Lorne Michaels remains

We are coming up on the last week of August and the end of summer, at least culturally, in North America. The turn up will happen pretty much immediately after Labour Day weekend and a new television season, at least on linear, will begin. Saturday Night Live season 51 will premiere on October 4. It’s not too far away but there’s also still time. And in this quiet before the storm is where Puck’s Matthew Belloni interviewed Lorne Michaels for his latest newsletter published late last night. Lorne is too experienced to inadvertently reveal what he doesn’t want to reveal, but there are some good takeaways here. 

Obviously he’s not retiring yet. He will still be the boss at 8H for another season and, as the boss, he is still making decisions. Auditions for new cast members happened last week so there is no confirmation yet about who is returning and who’s joining and who’s on “Weekend Update”. He also has yet to decide who’ll be hosting the first episode of the season but word on the street is that there will be a “significant shakeup”. 

While there’s not much to say yet looking forward, people are still looking back – and that’s probably why Lorne agreed to this interview in the first place, because Emmys voting is happening right now, and SNL50 has 31 nominations. This, then, is a campaign effort since so many industry players and Television Academy members read Puck. Much of the conversation between Lorne and Matthew was about the anniversary season and the live special and all the events surrounding the milestone. 

Lorne sounds pretty sentimental, by his standards. He’s talking about how much it meant to him to have his family at the show that night, that he had a lump in his throat hearing Paul McCartney sing at the end. And when asked about Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard singing “Nothing Compares 2 U” which, of course, called back to Sinéad O’Connor and the controversy that erupted at the time (she was right all along, wasn’t she?), Lorne says that, “If [Sinéad] were still alive, I would have asked her to sing that song”.

I also found it interesting, what he shares about Dan Ackroyd and why he wasn’t there. And it turns out it’s because Dan was in his feelings, which is actually very sweet. Per Lorne: 

“I’ve known [Dan] since he was 19, and he’s way more emotional about this stuff than you’d think. [Aykroyd has said he wanted to watch the show live on TV: ‘I knew if I was there, I’d be in a dressing room, I’d be working.’] And the week after [the show], I was down in the Caribbean and he came down, and we spent the day—he slept over. I think he wanted to be there, but I think he watches it every week.”

My favourite bit of tea, though, from the interview is what Lorne said about Paul Simon, Sabrina Carpenter, and how their performance opening the special came to be. Lorne had already been talking to Paul about the special. And then apparently Sabrina connected with Paul to invite him to be on her Christmas show; he declined but he suggested to her an alternative. And that’s how it happened, they would go on to open the SNL50 live episode together. 

You’ll recall, they performed “Homeward Bound” together, but what’s really interesting is the lyric change. The original lyric to the song in the second verse goes:

“Every day's an endless stream
Of cigarettes and magazines”

Sabrina sang the second verse on her own, but the lyrics changed from “cigarettes and magazines” to “airport lounges and magazines”. This was what Sabrina wanted. Per Lorne: 

“And with Paul [Simon], I don’t know whether you noticed it, but the original lyric [to “Homeward Bound”] is ‘cigarettes and magazines.’ Paul changed it because [Sabrina] didn’t want to sing ‘cigarettes.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s the difference in this generation.’ What I mean is, it was a slight change—I don’t think anyone would have noticed it—but it was an accommodation between generations. Not that he was attached to the lyric, particularly.”

This is so insightful, at least to me, about Sabrina and the choices she makes when she wants to provoke and when she doesn’t. She will push for female sexual agency, and titillate by playing with sexual stereotypes, interrogating heteronormativity and sexual tradition, knowing that many of her fans are younger and female. But she will draw the line at cigarettes, because there’s no cheeky joke, no deeper conversation to be had about smoking. Maybe I’m basic, but I love this about her. 

@sabrinatourinfo

Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon performing “Homeward Bound” on the SNL 50th Anniversary Special #SNL50 #sabrinacarpenter #paulsimon #homewardbound #simonandgarfunkel

♬ original sound - Sabrina Tour Info