Lorne Michaels. You may recognize the name if you have ever seen any of the numerous movies he has produced. Or you may know it from the countless other television shows he produced. But how is it that a man who grew up in Toronto and is now living the American dream even got started?
Michaels wasn’t born into money as many would think because of his large success. Michaels was originally born Lorne Lipowitz on Nov. 17, 1944 into a typical family. According to his official Web site, he went on to earn an English degree from the University of Toronto, but decided to leave Canada in order to become an automotive salesman in England.
Michaels’ official site also said that in 1966, he returned to Canada to join Hart Pomerantz to become a comedy duo, which resulted in the pair getting their own show titled “The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour” on CBS.
Their run ended in the late 1960s, but Michaels’ official site attributed the show’s short-lived success to him becoming a writer for “The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show.” The show was a failure, but led to Michaels getting assignments to write for additional shows.
In 1975 Michaels was approached to create a pilot episode for what would become a late Saturday night show that would take the place of “The Tonight Show” reruns.
Gathering unknown writers and comedians, Michaels put out the first season of “Saturday Night Live” and was given a paycheck of $115,000.
By 1979 Michaels had earned enough money from the show that he was able to form his own production company known as Broadway Video Inc. The company went on to finance shows such as “Kids in the Hall” and the still-running “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”
Most recently, Michaels produced movies such as “Tommy Boy” and “A Night at the Roxbury” that created memorable characters and sayings that have become large parts of American pop culture.
However, what Michaels may be most notable for is that he was the man who gave many stars of today the chance to showcase their talents on “Saturday Night Live.” The list of names includes Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, David Spade, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell, just to name a few.
Additionally, “Saturday Night Live” is currently the longest running and highest rated weekly late night television program in the history of television. It has been nominated for 80 Emmy’s, and won 18 of them. Michaels himself has been the recipient of 10 of the 18.
The name Lorne Michaels can be seen every week in the credits for “Saturday Night Live” or his new show “30 Rock.” He has three movies coming out in the next year that he is credited with producing, most notably Sacha Baron Cohen’s first post-Borat film.
The next time you do see the name, you will understand the history behind his ability to produce so much, and not simply glance over what would otherwise be another name in the credits.
