] {{US$|3000|1976|round=2}} to reunite on the show.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75rbeatles.phtml |title=SNL Transcripts: Beatles Offer, April 24, 1976 |publisher=Snltranscripts.jt.org |access-date=March 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525104202/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75rbeatles.phtml |archive-date=May 25, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He later increased his offer to {{US$|3200|1976|round=2}}, but the money was never claimed. According to an interview with [[John Lennon]] in ''Playboy'' magazine,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/wireless_machine/lennon/pi1.htm |title=John Lennon: The Playboy Interview September 1980 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113060341/http://www.geocities.com/wireless_machine/lennon/pi1.htm |archive-date=November 13, 2006 }}</ref> 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 (2000 film)|''Two of Us'']]. On the episode airing November 20, 1976, musical guest [[George Harrison]] appeared, but Michaels told him the offer was conditional on all four members of the group showing up.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/george-harrison-tried-cashing-money-lorne-michaels-promised-beatles-reunion-snl.html/|title=George Harrison Tried Cashing in on the Money Lorne Michaels Promised for a Beatles Reunion on SNL|first=Hannah|last=Wigandt|publisher=Showbiz Cheat Sheet|date=2022-09-05|accessdate=2024-11-23}}</ref>

===Other work===
During the [[Saturday Night Live season 4|1978-1979]] season of ''SNL'', Michaels was offered a deal to produce nine features from [[Paramount Studios|Paramount]], but he turned it down to take a three-picture deal from [[Warner Brothers]]. The Warner Brothers deal didn't net any produced movies.{{sfn|Hill|Weingrad|1986}} In the early 80s, he subsequently had a deal to produce movies for [[MGM]] and was developing a [[Father Guido Sarducci]] movie written by [[Don Novello]], a spoof of ''[[1984 (novel)|1984]]'' called ''1985'' that was set in the future and written by [[Al Franken]], [[Tom Davis (comedian)|Tom Davis]], and [[Jim Downey (comedian)|Jim Downey]], and an adaptation of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' Michaels himself was co-writing with friend John Head.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://grantland.com/features/saturday-night-live-tom-schiller-short-films-schillers-reel-la-dolce-gilda/ | title=» Some Things Last a Long Time }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Preven |first1=Joshua S. |date=July 1992 |title=The History of Humor at Harvard |url=https://harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/media/How-Harvard-Changed-Comedy.pdf#page=15 |magazine=[[Harvard Magazine]] |page=15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906084450/https://harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/media/How-Harvard-Changed-Comedy.pdf |archive-date=6 September 2020 |access-date=25 February 2025}}</ref> The only movie to be produced from Michaels's MGM deal was ''[[Nothing Lasts Forever (film)|Nothing Lasts Forever]]'', a black-and-white surreal sci-fi comedy written and directed by longtime resident ''SNL'' filmmaker [[Tom Schiller]]. The movie featured appearances from [[Bill Murray]] and [[Dan Aykroyd]], but the studio opted to never release it.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://screenrant.com/nothing-lasts-forever-movie-bill-murray-never-released/ | title=Why Bill Murray Comedy Nothing Lasts Forever Was Never Released | website=[[Screen Rant]] | date=August 21, 2021 }}</ref>

In 1979, Michaels founded the production company [[Broadway Video]], which has produced ''SNL'' since 1981 as well as other shows such as Canadian sketch-comedy'' [[The Kids in the Hall (TV series)|The Kids in the Hall]]'' which began airing in 1988 on [[CBC Television|CBC]] in Canada, debuting in the U.S. market in 1989 on [[Cable television in the United States|cable television]] network [[Home Box Office|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.
[[File:Lorne Michaels at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.JPG|thumb|Michaels at the 2008 [[Tribeca Film Festival]].]]
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 (franchise)|Late Night]],'' and was the executive producer of ''[[30 Rock]]'' and ''[[Up All Night (TV series)|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]]''.