Following Saturday Night Live’s mass cast exodus before and during Season 51 last year, Season 52 will see even more changes. Ahead of the premiere on the 2026 TV schedule, SNL had its first cast exit of the year, with Chloe Fineman officially bowing out after seven years. She’s now revealing how she broke the news to Lorne Michaels, and it couldn’t have come at a more awkward time.

Fineman decided to leave SNL after being offered a role in David E. Kelley’s upcoming Netflix series, Myron Bolitar. The decision reportedly wasn’t easy, and what was even more difficult was telling her boss. The comedian told Variety that when she called Michaels to inform him that she would be departing, he was apparently enjoying the World Cup, and I can only imagine what it was like:

I have to give props to Fineman for building up the courage to call Michaels (who can probably be very intimidating) to tell him that she’s not coming back to Saturday Night Live. But the fact that she did it while he was watching the World Cup is pretty horrible timing. He’s having a good time, watching the game, and then he gets a call from a cast member telling him they’re leaving the show. It likely put a damper on the game, and not just because England ended up losing.

It’s pretty awkward to call your boss during a World Cup game, even if you didn’t know, and tell them that you’re quitting while also trying to make light of the situation. Luckily, Fineman revealed that it wasn’t all awkward. The two of them had a good conversation after all was said and done, and there doesn’t seem to be any hard feelings about it, other than the fact that Michaels lost twice that day:

Considering SNL has been airing for over five decades, I’m sure there have been phone calls about cast exits that have been a lot worse than Fineman’s. At the very least, it sounds like she and Michaels were able to have a good chat, which likely squashed any awkwardness that was still left over from when she called during the game.

With Season 52 premiering this fall, it’s possible Fineman won’t be the last exit. Over the years, there have been a handful of rumors as to who could be leaving SNL and who could be staying, and you never truly know until it’s announced. Even after the cast is confirmed, things could always change throughout the season. For instance, Bowen Yang departed after the Christmas show last year. If anything, with the World Cup over and Spain taking it all, the next time a cast member exits, they don’t have to worry about interrupting Michaels at a game to tell him the news.

Will Ferrell is one of the biggest names to ever come out of Saturday Night Live, and some would say he’s the absolute best cast member of all time. But at one point, he was just a young comedian doing improv comedy at the Groundlings hoping for his big break. The Step Brothers star recently opened up about his first audition for the NBC sketch show, and a bit he tried to do with Lorne Michaels that he just couldn’t get over the line.

In an interview with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson for their podcast, IMO, Ferrell talked about the nerves surrounding his first audition for SNL, including doing characters like Ted Kennedy, an adult who plays with cat toys, and Harry Caray, which ended up becoming one of the funniest recurring characters on the show. He was so nervous because nobody laughed at his audition; however, after being asked to meet with Michaels later, he knew he was still in the running.

Ferrell had heard a story about how Adam Sandler, who made quite the impact on SNL, got the gig after a five-minute meeting with the legendary showrunner. As a result, Ferrell decided he’d do a bit during the meeting to showcase his talents. He said:

This is an absolutely hilarious idea, and such a perfect Will Ferrell bit that would land perfectly during a sketch. However, Michaels has a reputation for being intimidating and a pretty serious guy, despite the fact that his expertise is in comedy. Ferrell had these big plans of doing this ridiculous bit, but apparently the second he walked into his future boss's office, the energy and the tone of the meeting shot him down right away. He said:

A briefcase is certainly a bizarre thing to bring to a meeting about comedy. It is so big and clunky and implies you brought a lot of stuff with you to a meeting that doesn’t require much of anything. Without context, I can’t imagine what Michaels was thinking.

The whole thing was made even worse when Steve Higgins, who was one of the head writers at the time, said “nice briefcase” to Ferrell during the meeting, who was still too nervous to do the bit. Even better, when the Talladega Nights star was asked to come back for a second meeting, he wanted to try and do the bit again. He explained:

He literally planned and failed to do the bit twice, which makes the whole thing even funnier. Especially considering he asked Michaels’ assistant, who was sitting outside his office, to finish the bit for him, which Michaels ended up finding funny later. Farrell finished the story, saying:

The joke itself was one thing, but the real funny aspect of this story was that Ferrell kept trying to do this absurdly stupid joke but couldn’t manage to execute it. He went on to be a stellar addition to the cast and gained the confidence around Lorne Michaels to start doing ridiculous bits like this one to his face.

After his cast member stint from 1995 to 2002, Will Ferrell went on to host the broadcast mainstay six times. This includes the SNL Season 51 finale this year, which you can revisit now with a Peacock subscription. Fans of Ferrell can also check him out in his new comedy series The Hawk, which will be available with a Netflix subscription on July 16, 2026.

Saturday Night Live Season 52 premieres this fall on the 2026 TV schedule, and as of now, there aren’t any details about who will be returning and who could be leaving. Season 51 saw a mass cast exodus with several fan-favorites departing, while five new cast members joined. Now, some of those newbies are opening up about the advice series creator and producer Lorne Michaels has given them.

Joining a show like SNL isn't exactly easy. Many huge stars have come from SNL, but each of those cast members were battle tested, so to speak. Luckily, a lot of cast members -- current and former -- have given advice to new cast members. However, given Michaels' experience, he's a unique source of advice. When several of the new cast members spoke with Variety, Jeremy Culhane shared what Michaels does when he gives notes, and I wasn't expecting him to mention a Lord of the Rings character:

Obviously, if anyone knows what it takes to put together a show, it’s Lorne Michaels. He not only created Saturday Night Live, but has served as a producer for almost every single season. He’s experienced highs and lows, dealt with eccentric cast members and more. Michaels also knows what work and what doesn’t when it comes to sketches, and it sounds like he knows just what to say when something just doesn’t click.

Michaels apparently also knows when a cast member is trying too hard, which is exactly what Tommy Brennan went through. Brennan recalled:

I can imagine that throughout his time on Saturday Night Live, Michaels has come across more than a few cast members who've tried too hard to prove themselves. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as even veteran cast members have to work hard to get more airtime, but I can imagine it's also beneficial to relax and have fun, as Michaels wanted Brennan to do. Also, as Kam Patterson explained, Michaels can also use a random fact to make a point:

Following their inaugural season, the younger cast members seem to have a solid grip on SNL. Culhane, Brennan, and Patterson, as well as Veronika Slowikowska, joined the featured players roster for Season 51, and they weren’t the only newbies. Ben Marshall, 1/3 of comedy group Please Don’t Destroy (who have created some viral SNL sketches and digital shorts) also joined the cast at the beginning of Season 51.

So, needless to say, there's a lot of new blood at Studio 8H right now, and I'm hopeful that they'll hone and develop their talents over time. I'd say their lucky to have some veterans like Kenan Thompson, Sarah Sherman and Mikey Day around. However, if they're ever able to get some one-on-one time with Lorne Michaels, I'd imagine that's very beneficial as well.

The full cast for Season 52 has not been announced, so it’s unclear if all of these stars will be back on stage this fall. As a fan, I'm hopeful we won’t see any more changes to the cast for a while. (I’m still mourning over Bowen Yang’s departure. Saturday Night Live returns this fall on NBC, and all existing episodes are streaming now with a Peacock subscription.

Saturday Night Live produces stars, and many of its sketches live on in the pop culture zeitgeist for decades. That’s bound to make the comedians in the cast feel great. I’m sure it can also inflate egos. However, according to David Spade, there’s a piece of advice Lorne Michaels gives that helped him keep his ego in check while on the show.

This came up while Spade, Dana Carvey and Marcello Hernández were chatting about recurring characters on SNL during an episode of Fly on the Wall. Hernández, who famously has gone viral multiple times for playing Domingo, specifically mentioned that it can be tough to pitch a sketch about a character that’s already been done, because it can feel like there’s a “little bit of entitlement” behind it. That led to Spade recalling a tough piece of advice Lorne Michaels gave him:

While brutal, the point totally makes sense. There’s a lot of chatter about who gets the most screen time on Saturday Night Live, and breakout stars, like Ashley Padilla from the season that aired on the 2026 TV schedule, get lots of adoration online. However, along with the praise comes criticism too, as the way people react to sketches on SNL tends to fluctuate.

So, one moment you can be up, and the next moment you can be down. It makes sense that your ego would need to be in check to deal with all that. Therefore, a brutal reality check from Lorne Michaels can probably be helpful, as David Spade explained:

“Brutal and true” seems to be the name of Lorne Michaels game. He clearly loves his cast, and he’s helped so many of them both professionally and personally. However, he also knows how to make tough calls, and he isn’t afraid to show he doesn’t like something, as is shown when he reacts to sketches under the bleachers in his documentary Lorne and the Written By documentary (both of which you can stream alongside SNL with a Peacock subscription). So, the fact that he’d tell Spade and other cast members that they’re not the funniest people on the show feels on-brand.

Plus, while brutal, it feels like a good thing to remember. SNL is full of incredible comedians. Every week, any of them could shine the brightest. And while the show has its massive stars, from episode to episode, the best player of the night tends to change. Meanwhile, sketches get cut mid-episode, and working on this program is notoriously difficult. So, staying humble and keeping that ego in check feels important.

So, yeah, the advice Lorne Michaels gave David Spade was pretty harsh. And I can’t imagine it’s easy to hear. However, it also helped the comedian keep his ego in check while working on Saturday Night Live.

Bowen Yang officially said his goodbye to Saturday Night Live right before Christmas last year in a final sketch that included Ariana Grande, Cher and a lot of singing. It was a touching way to send the beloved cast member off, but apparently, it wasn’t the original plan he envisioned. In fact, the sketch changed quite a bit between the dress rehearsal and the final show thanks to one last note from longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels.

Yang was part of a panel discussion at USG University along with Liz Patrick, who directed his last SNL episode. During the conversation, Patrick asked Yang if Cher was always supposed to be in the sketch. Apparently she was added during the week following the first table read, but it was actually another change that had a far bigger impact on the overall tone.

In the sketch in question, Yang plays a guy in the Delta Lounge of an airport who runs an eggnog station. He’s about to retire and phones his wife to say he’s coming home. In between singing verses of “Please Come Home For Christmas,” he also serves customers, accidentally spraying them with a small amount of eggnog. In the final version of the sketch, those eggnog spills work as a little bit of comedic relief and levity, but in the dress rehearsal version, they were much messier and more elaborate.

Here’s a portion of Yang’s story, per IndieWire…

More specifically, Sarah Sherman and Mikey Day were apparently supposed to be a large background presence in the sketch. The original version apparently saw them slipping and sliding and making a mess, as the eggnog machine went haywire and essentially sprayed a fountain they couldn’t figure out how to stop. It sounds like a riot but also a pretty radical shift in tone from what we eventually got. After dress, Lorne Michaels approached Yang and his co-writer Celeste Yim and told them they should keep the sketch “tender.”

You can watch the version we got below and imagine how it might feel a bit different with Sherman and Day screaming their heads off and flopping around in a bunch of eggnog.

Yang was originally planning to leave Saturday Night Live following the SNL 50 season, but he was convinced to stay for part of a season by Michaels to help assimilate the new cast. That plan worked like a charm because some of the newer voices really started to emerge as budding stars, and Yang got a really sweet final moment to say goodbye to the show that earned him five Emmy nominations.

Fortunately, it feels like there's a pretty good chance we'll see Yang back on the Studio 8H stage at some point. A lot of the bigger cast members return to host the show at some point later in their careers and many more stop by for a cameo or an anniversary special. Fingers crossed it won't take him too long to come back.

Bowen Yang recently got deeper into his exit from Saturday Night Live, and shared that he would've left a lot sooner had it not been for a phone call from Lorne Michaels. As the sketch comedy is on hiatus ahead of returning to the 2026 TV schedule in the fall, Yang explained his mid-season exit was part of mentoring the next batch of young stars.

The comedian appeared alongside Rachel Sennott on Variety's Actors On Actors series. Sennott asked Bowen Yang to go into his exit on SNL, and he obliged, talking about the circumstances surrounding the situation and that he did plan on leaving before his midseason exit in Season 51:

Bowen Yang has talked a lot about being pushed into roles where he played a gay male stereotype or even an inanimate object. Sure, he was in his feelings about leaving, but it seems clear from these comments that he felt like he'd gotten all he could get out of Saturday Night Live, and it was time to move on.

Yang needed a reason to stay, and it came to him with a call from Lorne Michaels. As he explained, Lorne wanted him to stay on for just a while longer so he could mentor a bunch of incoming writers and cast members. He got into it below:

The comedian was given a chance to leave his mark on Saturday Night Live, and he ran with it. Bowen Yang has already complimented the cast on how they've done after his departure. And now, in hindsight, I have to wonder if that was a sly way of crediting himself for the people he helped train for the moment.

Since leaving Saturday Night Live, he's found continued success with his Las Culturistas Podcast, and remains working on other projects and movies in the meantime. I'm eager to see his continued success, and wonder if we'll eventually get to see him return to SNL at one point as a host. Maybe then he won't have to play an inanimate object!

SNL is rolling strong into Season 52, with some newcomers like Jeremy Culhane already making a big splash with the audience. It feels like the late-night sketch comedy series is the strongest it's been in years, and credit to Bowen Yang and many others for bringing it back into the limelight and making late-night television relevant at a time that time slot needs any win it can get.

Expect to see Saturday Night Live back on NBC's schedule in the fall, and check out previous episodes over on Peacock. As for Bowen Yang, we've got an eye on the things he's up to, and can't wait to see what he'll be doing over the next year and beyond.

The Saturday Night Live season just ended; so, as per usual, we’re all having a conversation about Lorne Michaels’ future. The creator and longtime showrunner has repeatedly said he has no plans on leaving the show, but given he’s over eighty and SNL remains a major pop culture force, it’s still a hot topic of conversation every summer. As arguably the fan favorite to replace Michaels, former head writer Tina Fey was recently asked for her take, and her answer has me thinking a lot about how she would change the show.

Before we get to that though, let’s talk about Fey’s answer, or more specifically, her non-answer. She sat down for an interview with Watch Mojo about the second season of The Four Seasons, the Netflix show she co-created and serves as the showrunner for. During the chat, all that showrunning experience was referenced, and she was asked if she’s the likely successor for Michaels. Here’s the diplomatic take she gave…

There’s obviously almost nothing to that answer. Whether she wants to take over SNL or not, she’s far too thoughtful and experienced to say that in an interview. Plus, I genuinely think she really likes Lorne, feels like it’s his show and wants him to run it as long as he can. In fact, I think that’s how pretty much everyone who has worked on SNL feels. It’s his baby. He’s still doing a good job, and he should decide what his exit plan looks like.

That being said, there was more to Fey’s answer. She also talked about her experience as a showrunner…

Now, by all accounts, SNL has a fantastic crew and is staffed by really nice people. I certainly don’t think her comments were in anyway a reference to those working on the show she was a huge part of for so long. That being said, I do think the wanting everyone to have “a good time at work” part is really interesting and a possible clue as to what Fey might change if she ever were to take over for Michaels.

SNL is a live show that comments on popular culture and geopolitical events that take place the same week or even the same day as the episode. There is always going to be late nights and some stress involved, but Fey and many, many others who have worked on SNL have been open in the past about how chaotic and bizarre the schedule can be.

Most writers and cast members do very little prep work heading into the week, and there is an expectation that you work well into the night as pitches are being prepared. Fey has talked openly in the past about some of her frustrations with the set-up, and a lot of great cast members and writers have left over the years, specifically because of burnout or a frustration with the schedule, which is pretty much the same as it’s been since the 1970s.

I have to think, given these comments and plenty of other ones she’s made in the past, that if Fey ever took over SNL, she would take a hard look at how the week is structured. It’s never going to be the same as working on a more traditional show, but it seems like there could be ways to update how it’s put together that would help people find at least a slightly better work life balance.

Or maybe not? I’m not inside Fey’s head, and none of us, except maybe Lorne Michaels, know what the succession plan even looks like. His biographer has long speculated that he’ll never retire and instead just give up little bits of responsibility to make it more manageable. Maybe that’s what we’ll see. Or maybe he’ll just wake up one morning and decide he’s done. If that happens, maybe Fey would get the job or maybe it would go to someone like Colin Jost (or Seth Meyers or maybe Kenan Thompson), who also has head writer experience and is more directly connected to the current show. We’ll see.

Regardless, expect to hear plenty more about Michaels’ future this summer, as well as plenty of conversations about which cast members may or may not be returning. The season finale didn’t have any obvious goodbyes; so, everyone’s status is pretty much up in the air, except for Ashley Padilla, who is quickly turning into the show’s biggest star.

While Lorne Michaels is known as the boss of Saturday Night Live and can come off as scary or intimidating, he’s also kind and considerate. That’s been proven time and again by cast members who have explained how he’s helped them in their lives. Now, we have another story to add to the catalog, as the director of the documentary, Lorne, explained the sweet gesture SNL’s head honcho made when he learned that Maya Rudolph was pregnant.

Maya Rudolph was a cast member on SNL from 2000 to 2007, and in 2005, she and her husband, Paul Thomas Anderson (yes, the Oscar-winning director of One Battle After Another), welcomed their oldest daughter, Pearl. When Michaels learned about this, he was so excited and wanted to help, as Lorne director Morgan Neville told People:

Well, that is just the sweetest thing ever. It also totally tracks with Michaels’ reputation. While he can be a stern boss who isn’t afraid to make tough calls or provide feedback, he’s also a caring mentor. In fact, Pete Davidson said he’s been like a father figure to him. Clearly, he has a deep love for the people he works with and the show they work on, so this kind of gesture feels on brand.

It’s also on brand because Neville explained that Michaels wanted Rudolph to be able to keep working, too. As they say in show business, the show must go on. However, he’s also a family man himself, as the director explained:

Michaels’ care for both his own family (which he’s very private about) as well as his cast and crew is evident in Lorne, which premiered on the 2026 movie schedule. The documentary follows the SNL boss through his work and tells the story of how he created and maintained the NBC mainstay.

Rudolph is featured in it as well, and it’s obvious that she has a deep admiration for the SNL boss. Plus, after being one of SNL’s best casts, she’s returned time and time again, including during Season 50 to play Kamala Harris, which further shows the deep love the actress has for the show that helped turn her into the legendary comedian she is today.

Now, going back to her having a kid while working on the sketch comedy show, Neville explained why Michaels treats his colleagues the way he does, and offers to do things like build a nursery in 30 Rock:

So, while the hours at SNL might be tough, and it might be a really hard show to pull off week to week, Lorne Michaels runs the ship in a way that is moral and fair. And apparently, sometimes that also means offering to build a nursery.

Now, to see this iconic show Michaels has run for decades, and to watch Maya Rudolph do what she does best, you can stream Saturday Night Live with a Peacock subscription. Then, to see how the series is doing now, you can catch new episodes as they air on the 2026 TV schedule on the show’s titular night at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

Saturday Night Live has always covered politics, at least to some extent, and both fans and critics have always had opinions about how the show has handled these sketches. Every President has been made fun of to some extent, and both political parties are semi-regular topics of ridicule. Doing political impressions of many different public figures is by design, and for as long as Lorne Michaels is in charge, that’s never going to change.

The longtime showrunner is the subject of a new documentary, and the Oscar-winning director, Morgan Neville, recently talked to USA Today about all the time he spent inside SNL while making it. Not surprisingly, the subject of politics came up, and he openly said what people have been seeing all along. Michaels isn’t trying to make a show to serve a particular political viewpoint or a particular group of people.

Instead, he’s trying to make a show for everyone, which means featuring different points of view. Here’s a portion of Neville’s quote…

I don’t know if it’s fair to say Saturday Night Live currently is or has always been politically neutral, but it’s definitely fair to say the show does not exist to validate a certain political point of view. During its five-decade run, the show has employed both right wing and left wing comedians and roasted political figures on both sides of the aisle.

As a longtime viewer, I think it’s probably fair to admit the show leans a little to the left more often than not. Its certainly been criticized by Republicans on a semi-regular basis for being biased, but notably, it’s also been accused quite a bit of not being left wing enough by folks on that side.

Lorne Michaels and those working at Saturday Night Live have long prided themselves on being a topic of conversation that connects everyone. Its best sketches have a way of bringing different people and different generations together. For that to happen, there has to be an understanding that the show is operating in good faith and that it’s an equal opportunity offender. The best way to do that is by making fun of everyone and making it clear no one is off limits.

SNL is currently on a little mini hiatus, but it’ll return early next month with three awesome upcoming hosts to close the season. You can expect to see at least several political sketches before the 2026 TV schedule wraps, along with a wide variety of jokes targeted at a wide group of people, just as Michaels has always wanted.

Pete Davidson worked at Saturday Night Live for eight years and, in that time, he seemingly became well acquainted with the ins and outs of working at Studio 8H. Of course, he also forged some firm relationships with colleagues, including series producer Lorne Michaels. Davidson has spoken about his relationship with Michaels on multiple occasions and, more recently, he shared an anecdote about a “funny rule” Michaels has. And, honestly, this may be one of the most delightful bits of information I’ve learned about the prolific producer.

As of late the King of Staten Island star has been sharing plenty of funny stories during episodes of The Pete Davidson Show (which is available to stream with a Netflix subscription). Davidson recently welcomed friend and former castmate Kenan Thompson, during which they discussed a myriad of topics (including Thompson’s support of younger cast members). Talk eventually turned to Michaels, and Davidson shared a wardrobe-related quirk about his former boss. Take a look at this clip from Instagram, which shows Davidson cracking up:

So, in Michaels’ estimation, jeans shouldn’t be worn after the age of 50? I’m honestly both confused and amused by this take, and I’d be lying if I said I’d ever expect the SNL producer to have that thought. Still, I suppose everyone has their opinions and, in fairness, considering the various professional settings Michaels likely finds himself in regularly, jeans may not be conducive to his daily life. As funny as this factoid is, I’m also laughing over Davidson and Thompson’s assessment:

• Pete Davidson: I like to picture him in a store at 50 and being like, ‘No, it’s over,’ where he just had that pivotal moment.
• Kenan Thompson: [He] shakes his head, and goes, ‘Slacks it is.’

Davidson may be playfully poking fun at Lorne Michaels, but know that the two have actually developed a close relationship. On a previous occasion, Davidson recalled how he tried to quit after his first season on the show and Michaels advised him that it would take some time for him to adjust to the show. The comic said Michaels was ultimately right about that. Additionally, Michaels also served as a mentor to Davidson, who lost his father due to 9/11.

What the Bupkis star also seems to appreciate is Michaels’ unique sense of humor. Davidson previously spoke about how his former boss sent an A+ text after rumors began to emerge about him hosting the Season 49 premiere of SNL. On a more serious note, though, Davidson also shouted out Michaels for being there for him amid more personal issues, like his struggles with sobriety.

The quasi father-son relationship that seems to exist between Pete Davidson and Lorne Michaels is just so humorously sweet, and I hope it continues. Right now, though, I’d just love to hear Michaels share his take on why he feels jeans are a no-no when someone reaches the age of 50. Here’s hoping we get that answer sooner rather than later.

Check out Davidson’s work on Saturday Night Live by streaming episodes of the show with a Peacock subscription.

SNL fans speculate about whether or not Lorne Michaels is going to retire at the end of every season. I suppose that’s just part of the deal when you’re eighty-one years old and still in charge of one of the longest running and most beloved shows on television. This year has actually been a bit quieter on that front, especially compared to Season 50, but after the host and musical guest combination were announced for the season finale, the same old conversation started happening again.

NBC announced earlier this week that Season 51 is going to end with the epic tag team of Will Ferrell and Paul McCartney as host and musical guest. The former is, of course, arguably the biggest star the show has produced in at least a few decades, and the latter is one of the most famous musicians ever and friends in real life with Michaels. It’s about as star-studded as SNL can possibly get, at least for a traditional episode, and it’s leading some fans to say hmmmmmmmm.

Numerous fans responded to social posts about the upcoming hosts and musical guests with comments about Michaels’ future. A popular Reddit post asking whether he’s going to retire generated hundreds of comments and thousands of engagements, and the following tweet gained a ton of steam amongst SNL fans…

So, is there any truth to the speculation? Well, obviously only Lorne Michaels knows where his head is at, but in my opinion, all of the signs point to him coming back for another season. His biographer told us she thinks he’ll scale down his involvement as a first step before considering retirement, and Lorne himself told Showbiz 411 earlier this week at the premiere of his own movie that he “can’t imagine” not doing the show.

It’s possible he’s the type of guy who would rather quietly step away at the end of his run rather than pre-announcing it, but by all accounts, he’s pretty happy still working. He’s built an infrastructure of creatives around him that he trusts, and I think the schedule of the show, while it might be hell on others, is sustainable for him since he’s not doing most of the writing or dirty work of blocking the sketches and putting them together. He’s more of the decision-maker now, which is highly demanding but more from an intellectual rather than physical standpoint.

Regardless, it’s been a good season for Saturday Night Live, and there’s no reason to think the show doesn’t have many years ahead, regardless of who is running it. Ashley Padilla seems to be emerging as the next breakout star, and the old guard cast members seem to really be bonding well with the next generation. SNL UK also recently launched to a very buzzy response, and both Peacock and YouTube have proven to be great ways to get the sketches seen by a new generation of viewers not watching through standard television.

SNL typically makes all its personnel and casting announcements late in the summer prior to the next season. I expect at that point we’ll hear Michaels is coming back, but as the tweet says, if he were going to go out, this season finale would certainly be a fitting end.

The SNL writers played a prank on host Ryan Gosling this week. In between dress rehearsal and the live broadcast, they switched the contents of multiple notes he had to read out loud. They did the same thing to cast member Ashley Padilla and assumedly, her co-star Mikey Day. The last minute switcheroo led to a lot of mid-sketch laughing and a fun viral moment. It also provided roughly the one thousandth piece of evidence that something fans think they know about SNL is wrong.

There are few shows in the history of television that have been chronicled more extensively than Saturday Night Live. Numerous books and documentaries come out about the show every single year, and when you add that to the hundreds of interviews current and former cast members give, fans have a pretty good sense of what goes on behind the scenes at Studio 8H. They know how the production schedule works (at least when there aren’t last minute changes). They know what role the host plays in getting pitches approved, and they know what longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels tolerates and does not tolerate. Or at least they think they do.

I’m not saying fans haven’t gotten a sense of his taste over the years, but there’s this perception of him that he hates when cast members or hosts break character. He supposedly can’t stand when people laugh in the middle of sketches. I’m certainly not saying he’s encouraging people to belly laugh during every sketch, but there is a lot of evidence, especially in recent years, that he’s open, on occasion, to intentionally creating the conditions that make it more likely people will break character.

Let’s watch the sketch from last night and then talk about it as an example…

I’m not saying there’s not some humor to pull from a principal and a teacher reading embarrassing notes, but the entire goal of the sketch here was clearly to surprise Gosling and Padilla with some absolute nonsense they were not expecting. The whole point of this sketch was to make them laugh and perhaps to make Mikey Day laugh who also read a note, though he kept his composure a lot better than the other two.

The last time Gosling hosted, he, of course, went mega-viral alongside Day and Heidi Gardner for their Beavis And Butt-Head sketch, which led to the normally stone-faced Gardner losing any ability to control herself. The sketch was one of the most popular SNL has done in years, and there was a lot of talk afterwards about how Gosling has a habit of giggling during his SNL appearances. Clearly, the show decided to lean into that and try to create a similar moment.

That’s not the only example in recent years either. Perhaps the buzziest recurring sketches right now on SNL are the semi-annual joke swaps between Michael Che and Colin Jost. The entire premise of those sketches is that they haven’t seen the jokes they need to read ahead of time. That was also a huge part of what made the Stefan sketches work so well. It’s well known that John Mulaney, who conceived the character, would sometimes change the lines in between dress and the show to try and trip star Bill Hader up.

Saturday Night Live is a very organized and rehearsed show, at least for being recorded live. Michaels and company are very intentional about camera angles and line delivery. It is not a free-for-all out there. Cast members and the host are expected to hit their marks and deliver the lines as written, but this perception that the show doesn’t occasionally break those rules is wrong.

Beloved sketches like Debbie Downer and More Cowbell featured some element of cast members laughing or breaking character, and they’re spoken by everyone involved with great reverence. More than that, there are quite a few obvious examples of the show occasionally pushing people to break character by changing lines or conditions between dress rehearsal and the live show. Producers definitely push people to stay in character and stick to the script most of the time, but the perception that laughing mid-sketch is an unpardonable offense is wrong. The occasional break is not only tolerated, it’s clearly leaned into.

The question of who will take over Saturday Night Live after Lorne Michaels has been debated for a long time now, and there isn’t an answer. While names have been thrown around, it’s hard to comprehend how someone can do what the sketch comedy show’s boss has done. Now, Marcello Hernández is sharing his take on it all, and he explained one factor about all this that fans might not be considering.

One of SNL’s very famous alums, David Spade, asked the comedian who is performing on the 2026 TV schedule's season this question about Michaels' successor, and his fellow vet, Dana Carvey, was sitting right next to him. That led to Marcello Hernández sharing his take on the situation during an episode of Fly on the Wall. He said:

This is such a fair point to make. With the exception of a few seasons, Lorne Michaels has been running Saturday Night Live since its inception. He’s a major player in the entertainment industry, he knows tons of people, and he’s helped discover countless major comedians. To put it another way, I don’t think just anyone could have brought together some of the most famous celebrities of multiple generations for SNL 50 (case-in-point, the show literally opened with a song from Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon).

So, I totally see what the Domingo performer is saying. However, there are a few SNL vets who come to mind as suitable replacements, as Spade pointed out:

This is not the first time Tina Fey’s name has been brought up in this conversation. She was on SNL as both a cast member and the head writer for years, and since leaving the show, she’s proven to be an astounding producer, writer and performer, creating modern classics like Mean Girls and 30 Rock. So, it can be assumed that she knows lots of folks who would pick up the phone, and she has a very good history with NBC.

Colin Jost would also make sense. He’s been writing for SNL since 2005; he was the head writer from Season 38 to Season 40 and then again from Season 43 to Season 47. Plus, he’s been hosting Weekend Update for well over a decade (making him the longest reigning Update host). Like the longest-running cast member, Kenan Thompson, it’s hard to imagine the sketch comedy show without him, and clearly, he knows how it works both in front of and behind the camera.

However, again, it’s hard to imagine anyone who has the sheer number of connections Michaels has, as Marcello Hernández pointed out:

Spade and Carvey agreed with the sentiment, too. Lorne Michaels is singular in this business, and what he’s done with Saturday Night Live is astounding. As the Tommy Boy actor said:

Carvey also pointed out that Michaels has “always been brilliant with the suits.” While NBC has changed a lot over the decades, SNL has persisted. As the Church Lady performer noted, he knows how to work with executives. So, whoever takes his place has to be someone who knows about comedy and the business of it.

All around, Lorne Michaels is a very impressive person, and he’s one of the biggest reasons why Saturday Night Live has been successful for over 50 years. At the moment, he’s still steering the ship, too; however, at some point, the 81-year-old will retire. So, this question of who will take his place will become a much bigger deal. Therefore, we should be considering all the factors.

When Saturday Night Live returns amid the 2026 TV schedule, it’ll be without one cast member. Bowen Yang exited SNL in December, signing off for the final time as a cast member during Season 51’s Christmas episode. Since then, Yang has opened up a bit more about his decision to leave the show and how he’s feeling about it. He also dropped some details about his final sketch and, apparently, it was initially going to be much wilder than it turned out, until series creator Lorne Michaels stepped in.

Yang’s final sketch as an SNL cast member is “Delta Lounge,” which sees him playing a lounge employee managing the airport’s eggnog machine during his final shift. Ariana Grande (the host of that episode) plays Yang’s wife, while Kenan Thompson, Andrew Dismukes and Jane Wickline play travelers. The bit culminates in Yang being joined on stage by Grande and musical guest Cher, as he – while still in character – says goodbye to his place of employment.

That sketch was the final one of the night, and it saw Bowen Yang get incredibly emotional while being comforted by Grande and Cher. During his “exit interview” with Matt Rogers on their Las Culturistas Podcast (as shared on YouTube), Yang expressed enthusiasm in regard to how everything turned out. Interestingly enough, the writer and comedian also revealed the bit was going to be a lot more grandiose. That would’ve even included some wild shenanigans involving the eggnog machine:

The Wedding Banquet star said that he ideally would’ve loved for more cast members, if not the entire ensemble, to be part of his last segment on the show. However, Lorne Michaels jumped in with a suggestion, as Yang explained:

It’s definitely true that Lorne Michaels is battle-tested and that he’s seen his share of ups and downs while working at Saturday Night Live. So I’d say that Bowen Yang and Celeste Yim were wise to heed his take. Check out the sketch:

Yang’s SNL exit was initially reported upon, and he himself broke his silence days later, confirming the news and expressing gratitude in addition to sharing various BTS photos. It was reported that Yang’s reason for leaving was, in great part, due to the demanding schedule of working at the NBC show. During the same Las Culturistas episode, Yang opened up about the challenges of working on the series and expressed excitement about what lies ahead for his and Rogers’ podcast.

Not everyone gets to leave Saturday Night Live on their own terms, let alone with a sketch that commemorates the conclusion of their tenure. So, as Bowen Yang mentioned during the podcast, he was indeed “lucky.” Fans can revisit some of his best sketches by streaming episodes with a Peacock subscription. Also, tune into NBC on Saturday, January 17, when SNL welcomes Finn Wolfhard as host and ASAP Rocky as musical guest.

The past few years have seen Saturday Night Live bring in new talent, and that was very evident this year, given that massive cast shake-up. One of the cast members who remains after that slew of changes is Ashley Padilla, who joined the show during its landmark 50th season. Padilla has been steadily carving out a space for herself within SNL, and she’s arguably becoming a fan-favorite in the process. Funny enough, Padilla believed she’d lost the job after meeting with Lorne Michaels, and Seth Meyers thinks he knows why.

Anyone who’s aware of the SNL casting process likely knows that at some point, series hopefuls audition for series EP Lorne Michaels and later meet with him. That was the experience for Ashley Padilla, as she explained to Seth Meyers on Late Night (as seen on YouTube). During her appearance on the talk show, Padilla recalled being flown out to New York to audition for the NBC staple, and she eventually touched on her meeting with Michaels. After some small talk, the producer delivered a blunt piece of news:

Part of me is cringing just thinking about that awkward conversation and, after that chat, Padilla apparently went to grab a drink with other performers who met with Michaels and apparently received the same answer. However, the San Francisco native eventually received a call from a producer telling her that she’d landed the gig. So why did Michaels say what he said to her? Well, Seth Meyers shared a take on the seemingly gruff exec:

Lorne Michaels – who was supposedly almost replaced by Judd Apatow years ago – doesn’t strike me as a cold man, based on his public persona. However, I could definitely see him being uncomfortable while being voraciously hugged by a newly hired cast member. Don’t be fooled by any anecdotes, though, as Michaels does indeed seem to care about the cast members – both current and former. (Pete Davidson opened up about how Michaels has been there for him amid his personal struggles.)

So far, I’d say that Michaels’ decision to hire Ashley Padilla is working out in a big way. Padilla has excelled in sketches like “Simon and Heather” and “Surprise,” and who could forget her Weekend Update debut as Jo-Ann of Jo-Ann Fabrics? More recently, the comedian has been shining in the role of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. In short, Padilla is on her way to becoming a breakout SNL star, and I’m glad her meeting with Michaels didn’t go as badly as she assumed it would.

Check out Saturday Night Live when it airs on the eponymous night at 11:30 p.m. ET amid the 2025 TV schedule. Fans can also stream full episodes using a Peacock subscription.

There’s no doubt that Glen Powell has had a stellar year. He’s had plenty of projects in the works including a highly anticipated 2025 movie calendar entry finally released along with his show, the Mrs.Doubtfire-adjacent Chad Powers. Yet, the star’s biggest crowning achievement goes to hosting Saturday Night Live (his episode is available to stream with a Peacock subscription now). And he revealed that it’s been an adventure from the get go with Lorne Michaels (and Mick Jagger).

Still riding high off being SNL’s latest host, Powell took to Instagram to recap his November 15 show. As he shared in his monologue, the road to Studio 8H has been a saga that included inviting his UPS driver onstage. With the successful weekend in the rear view, he reflected on the milestone achievement in a series of fun pictures encapsulating his week. Accompanying it was a sweet but surprising caption of how his NBC experience began:

Powell’s year has been full of incredible heights. His 2025 TV schedule entry garnered a lot of buzz and it hasn’t stopped with the praise he’s gotten for the newly released The Running Man. Regardless though, the Twisters alum truly seems to be a 30 Rock diehard and has died and gone to heaven over his experience. A dinner with Lorne Michaels, Mick Jagger and an invite to host sounds like dream scenarios.

I’d frankly love to know more about the invite, and if the A-lister knew the memorable musical guest would be joining. The thing I’m not surprised about is Michaels having him to dinner, especially with Powell's expanding resume. But, if Jagger is anything like Clooney, who’s complimented Powell’s star power, I can reason why he was at the table. However it came together, this life-changing ask is pure SNL lore fodder we hear about years after.

Here’s to hoping that we hear plenty more about Glen Powell’s Saturday Night Live experience over the coming years. But especially, where it all started during that dinner date with Lorne Michaels and Mick Jagger. As mentioned, I would love to know why the duo had the iconic rocker as their third. Fingers crossed it’ll be in a future anniversary show of some sort!

Catch Season 51 of SNL on the eponymous night at 11:30 pm EST or stream it the following day with a Peacock account. The Running Man is in theaters nationwide, and Chad Powers is available for streaming with a Hulu subscription.

There is perhaps no impression in the history of Saturday Night Live that has generated more headlines and hot takes than Donald Trump. The longtime pop culture figure and current US President has been portrayed by a half dozen or so cast members, hosts and friends of the show, most prominently by Darrell Hammond, Alec Baldwin and currently, James Austin Johnson. The switch from Hammond to Baldwin in the lead-up to the 2016 Presidential election was especially divisive and almost a decade later, Hammond explained why it happened and how he felt about it.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Hammond admitted he “didn’t like it” but said longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels did what he thought was right. He said the show wanted an impression that was more likely to generate a big response and go viral, and that wasn't his softer take on Trump everyone had already been watching for multiple decades. He said the tough decision “paid off” given how much press it attracted but said coming to terms with it was “tough.” Here’s a portion of his quote…

Hammond’s impression, which Trump was always supportive of, played him as a goofy, buffoonish and larger than life character. He was shown as being out of touch but also funny and almost endearing. It wasn’t particularly nice, but it also wasn’t mean.

The take was broadly popular in the 90s and 2000s when Trump was a tabloid fixture and builder to the stars, but during his first Presidential run, some felt the impression was too soft and needed to be more villainous. Frequent host Alec Baldwin was brought in to offer a new take.

His version was much more aggressively mean. He portrayed Trump as more nakedly evil and played into the future President’s unusual mannerisms and speech patterns. The weekly sketches became major pop culture touchpoints and made the show significantly more divisive politically than it had ever been. It also left it with a lingering reputation that it was biased, which has been hard to shake.

Baldwin stepped away from his impression after the 2020 election, and it was eventually turned over to cast member James Austin Johnson, whose take is a blend of Hammond’s and Baldwin’s. It’s the most accurate, at least from an appearance and speech pattern standpoint, of the three, and it both comments on Trump’s politics, often in a critical way, but also makes him seem funny and human and keeps the essence of why he’s been a source of fascination for so long. Expect SNL to ride with it until he eventually leaves the show.

Fortunately, despite how difficult it was to be pushed aside on the Trump impression, Hammond clearly has maintained a positive relationship with Michaels and a positive relationship with the show. He still serves as the official announcer and is open to making further appearances in an on-screen capacity. Fingers crossed that happens at some point, even if it’s not as the President.

Live TV giveth, live TV taketh away. Leslie Jones has plenty of killer Saturday Night Live moments on her résumé, but she recently revisited one that went spectacularly sideways, a 2014 sketch with guest host Chris Rock that she now calls a full-on misfire. In a new interview, the Ghostbusters star reveals the honest 5-word response Lorne Michaels and Co had for her after the bomb.

On Vulture’s Good One podcast, host Jesse David Fox even framed the infamous sketch as “one of the biggest bombs in modern SNL history.” The Tennessee-born funny woman didn’t argue, but instead, she unpacked the story, adding a bit of context most fans never see. Jones recounted:

The premise itself wasn’t the problem. The sketch in question casts her and Rock as a couple who’ve been together so long their constant bickering has become its own love language, to the horror of their kid. On paper, it’s a classic relationship farce. But for whatever reason, the alchemy of a great sketch did not materialize in Studio 8H this particular Saturday night, and the sketch curdled like spilt milk on a summer day.

After the show, the Coming 2 America star was crushed, but the room didn’t let her sink. Castmates rallied; Vanessa Bayer sat with her and delivered an “it happens to everyone” reality check. Then Lorne stopped by with the most succinct note in show business:

Five words and zero judgment. And who would know better than Lorne Michaels, as the man has been at the helm of the popular sketch show for more than fifty years. The creator has seen it all, and if anyone can soothe the nerves after a bombing, it's the man who began it all.

Jones’ candid retelling lands because it shows how much invisible machinery performers juggle at 11:30 p.m.: color codes, prop hand-offs, quick changes, marks, sightlines, a live audience, and a clock that will not stop. It’s a miracle we don’t see more wipeouts. And yet that risk of collapse is exactly why SNL still crackles more than five decades in.

Leslie Jones left the show in 2019, but moments like this explain why she became a fan favorite—fearless on camera, honest about the hits and the bruises. Some sketches soar; others thud. But if we’ve learned anything, it’s this: it’s live. It happens. You can watch the sketch below—fair warning, it’s a pretty uncomfortable ride.

Saturday Night Live is currently in its 51st season. Catch it live Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET (10:30 p.m. CT), then stream episodes with a Peacock subscription.

As it comes as no surprise, fan favorite, Bowen Yang returned as one of the featured cast members of Saturday Night Live Season 51. But long before his present return to Studio 8H, Ariana Grande requested that the funnyman sign onto Wicked back in 2023. Now the two are shedding light on how the initial ask went down, and surprisingly, the retelling features Grande’s killer impression of Lorne Michaels.

After the first press tour, the story surfaced of the NBC icon okaying Yang’s schedule on the condition that he continued work at SNL while filming Wicked. It shocked many, and the SNL star even looked tired recalling that time frame in his life. Now, with the release of Wicked: For Good just around the corner, the second press tour’s getting into full swing.

That’s where part two of this story comes in, and the impersonation, during Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector Test interview. After the Nora From Queens alum revealed he was likely not going to be in the John M. Chu blockbuster, the “thank u, next” singer stepped up. Here’s her side of the story with the showrunner, complete with the A+ voice:

I know that everyone in Hollywood more or less can at least attempt a Lorne Michaels take, but hers is honestly so good! Part of me wishes that she did that when hosting, but Grande believing in the Domingo sketch is enough here. Regardless, I’m endlessly impressed by the Eternal Sunshine artist’s ability to perform, and Yang being seemingly shocked with delight heightens the feeling.

Aside from the humorous impression, Ariana Grande asking about her friend’s chances of signing on as Pfannee was very sweet and smart. The Wedding Banquet star fully delivered as one of Glinda’s haughty besties and will continue to be in demand. Yang’s stardom is undeniable and makes sense why the formal conversation went on between the singer and the comedy vet. After the rehashing, Grande said how thankful and appreciative she is of Michaels:

Don’t you just love a BTS look with a happy ending that benefited everyone? I do, and I’m glad to know that all of the stars who had hectic Wicked timetables are through them, though Yang did pull a sequel of sorts after catching a redeye from SNL to the Oscars. Let’s just hope the press tour for the 2025 movie schedule sequel doesn’t elicit too much commuting woes for anyone.

If they do though, here’s hoping another spot-on, surprising impression by Ariana Grande follows soon after! In the meantime, this solid (and Michaels one) she did for Yang to juggle both Wicked and SNL certainly fits the bill.

If you can’t wait for the sequel’s November 21 nationwide release, make sure to catch the trailers for Wicked: For Good or stream Part One with a Peacock subscription.

It’s unbelievable that 51 years later, Saturday Night Live is still live from New York to bring hilarious sketches and unforgettable musical moments. Continuing to make its way to your 2025 TV schedule, there are plenty of upcoming hosts ready for season 51 in November, like Miles Teller, Nikki Glaser and Glen Powell. As SNL creator Lorne Michaels looked back at the NBC show’s first season and its early hardships, he recalled “a big, big fight” that occurred.

When the first episode of SNL aired in 1975, it was like a completely different show. George Carlin was the first host who didn’t act in any of the sketches like today’s hosts do. He did stand-up during the breaks with some stage appearances. Not to mention, there were four musical performances from the same group compared to the usual two we have now.

Speaking of musical guests, Lorne Michaels said in an interview at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's "SNL: Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of Music" exhibit (via EW) that bringing musical performances to ‘70s television was a “big, big fight” for the show. Here’s why:

That’s really interesting. I never would have thought that musical performances were tough to broadcast on TV, but I guess it makes sense given that the technology used back then was about capturing the audio clearly and syncing it with visuals in real time. Plus, since the NBC sketch comedy was live, there was no room for errors. Live television itself was experimental back then.

Just like how the film industry had to adjust to sound making its way to big screens, television had to do the same with how music was broadcast. Lorne Michaels continued to talk about what made filming music for television challenging during SNL’s first season and what had to be done:

As Lorne Michaels realized the boom mic technique would no longer be an option as television was growing, he knew changes would need to be made. When Paul Simon acted as the show's double-threat, being both a host and musical guest for episode 2, Michaels called in music producer Phil Ramone and realized the show would need a different approach to mic’ing.

Fortunately, the SNL boss said audiences weren’t initially bothered by the sound, as those who were there during the first airing felt the show was revolutionary in general for being live. But by the mid-'70s, the advancement of technology was a call for change.

The music for Saturday Night Live ended up being some of the show’s infamous moments of Season 1. For example, Patti Smith played the NBC comedy’s first Easter weekend show with the punk-rock track “Gloria.” There was also ABBA, who lip-synched their pre-recorded tracks of “Waterloo” and “SOS,” jokingly explaining they had to do so because their “tapes didn’t arrive from Sweden.” Other guests included Lily Tomlin, Carly Simon, Randy Newman and more.

Filming live rock music may have initially been “a big, big fight” during Saturday Night Live's beginnings, as Lorne Michaels said. But when you look back at the most memorable music guests of SNL in the course of 51 years, I would say that struggle was clearly worth it. Now audiences not only watch the award-winning sketch series to get a good laugh, but also to hear live music at its finest.

Saturday Night Live returns to NBC on November 1st, with next-day streaming on your Peacock subscription.

Saturday Night Live Season 51’s cast is set, though that comes after various changes, with several familiar faces either being let go or exiting the show on their own. All of this was part of the plan, though, as executive producer Lorne Michaels previously promised that adjustments would be made. Of course, it’s only natural to wonder how he feels now that everything has been put in place. Well, someone finally asked Michaels, who was among the winners at the 2025 Emmys, and the TV legend shared his thoughts.

Lorne Michaels and co. ultimately won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for their work on Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special. Ahead of that, though, Michaels walked the red carpet at the event and spoke with members of the press. During a chat with Entertainment Tonight (which is on YouTube), the exec was asked about the recent changes made to SNL’s cast. Based on Michaels’ response, the rationale behind the cuts and new additions boils down to keeping the show fresh:

SNL Season 51 is bringing in five new cast members – Kam Patterson, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Veronika Slowikowska and (Please Don’t Destroy member) Ben Marshall. As stark as the major changes might seem, Lorne Michaels does make a fair point in that over the years, the long-running NBC show has had to make such adjustments in order to keep from becoming stale. So what fans have been seeing as of late is, essentially, a natural period of transition for the sketch comedy institution.

While the Saturday Night Live boss’ mentality may make sense, the recent cast exits are still collectively a hard pill to swallow. Devon Walker was the first star to be cut ahead of Season 51, and that confirmation was soon followed by news of Emil Wakim being let go. Michael Longfellow’s exit was then revealed, after which fans learned eight-season veteran Heidi Gardner was leaving the show.

The SNL exits weren’t over after all that as, just last week, it was also announced Ego Nwodim would leave the show after seven seasons. Nwodim’s exit also came as a surprise to fans, who eventually expressed dismay about her exit on social media. Nwodim had a number of notable moments on the show, including her involvement in that Weekend Update moment from Season 50 that saw audience members screaming an obscenity. Lorne Michaels was asked about the moment during his interview with ET and revealed that like many others he was “laughing” over that moment as well.

On that note, it’s tough to see the likes of Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner and Michael Longfellow leave the show. Lorne Michaels deserves the benefit of the doubt in a situation like this, though. He’s been doing this job over the last 50 years and, if SNL’s longevity is any indication, Michaels certainly seems to know how to keep the show fresh from a cast perspective.

Saturday Night Live returns to NBC for its 51st season on October 4 at 11:35 p.m. ET as part of the 2025 TV schedule. Episodes will also be streamable with a Peacock subscription.

After a spectacular 50th anniversary season of Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels teased some major cast shakeups heading into Season 51 and he was not bluffing. First, Devon Walker exited, with first year featured player Emil Wakim following soon after. Eventually, Michael Longfellow also announced he was let go, and Heidi Gardner was also released after eight seasons on the long-running NBC show. However, Bowen Yang is staying, and he’s opening up about conversations he’s had with Michaels about his future on the show.

Yang recently spoke with People Magazine during the One House Toast to the Emmys celebration. During that chat, the comedian opened up about deciding to stay with SNL for Season 51, despite many of his close friends, like Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim, leaving. While Nwodim expressed that it was time for her to say “goodnight,” Yang felt that his time wasn’t up just yet, and Michaels agreed that he had a lot more in front of him:

I certainly agree that Bowen Yang has more to do. He dazzled viewers with Weekend Update bits like the Titanic Iceberg, Jafar and Moo Deng. He's also proven himself to be a solid sketch player. Given the success of Yang's Las Culturistas podcast as well, I think it’s safe to say he's built a solid following. I'd personally like to see more of him and hope he gets plenty of time to shine amid Saturday Night Live Season 51. As for whether or not Yang has a game plan for his career, he had this to say:

Along with Yang and other favorites returning, exciting new SNL cast members have also been announced, and there are some young faces in the mix. Ben Marshall of Please Do Not Destroy is now part of the cast, and newcomers like Kam Patterson and Tommy Brennan are also joining the ensemble. There’s a lot of strong potential, though it will admittedly be strange to see a Season 51 cast without some stars who have added so much to the show for years.

Although it's tough to see some Saturday Night Live stars go, these comments from Bowen Yang actually have me excited for Season 51. Lorne Michaels has strong instincts and knows when a cast member has worn out their welcome, or when they have more to showcase. For the Wicked star, he has a lot more to offer, and so do returning cast members like Colin Jost, James Austin Johnson and Marcello Hernández. Some of these cast shakeups may seem shocking, but I’d never underestimate Michaels when it comes to having a plan.

You can check out Bowen Yang and the rest of the cast on Season 51 of SNL, which premieres on NBC at 11:30 EST on October 4 amid the 2025 TV schedule. Fans of the show can also check out previous episodes of the beloved sketch show now by streaming it with a Peacock subscription.

After Shane Gillis was fired from Saturday Night Live after old jokes resurfaced that were directed at the Asian and LGBT communities, members of the media and many fans online looked for ways to incorporate Bowen Yang into the story. He’s a proud member of both of those communities and had been promoted from his job as a writer into a cast member at the exact same time. It only made sense in the minds of many to link the two together, but years later, Yang now feels like he and Gillis were both “used” to further cancel culture agendas.

The initial firing happened all the way back in 2019. Gillis and Yang were both announced as new cast members alongside Chloe Fineman. Almost immediately, however, some of Gillis’ old jokes surfaced, and despite a lot of protesting from creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels, NBC made the decision to let him go. Yang was recently asked about what happened from his perspective during an appearance on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, and he opened up about the sequence of events and how he feels now that more than a half decade has passed.

From Bowen’s perspective, it started when they were announced together as part of the new cast. He apparently went to the park to meditate and think about how his life was about to change when he got a text message from his agent. There were stories everywhere about Gillis’ old jokes and many brought up Yang, despite him not actually being involved. He asked for Gillis’ number, and the two connected over the phone a few days later about the craziness of being a part of a national story.

Not long after the conversation, Gillis was fired, and Yang feels like, in retrospect, the two men were both used as a figureheads when the truth was a lot more nuanced and complicated.

Fortunately for both men, their careers have skyrocketed since the firing. Gillis has become one of the most popular stand-up comedians in the world and has his own show on Netflix. Yang has emerged as one of SNL’s most popular cast members and has a burgeoning movie career that includes a key role in Wicked and its sequel. They’ve also connected together in person, as Gillis has returned to host the show multiple times in recent seasons.

Yang told Maron the two don’t have much in common, but there’s a “mutual respect” and that he thinks he’s a “funny guy.” He's repeatedly said over the years that he had nothing to do with what happened.

SNL will return for its 51st season this October. Final casting decisions are still being made as to who will return and who will not.

Many still feel the absence of Saturday Night Live star Chris Farley, who passed away due to a drug overdose in 1997. In his five-season run on SNL, Farley brought an entertaining blend of high energy and outrageous physical comedy, which he infused into unforgettable characters. Given Farley's impact, it's not surprising that a biopic about him is in the works, with Paul Walter Hauser steps into his shoes, Now, Hauser is opening up about talking to Lorne Michaels, David Spade and Tim Meadows about Farley.

Work on the Chris Farley biopic has yet to officially begin, as Paul Walter Hauser recently revealed to EW that an official green light has yet to be given. While Hauser hasn't started preparing to deeply, his conversations with those in Farley's inner circle have apparently been invaluable for him. On the subject of having spoken to so many SNL bigwigs, Hauser said:

I can understand the pain that comes with talking about a Hollywood icon who didn’t make it past the age of 40. Fans may mourn the loss, but it's hard to compare those feelings to those of the people who knew Farley personally. But, at the same time, it looks like Lorne Michaels and co. are doing their late cohort's memory well by sharing their "funniest stories" of him. These are personal recollections, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall while they're being shared.

Lorne Michaels, David Spade and Tim Meadows were close with the Airheads actor, but they all had different stories to tell Paul Walter Hauser. The Americana actor got real about what made each conversation different to him:

I’d love to know what Lorne Michaels’ anecdotes on the comedy actor were about David Spade -- who was a good friend of Chris Farley's -- surely has some wonderful stories. And, since Tim Meadows got his start on Second City with Farley in 1989, he can likely speak to the Coneheads actor’s early comedic genius.

Previously, Paul Walter Hauser said the most “difficult” part of getting to play Farley had been worrying about how audiences would judge his portrayal. Biopics can be tricky for an actor, as they're about more than just putting on an impression or impersonation. An actor has to embody the spirit of the person they're portraying. Still, Hauser is smart to be chatting with those who knew Farley, and I'd imagine that a story like the one Tim Meadows shared with him will help inform his work:

The Chris Farley biopic may still be in the early stages of development, but I’m already confident Hauser has got this big role in the bag. He’s shown his acting chops in films like I, Tonya, Richard Jewell and BlacKkKlansman. Of course, he's also a natural born comedic actor, as evidenced by his work in the 2025 movie releaseThe Naked Gun and the hit show Cobra Kai. The Emmy winner is a multi-faceted actor who I'm sure can play out Farley’s comedic highs as well as his tough battles with addiction and more.

Paul Walter Hauser just continues to prove just why he's one of the most thoughtful actors working in show business today. Here's hoping that he's able to use those stories from Chris Farley's friends and colleagues to help his performance in the film, which I also hope does get the green light. In the meantime, check out Hauser in both Americana and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which are in theaters now.

After The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was suddenly canceled and caused an uproar with viewers, celebrities such as Bowen Yang and Jimmy Kimmel are showing their support. Kimmel also called out claims about The Late Show losing money, as many are wondering what this means for late-night television. While it’s hard to predict how things will turn out for other late-night shows, The Tonight Show producer Lorne Michaels is weighing in on the whole situation.

Michaels not only created and currently produces Saturday Night Live, which entering its 51^st season on the 2025 TV schedule this fall, and rumored to also be in danger, but his Broadway Video production company has been producing The Tonight Show since former SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon took over in 2014. He’s also been producing Late Night, currently hosted by fellow former SNL cast member Seth Meyers, since the ‘90s, so Michaels definitely has a lot of experience in that genre. And like many, he was surprised when The Late Show’s cancelation was announced, as he told Puck News’ Matt Belloni:

There have been a lot of reported factors for The Late Show’s cancelation, including the new CBS head honcho blaming YouTube, where a lot of people have been watching either clips or full interviews. That's exactly what Michaels pointed out. But that can really be said for any show as the Internet continues to take over. That being said, nothing is ever certain when it comes to a show’s renewal or cancelation... no matter how bleak or great things may look.

Things could always change a year from now, but Michaels doesn’t seem too worried. He revealed the chances of The Tonight Show and Late Night, and it seems like fans will be able to breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now:

It sounds like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers will be sticking around for a long time, which is definitely a good thing. It also helps that Michaels has a good relationship with the Comcast CEO. Both Fallon and Meyers have shown support to Colbert, as have other late-night hosts, and both of their shows do well. Plus, this certainly wouldn’t be the first time that Fallon was probably worried about a cancelation, as he’s been open about public criticism and bad press before, no matter where it comes from.

The television landscape is never the same, and things are constantly shifting, whether it’s directly behind the scenes or a higher power. Even though The Late Show’s cancelation has ruffled more than a few feathers and has made people worried about the future of late-night, there are likely other factors that go into it. What this could mean months from now is unknown, and the status of other late-night shows is hard to tell. If The Late Show is any indication, anything can happen.

With Saturday Night Live’s return just weeks away on the 2025 TV schedule, the buzz around the new season is only getting louder. While fans are keeping an eye on the upcoming SNL hosts and musical guests, the bigger mystery right now may be what’s happening behind the scenes as the show just confirmed its first official cast cut, with Devon Walker announcing his exit after three seasons. But cast turnover might not be the only shake-up on the way. A new rumor suggests even the iconic Weekend Update desk could look different when Season 51 premieres.

According to a report from Late Nighter, the long-running comedy institution has already screen-tested at least one new anchor pairing. Though Colin Jost and Michael Che remain unconfirmed for Season 51, the fact that producers are looking at alternatives points to the possibility of change. Michaels himself teased a shake-up was coming and that decisions would be finalized soon, telling Matt Belloni that an announcement could be coming “in a week or so.” And since Jost and Che aren't head writers anymore, it seems possible they might want to focus on other opportunities.

For nearly a decade, Jost and Che have held down Update, becoming the longest-running duo in the show’s history. Their dynamic, Jost’s straight-man delivery against Che’s biting, often trolling punchlines, has become a defining feature of modern SNL. Still, turnover at Update is nothing new. From Chevy Chase and Norm Macdonald to Tina Fey and Seth Meyers, the desk has evolved with the show’s eras, and Season 51 might be the next turning point.

An inside source told Late Nighter that Michael Longfellow and SNL writer KC Shornima taped auditions. Whether their chemistry at the desk impressed Michaels enough to move forward remains to be seen, but it’s notable that testing even took place. Weekend Update anchors are always chosen with care, as they set the tone for the show’s political satire and viral punchlines, something that’s especially crucial with a heated midterm election season on the horizon.

Sunday also brought the news that writer Celeste Yim is leaving the show after five years on staff. As with Devon Walker’s departure, Michaels seems to be signaling that Season 51 could serve as a reset moment for SNL, both onstage and off.

The fate of the Weekend Update desk is still uncertain, but there’s no question the segment will remain a centerpiece of the show’s rhythm. One constant viewers can count on is James Austin Johnson, whose scary-accurate Trump impersonation has become one of the defining elements of SNL’s political satire in recent years.

The bigger question now is who else will be standing alongside Johnson when the new season begins. Mikey Day has expressed a desire to stick around “for as long as [he] can,” while Bowen Yang’s reflections on Season 50 carried a hint of possible departure. For the moment, it’s a waiting game to see which familiar faces return and which decide to move on.

Lorne Michaels has promised that casting news will arrive soon. Until then, fans can revisit Season 50 with a Peacock subscription and start making their own wish lists of who they hope to see back in Studio 8H this fall.

Saturday Night Live Season 51 premieres Saturday, October 4, at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with full episodes streaming the next day on Peacock.

Saturday Night Live’s 51st season is right around the corner on the 2025 TV schedule, and we’re still waiting to see who will make up the cast and who will be the first to serve as host and musical guest. Now, while we still don’t know specifics, SNL boss Lorne Michaels has confirmed that the cast will change this season, while also revealing one comedian who will still be on the show.

Lorne Michaels Confirmed That Cast Members Will Leave Ahead Of SNL Season 51

For months now, there’s been a lot of speculation about who won’t return to SNL. Kenan Thompson said “a lot of change” could happen this season, and some fans are wondering whether Colin Jost and other long-time cast members will be back. During an interview with Puck, Michaels was asked if he was going to “shake things up” this season, and in response, he said:

For context, Punkie Johnson, Molly Kearney and Chloe Troast exited after Season 49, leaving the rest of the cast the same. While there were additions too, for the most part, the ensemble was consistent from season to season.

After Michaels' response that explained more about why Season 50’s cast was almost the same as 49’s than it did about what Season 51’s ensemble would look like, he was asked about the pressure to reinvent. In response to a question about whether he feels that “pressure” on the upcoming season, he said:

Well, at least we’ll have some answers soon. However, we did get some answers here, too, as the SNL boss did confirm one returning cast member.

Lorne Michaels Revealed That James Austin Johnson Will Be Returning

You can always count on Lorne Michaels to have short and blunt answers, and that was certainly the case here. However, in this case, it provided a lot of clarity about the future for one vital cast member. When asked if James Austin Johnson would continue to play President Donald Trump, the SNL mastermind simply said:

Considering how scary accurate James Austin Johnson’s Trump impersonation is, and SNL’s consistent political parody, this is unsurprising. Season 51 will mark the comedian's fifth season on the show as well, and considering that he’s now a long-time cast member and one of the best impersonators in the cast, I totally get why Michaels was quick to confirm his return.

Now, the question is: Who will come back with James Austin Johnson and who will exit? Mikey Day said he wants to stay “for as long as [he] can,” while Bowen Yang’s comments about SNL 50 had exit energy. It’s really unclear right now who will be back and who won’t.

However, Lorne Michaels did confirm that we’ll know who is making up Season 51’s ensemble sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you can go back and watch Season 50 with a Peacock subscription and take note of who you hope returns.

No matter what happens, though, remember that change is inevitable (especially with SNL) and can be a good thing. So, regardless of who makes up this upcoming cast, I’m sure we’re in for another wild ride when Saturday Night Live returns to its titular night.

Unlike the majority of comedians when they’re first cast on Saturday Night Live, Beck Bennett was well known to a lot of people when the show hired him, although maybe not by name. He was the star of an extremely successful series of nationwide commercials. In fact, our article on the show’s new cast members that season referenced him as AT&T commercial actor Beck Bennett, the only one of the additions we called out in the headline.

Sadly, those hilarious commercials came to an end around the same time as his casting, and it turns out that wasn’t by accident. Bennett sat for an interview with fellow ex-SNL cast members David Spade and Dana Carvey during an episode of their Fly On The Wall podcast, and those commercials came up. He said showrunner Lorne Michaels, after he was cast, told him he couldn’t do the commercials anymore, which was a little worrying since not everyone cast on the show makes it over the long haul. Here’s a portion of his quote…

The commercials in question were part of a campaign called It’s Not Complicated and were directed by Jorma Taccone. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s one of the Lonely Island guys with Andy Samberg. Taccone’s recommendation apparently helped set him up with the SNL audition, which Bennett crushed but then indirectly led to the run of commercials ending.

With all due respect to 30 Rock’s Beeper King Dennis Duffy and his hilarious Mayhem commercials, I think the It’s Not Complicated campaign might be the funniest series I’ve ever seen. Each one featured Bennett interviewing a bunch of little kids and asking them really obvious questions, like if they want more or less of something. You can check out some examples below…

It’s unclear if Michaels would have a different opinion about Bennett doing the commercials if he were just coming into the cast now. He’s shown a willingness to let veteran cast members miss episodes to film movies and tv shows and has let Kenan Thompson, among others, shoot commercials in recent years. A lot of former cast members have said he’s mellowed out as he’s gotten older and is a lot softer and more approachable now, but it’s also worth pointing out that most of those exceptions have been for cast members who have been on the show for years.

If Bennett would have been offered the commercials after he’d already put in five years or more on the SNL cast, maybe Michaels would have felt differently, even at the time. We just don’t know for sure, since there doesn’t seem to be a hard and fast rule.

That being said, everything obviously worked out for Bennett. He starred on the show for eight seasons and was in a ton of notable sketches, as well as a lot of fantastic weirdness with Kyle Mooney. He was also, by all accounts, beloved by his fellow cast members when he left. In the time since, he’s continued to work regularly and recently had a comedic role in Superman as Clark Kent’s office frenemy Steve Lombard.

I have no idea if Bennett and Taccone will ever join forces to do another round of It’s Not Complicated commercials for AT&T, but I would absolutely love it if they did.

I’ve been shocked at a lot of surprise cancellations before. From behind the scenes problems to elevated production costs to sagging ratings, shows get the big ugly axe for a variety of reasons all the time. I’m not sure, however, that I ever remember one generating as much collective shock as The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’s recent cancellation. No one seemed to see that coming at all, and now, people are asking questions about other cultural institutions long seen as untouchable, even Saturday Night Live.

The popular sketch comedy show recently celebrated its milestone 50th anniversary, and while the audience isn’t as large as it once was, its most popular breakout sketches still regularly become touchpoints a wide cross section of the population discusses and bonds over. But does that mean it’s immune from the pressures so many other long-running shows are facing? No. At least that’s the takeaway from an interview Morgan Neville did with Deadline. The documentarian recently executive produced the SNL 50 doc for Peacock, and he was asked if SNL should be worried about Colbert’s cancellation. Here’s a portion of what he said..

So, that’s the problem for both SNL and for many of the legacy shows. The longer you’re around and the more success you see, the more your budget goes up. Instead of entry level people making near the minimum, you eventually have seasoned hands who have been around decades and command a more elevated rate. Audiences have learned to expect a certain quality from the sets, from the make-up and from all the little details. It’s not so easy to just cut costs in those areas.

The rapid shift in how people consume entertainment (as well as all the competition) has made it much harder to get a ton of people to tune into something live, but on the bright side, it has also opened up opportunities for viewers to see things on other platforms. YouTube is the most prominent of those options. Both SNL and The Late Show have started generating many millions of views on the platform, but unfortunately, ad rates just haven’t caught up yet, which CBS specifically called out when discussing The Late Show.

One thing helping SNL is almost certainly how friendly creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels is with the network. There have been some times over the years where it’s gotten a little bit contentious, but by all accounts, things are in a very good place now. That was not the case for The Late Show and likely had some bearing on the way that turned out.

Michaels, however, is not going to be around forever. There’s already a lot of talk about transition plans and what might happen when he retires. Neville touched on that during his convo, as well, saying no one knows what is going to happen when he’s gone.

Personally, I think SNL is going to transition to another showrunner and will last for the foreseeable future. NBC has shown no signs of abandoning The Tonight Show, which assumedly faces some of the same issues as The Late Show, and SNL is among the more popular shows on new media. At some point, more advertising money is going to flow in that direction, and that’s going to be a win for the show.

All we know for sure right now though is that SNL will return for its 51st season on October 4th. Michaels and company haven’t announced which cast members are going to return, which hasn’t helped with all the rumors, but at this point, it seems likely the bulk of the No Ready For Primetime Players will return.

Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary celebration has come and gone, and still at the helm is Lorne Michaels. The legendary late night sketch show creator has stuck with SNL through thick and thin, and he continues to find success with the show. Seth Meyers and others series alums have opined that no one could ever fill Michaels' shoes. However, that hasn’t stopped people from discussing who could inevitably take over and, now, former cast member Molly Shannon is weighing in with a pick.

Colin Jost, Tina Fey, and Seth Meyers have all had their hats thrown in the ring by the rumor mill as potential successors for Lorne Michaels. However, Molly Shannon cited none of those options when discussing the matter with People. It was during the chat that she was asked whether Kenan Thompson could do it, and I have to say I was both surprised, and not so surprised, to hear her agree with that assertion:

Apparently, we're at a point in Saturday Night Live’s history in which many people are asking former cast members to endorse Lorne Michaels' potential successor. Of course, those questions come despite the fact that the veteran producer has made it clear he is not interested in talking about retirement anytime soon. Michaels has become so synonymous with the popular NBC late night program that his biographer doesn’t anticipate ever writing his exit from the show, saying that the powerful EP will continue to be in Studio 8H on Saturday nights as long as physically possible.

Lorne Michaels aside, there are few other key SNL players and writers who have stayed over a decade. However, Kenan Thompson is the longest tenured Saturday Night Live cast member by far. The Kenan and Kel actor made his SNL debut in 2003, and he's since become a beloved part of the show. The staple repertory player has expressed his undying love for the sketch series and his goal of being a lifelong cast member. So Shannon selecting him as her candidate doesn’t surprise me. After all, few know the show's process better than someone who has lived it for 22 years.

Still what did surprise me was the fact that Shannon named Thompson as her answer. Thompson’s SNL stripes have been earned, through beloved characters such as Steve Harvey and Willie, and that is by no means up for debate. However, the comedic actor is a safe answer to a loaded question.

I will bring up the fact that the Nickelodeon alum has never been a head writer. Someone who's served in that position, like Colin Jost or Tina Fey -- who worked closely with Michaels everyday for years behind the scenes -- might be more apt for running the entire operation that is Saturday Night Live. There’s also the fact that Thompson considers himself an actor over a comedian, to the point where sketch scripts are written differently for him. Those attributes could make him more of a wild card pick.

Things are shifting at SNL, though, with Thompson saying there’s “possibly a lot of change next year” following the 50th Anniversary season. Bowen Yang gave exit vibes following his goodbye at the end of the past season, and other cast members like Heidi Gardner and Mikey Day are rumored to be leaving. Ultimately, though, nothing has been confirmed just yet.

Something I don’t expect to change when Saturday Night Live returns to the 2025 TV schedule in the fall is the inclusion of Lorne Michaels’ name at the end of the credits. While it's likely that people won't stop searching for a solid answer on his successor, that mystery could very well persist a lot longer than the Season 51 cast reveal. In the meantime, stream SNL episodes now using a Peacock subscription.

For years, speculation has swirled regarding whether Saturday Night Live creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels would step down. He had been teasing his own retirement for years but, after the legendary sketch comedy series turned 50 this year, Michaels decided to keep going, refraining from passing the baton at least for a little while longer. However, one SNL legend did decide it’s time to move on and, though it’s not a rumored cast member, writer or even a producer, he's been integral to the operation.

Stephen DeMaria, who has overseen the set building at SNL since the very beginning of the show is calling it a career. DeMaria, who is 87, discussed that decision and more as part of a profile published in The New York Times. He's a legend in every sense of the word, making the long-running NBC show's set as iconic as it’s become and helping to shape some of the most memorable moments in TV history. While the SNL schedule is famously stressful, DeMaria has enjoyed every minute of it, and he gave a sweet piece of life advice he has gained from his experience:

DeMaria has followed his own advice. Based on his recollections of his time at Saturday Night Live, he has always found a way to have the time of his life. The set coordinator was known for cutting a rug at the show's afterparties, fully embracing the starry events that come with working at one of the coolest workplaces in TV. He said one of his favorite moments was dancing with Mick Jagger, who was a frequent host and musical guest:

Not only was DeMaria incredible at his job, bringing an old school charm and work ethic to a major comedy institution, but also seemed like a blast to hang out with, and a staple at the afterparties. Unfortunately, the fun ended up getting the best of him. Last year, he broke his hip after slipping on a curb after a night of dancing. While the injury resulted in him needing a cane to walk, the incident hasn’t kept him down, and he's determined to get back out there soon:

While DeMaria intends on getting back up on the dance floor, and with his spirit and energy, I have no doubt he will, the legend is still ending his time with the sketch comedy series. He has contributed years and years of his life to the show, helping to create sets for popular SNL sketches like Matt Foley, Domingo and More Cowbell. He's definitely earned some years of relaxation and rest after contributing such great work to one of the most beloved shows on TV. SNL will go on, but DeMaria will surely be missed in the studio and on the dance floor.

You can revisit some incredible set constructions led by Stephen DeMaria by checking out classic episodes of Saturday Night Live, which are streamable now with a Peacock subscription.

Dakota Johnson has come a long way since her Fifty Shades of Grey days. She has two highly anticipated flicks on the 2025 movie calendar, has become a fashion staple, and continues to make a name for herself. But every shining star trips up now and again, and Johnson revealed one of those clumsier moments happened behind the scenes on Saturday Night Live next to Lorne Michaels. The goofy response he had to her tumbling into a set piece suits him well.

The anecdote arose during her time on Late Night with Seth Meyers (where she was wearing a stunning sheer mesh dress). The actress chatted about her first experience at the annual French film festival, including the pressures, but confessed that her biggest fear on any carpet (or beyond) is falling. The 35-year-old confirmed that she fell during Cannes, but also during SNL as a guest, watching alongside Michaels himself. In her words:

This just makes the star of Madame Web (a Marvel movie on Netflix) all the more relatable to me. As someone who has tripped (and hurt herself) on the sidewalk, I feel this deeply. Sometimes, somehow, some of us can just find ourselves on the ground. Admittedly, though, I’ve never bitten it with a full-fledged live audience expecting comedy in the room!

But maybe the goofiest and most poignant person to respond was the SNL head himself. The Daddio alum went on to share his short but quippy response:

Hopefully, the Cannes and the 30 Rock flop are both behind her, and it's the only fall she endures this year. But with the upcoming Materialists and the Cannes-premiered film Splitsville, both await national releases and press tours. So we’ll have to wait and see just how well she does for the upcoming A24 movie and the Neon film.

I’d also love to know Lorne Michaels’ side of Dakota Johnson taking out the big set piece. Truly, I think many of us would like to know a lot more Studio 8H material, especially now that the wrapped historic 50th season has ended. Catching all of the SNL content with my Peacock subscription will have to do, though, until the next story like Johnson’s arrives.

Every job has something the employees want no part of. Whether it’s a specific task or a potential consequence, even the healthiest of work cultures have something the workers dread. At Saturday Night Live, that’s apparently getting called unexpectedly to 17. That’s where longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels’ office is located. The cast assembles there every week to meet the host and have the pitch meeting, but getting called back there by yourself brings a whole different level of emotions.

Questlove talked about that this past week. He was apparently minding his own business over at 30 Rock when he got a call to go to 17, and immediately, his mind started racing about what he could have possibly done. He told Deadline when people get called to 17, typically their life is about to change for the better or they’re about to get fired.

It’s very rarely just chit-chat or something unimportant, as Michaels is a very busy man who oversees all aspects of SNL and its upcoming hosts, as well as a variety of side projects. Here’s how Questlove set up the story...

The problem with getting told you're going to a meeting later in the day is that you have all day to sit there and think about it. Let the record show he thought plenty about it. He spent all day speculating about what he could have done or whether he insulted a cast member. By the time he actually went to Michaels' office, Questlove hilariously said he felt like he was doing the Green Mile walk.

Fortunately, in this case, it turned out to be the life changing for the better side of the coin. Michaels said he’d recently watched his first documentary Summer Of Soul and was wondering if he’d be open to working on a project for him. He explained the show wanted to put together a special documentary on the music to run for the 50th anniversary and thought he’d be the perfect person to direct it. After a sense of relief washed over him, he said yes and ultimately produced a music doc fans loved that chronicled the show’s entire run.

Both current and former cast members consistently talk about the presence Michaels has and how intimidating he can be. He rarely laughs out loud as people are pitching comedy bits, and there’s an aura of mystery around him, in terms of what he thinks and how he feels. If you believe former cast members, however, he’s really lightened up over the past decade or so. David Spade said he was shocked cast members are comfortable asking Michaels why their sketches got cut nowadays. He said there was none of that when he worked on the show in the early '90s.

A little softening is probably for the better though. Plus, Michaels needs to eventually let someone in on his process, as he can’t run the shows forever. His biographer told us she thinks he’ll give up responsibility more gradually, rather than quit all at once, but even so, that means someone needs to step into that void.

There have long been rumors that Weekend Update host and former head writer Colin Jost could be that person, but there’s also a chance he could end up leaving the show instead. We’ll just have to wait and see because, at some point, somebody is going to get called up to 17 and despite those initial fears, it’ll turn out to be good news when they’re offered the gig.

Lorne Michaels is arguably one of the most powerful individuals working in the entertainment industry today. With more than 50 years of professional experience under his belt, the Saturday Night Live producer commands a considerable amount of respect. That can sometimes manifest in some interesting ways, though. Apparently, there was a situation on the set of John Mulaney’s Netflix show, which became somewhat awkward. It would seem Michaels was standing somewhere he shouldn’t have, and no one would tell him.

Available for Netflix subscription holders, Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney has become something of a weekly comfort show for some viewers. The moment that the eponymous host recalled during a Q&A for the FYSEE LA screening series, though, sounds anything but comforting. The Lorne Michaels snafu was prompted by a question Mulaney received from fellow SNL alum Fred Armisen, and Mulaney described his former boss’ visit with one word:

Fred Armisen: Do you ever, when you’re doing the show, think, ‘Oh, what if Lorne is watching this?’

John Mulaney: Oh, yeah. He came once [to my show]. That was so scary.

Had I been in the Baby J performer’s shoes, I probably would’ve been somewhat uneasy as well. The notion of my former boss watching my show is one thing, but the idea of him actually being in the building amid production is just daunting. John Mulaney’s further comments are sure to make fans chagrin as, before showtime, the seasoned producer stood on Mulaney’s mark, and he was forced to have a weird chat with his ex-employer:

On the surface, Lorne Michaels might seem relatively mild-mannered, but he can also be intimidating (whether he means to be or not) based on stories that have been told. Ex-SNL writer Rob Klein, for instance, recalled learning how Michaels hated the “Lamps” sketch he wrote years ago. Former series cast member Taran Killam also revealed that after he kept bringing up his 12 Years a Slave role as a part of a comedy bit, Michaels put his foot down in order to have him stop.

Those anecdotes don’t represent the totality of who Lorne Michaels actually is, as he apparently has a softer side as well. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson has been candid about how Michaels has been in his corner for some time now. Tina Fey, who was on SNL for nearly a decade, also holds Michaels in high regard, especially considering that she sought out his opinion on Jon Hamm when she mulled over hiring the actor for 30 Rock.

So there certainly seem to be layers to the legendary producer. In all honesty, it’s somewhat ironic and sweet that when John Mulaney approached Michaels, he was cordially asking if he wanted to speak with Tina Fey. It’s wise not to judge a book by its cover, though I’d be lying if I said I would’ve been the first one eager to tell Michaels to move from Mulaney’s spot.

New episodes of Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney stream on Netflix at 10 p.m. ET on Wednesdays amid the 2025 TV schedule.

It’s been quite a ride for anyone connected to the Saturday Night Live dynasty, thanks to the 2025 TV schedule carrying the back half of its milestone 50th year. Cast members past and present have been firmly in focus, paying tribute to Lorne Michaels’ creation and stewardship of NBC’s not ready for prime time landmark. This list includes one of SNL's youngest cast members, Pete Davidson, too, as he recently shared how SNL's mastermind has impacted his life.

Though the anniversary show may be in the recent past, the love for Michaels endures, as seen in a new interview with Davidson. Talking about how his former boss became a father figure to him, years after his father's death on 9/11, the connection is more fitting than you’d think.

Pete Davidson's Account Of Lorne Michaels' Mentorship Is Absolutely Sweet

The paternal nature of Davidson and Michaels' relationship came up in conversation during an interview with Variety. In his own words, the Bupkis star provided this description of the Canadian comedy mogul’s mentorship:

The loss of Scott Matthew Davidson, a NYFD firefighter with Ladder 118 who died on 9/11, is one that his son Pete and widow Amy continue to pay reverent tribute to. Serving as a cornerstone to some of his own work through comedy, the actor/writer most notably drew upon his personal history as inspiration for the 2020 dramedy The King of Staten Island.

Throughout other interviews, Pete Davidson’s candid reflections on how he handled the loss have provided some catharsis to balance out the anecdotes of his struggles in life. Even Davidson's 2023 community service stint with the NYFD helped him give back while making amends.

Coincidentally enough, that loss is part of why his connection with Lorne Michaels is so strong in the first place. As it turns out, the Saturday Night Live boss has his own story of losing a father and how that fallout may have influenced these paternal feelings.

Lorne Michaels’ Feelings On Pete Davidson Reflect His Own Traumatic Loss

As recounted in author Susan Morrison’s biography Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, Michaels lost his own father to a heart attack in his teen years. What magnified the trauma from that passing was that shortly before that death, he’d argued with his father over curfew.

In an account of the afterparty celebrating Jonah Hill’s 2018 hosting gig, Lorne Michaels shared with Morrison these comments on how he regards Pete Davidson:

It would seem that Micheals can understand exactly what Davidson has gone through, considering they both lost their fathers at a young age.

Also, sadly, the trauma of loss is something that has permeated the history of SNL over time. Stories such as Michaels’ periodic bans of Chris Farley from the show echo from one of the earliest tragedies in the series' history, the tragic death of John Belushi.

With Pete Davidson having his own substance abuse issues in the past, one can see why Lorne Michaels would want to be involved with the young performer’s efforts to stay sober.

In return, you can see the young comedian is grateful for the treatment, even after leaving the cast in 2022. With Pete Davidson’s Saturday Night Live hosting aspirations firmly in place, and glowing words such as these, that bond could help make that dream a reality.

Though the 50th season of the series comes to an end on the 2025 TV schedule this Saturday at 11:35 PM ET on NBC (or via a Peacock subscription), there's always a chance that the near future may pair these two up in a professional capacity once more.

Throughout the history of Saturday Night Live, there have been some truly iconic sketches filmed at Studio 8H. “James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub,” “More Cowbell” and (the viral) Beavis and Butt-Head” sketches are among the most famous. While a number of the show’s vignettes may manage to penetrate the cultural zeitgeist, there are some that maybe don’t receive as much attention years after they air. As it turns out, there’s actually at least one sketch that series EP Lorne Michaels hated.

Seth Meyers brought up an interesting relic from SNL’s past during a recent installment of The Lonely Island with Seth Meyers podcast. During the chat, he asked his co-hosts if they remembered the “Lamps” sketch, which was performed when Hugh Laurie hosted in December 2008 amid Season 34. Meyers reached out to former head writer Rob Klein about the skit, which involved singing lamps, to receive his and co-writer Andy Samberg’s “side of the story,” and Klein didn’t hold back when sharing his recollections via voice note:

Well, that last sentiment is certainly spine-tingling. “Lamps” isn’t available alongside the best SNL clips on YouTube, but it can be streamed as part of the whole episode with a Peacock subscription. The segment focuses on a lamp store populated by lamps (Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig and Hugh Laurie), who come to life and sing once the shopkeepers (Fred Armisen and Michaela Watkins) have left for the day. In this instance though, the owners catch them lamps, who then go to extreme measures to maintain their secret.

Rob Klein explained that the sketch was pitched during a week in which there were plenty of excellent sketch ideas on the board. Adding to that pressure was the fact that fellow writers were apparently already “pissed off” by the title of the bit. And, if that weren’t enough, the big man in charge also took issue with the concept:

Lorne Michaels has historically never been one to mince words when it comes to the creative direction of the long-running NBC show, whether it be cast changes or the handling of politically driven bits. As has been revealed, Michaels previously even disliked recurring segments on the show, though he later changed his mind on that. I can’t even imagine being in Rob Klein and Andy Samberg’s shoes when it comes to “Lamps.” Michaels was evidently curious (or worried) about its reception and even uncharacteristically watched the blocking for the sketch.

Against all odds, though, the sketch made it to air. It wasn’t exactly easy for the actors, as they had to wear the hefty lamp costumes. Still, Rob Klein said “Lamps” is one sketch “we'll never live down.” After he finished playing the voice note, Seth Meyers made a comment about how Andy Samberg still feels the effects of the sketch today:

Despite how the creatives behind the sketch feel about “Lamps,” it’s still a part of Saturday Night Live history and might be lovingly remembered as a sketch that is somehow both terrible and amazing. And that’s whether or not Lorne Michaels likes it or not. For more recent sketches, though, you can check out new episodes of SNL, which air on Sundays at 11:30 p.m. ET as part of the 2025 TV schedule.

Saturday Night Live, now in its 50th season as part of the 2025 TV schedule, has showcased many stars. But none quite like the late Chris Farley. A whirlwind of energy and comedic talent, Farley's iconic sketches helped shape SNL in the '90s and continue to be celebrated. But his struggles with addiction are a sobering reminder of another SNL legend, John Belushi. Lorne Michaels, the show's creator, aimed to ensure that history wouldn’t repeat itself.

In a recent conversation on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Susan Morrison, author of Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, spoke candidly about how deeply Belushi’s 1982 overdose affected Michaels and, in turn, how that shaped his handling of Farley. According to the author:

That lesson hit home when Farley, who rocketed to stardom with his physical, no-holds-barred sketches, began struggling openly with addiction. According to Morrison, Michaels would “ban” Farley from the show for weeks at a time in a desperate attempt to curb his self-destruction. She revealed:

The strategy wasn’t just disciplinary, it was a lifeline. Michaels knew what SNL meant to Farley, who had made a huge impact on the show in just five years. Removing him from the one thing he loved most was reportedly an attempt to reach the man behind the manic sketches. Morrison continued:

That contradiction defined Farley’s time on the show: a man desperate for approval but unable to escape the habits threatening to destroy him. Michaels wasn’t just his boss; he became an unwitting guardian, trying every method he could to steer the Tommy Boy actor off a path he’d seen before.

After one of his stints in rehab, Farley briefly got clean, only to relapse again. Michaels sent him to a facility in Alabama, one rooted in “tough love.” It wasn’t punishment, but an attempt at prevention.

But the ending was painfully familiar. On December 18, 1997, just two months after hosting SNL, Chris Farley died of an overdose at 33. Cocaine and heroin, the same fatal mix that took Belushi. It was the tragedy Michaels had tried to avoid repeating. But even with all the interventions and hard decisions, addiction proved too powerful.

Peacock subscription holders can revisit SNL’s most iconic moments and see who is hosting Saturday Night Live Season 50 next by streaming on the platform.

Weekend Update host Colin Jost has been working at Saturday Night Live for twenty years. He’s had multiple stints as Head Writer and has long been put forth as a possible successor for Lorne Michaels if/when the creator and longtime showrunner steps down. If you listen to some hardcore fans, however, his long-lasting tenure on SNL could be coming to an end.

The rumblings started this past week when SNL announced its upcoming hosts. We’re getting Walton Goggins and Scarlett Johansson to close the season. Now, as much as I love Walton Goggins, we can set him to the side. The person that matters is Scarlett Johansson, who, of course, is Colin Jost’s wife. She’s hosting the Season Finale, which will, according to the Internet, also mark Jost’s 200th time doing Weekend Update. There are many who believe that’s not a coincidence, and she may have been brought in to help give her husband the epic send-off he deserves.

For a long time, Jost seemed like an SNL lifer. Any talk of him leaving the show seemed detached from reality, but if you listen to some of his recent interviews, it doesn’t really feel like such a remote possibility anymore. He made an appearance at Brown University last week as part of a lecture series and was interviewed on a wide variety of subjects, including his parents who met at Brown. He also took questions from students. Here’s how the campus paper summed up the answer he apparently gave on his future…

That’s not exactly a pledge to stay at SNL the rest of his life, and it’s not that far from other answers he’s given the past few years which have been more non-commital. Last year, he told Howard Stern he just makes a decision on whether to return each season based on whether he’s still enjoying himself or not. That doesn’t sound like someone who has agreed to stay forever or told the network he’ll take over the whole show someday.

Based on all of the above, it’s not surprising that the rumblings about Jost leaving have gotten louder and louder the past few days. One of the top comments underneath SNL’s social post announcing its upcoming hosts was about it being the end of Jost’s tenure. A Reddit thread speculating the season finale will be his last episode got more than a thousand interactions. There have been some articles asking whether he’s about to walk off into the sunset, and if you look on X, there are plenty of random user posts from people convinced he’s done.

But whether any of this actually means he’s done is a huge question mark. Just because there’s smoke doesn’t mean there’s fire, and you could just as easily make a case that everyone is really overreacting here. Scarlett Johansson is one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and she’s the star of the new Jurassic Park movie, which comes out this summer. She also has a long history of hosting and making appearances on the show and is an obvious candidate to host the season finale. Having her on is far from some personal favor to Jost.

In addition, while the comedian has been a little vague on his SNL future, he’s also been very clear that he absolutely loves hosting Weekend Update. He’s scaled back his responsibilities on the show some over the past few seasons and has been open about finding a better work life balance. Yes, he has a ton of other projects going he’s working on, but the fantastic thing about SNL and the reason why a lot of buzzy comedians stay for a long time is because the show gives everyone an extended summer and plenty of weeks off to work on other things.

Long story short, some fans are convinced Jost is about to leave SNL, but there are plenty of others who think people are making a big to do about nothing. I tend to think he’s probably going to stick around, but there’s certainly a little smoke here and it wouldn’t be a shock if he left. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Dana Carvey had a plan. On the request of longtime Saturday Night Live showrunner Lorne Michaels, he was going to spend six weeks in New York along with his wife Paula. They’d get to enjoy autumn in the city, and he’d appear each week on SNL to do his impression of the then-president, who was running for a second term. It would have been a fantastic little work trip, but it was not meant to be, at least not in its original form. Months later, Carvey still remembers the moment when he realized it wasn’t going to happen.

He was watching the first Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden alongside his wife. One lost train of thought turned into another flub which turned into a general sense of uneasiness about President Biden’s performance. At some point, Carvey realized the entire Presidential race had suddenly just changed and whatever plans he’d discussed with Michaels were probably going to be out the window. Here’s what he told Page Six…

Of course, President Biden didn’t drop out immediately. He hung on for a few more weeks, and Carvey ended up appearing almost a dozen times on SNL in 2024. It wasn’t always to do his President Biden impression, however, as the politician eventually stepped aside in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz, who took over the Democratic ticket. They eventually lost the election but were featured prominently on SNL in the lead-up, played by Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan. Carvey appeared sometimes as Biden and other times in supporting roles, including one week where he revived his beloved Church Lady impression.

During his interview, Carvey also talked about his goal with political impressions, as he also famously portrayed President George HW Bush in the late 80s and early 90s. He said he’s never been interested in scoring “political points” or trying to “put them down.” Instead, he’s always tried to find something “fun” to lean into and poke fun at. That helps explain why his skillful impressions have usually been popular with people of all political leanings and why the subjects themselves have typically reached out to him, especially President Bush who had him come stay at the White House. However, Elon Musk was not too happy about Carvey's impersonation, but that is just one exception.

Saturday Night Live has always been a show that comments on popular culture and what people are talking about right now. It’s not unusual for something to happen mid-week and get talked about on the show that weekend. That’s why there’s no promises. An impression only matters if it’s needed. Fortunately, given how many impressions Carvey can do and how friendly he still is with Michaels and the rest of the SNL crew, something tells me we haven’t seen the last of him.

Lorne Michaels and Saturday Night Live have hosted some of the biggest names in Hollywood since its 1975 inception. With a slew of A-list cast members and hosts alike, the run of five decades and counting is riddled with humorous stories. Among the endless tales is that time when Tina Fey checked in with Michaels about Jon Hamm’s vibe. Specifically, she wanted to know whether or not he’d be a good fit for 30 Rock.

Both Fey and Hamm have plenty of projects in the works and slated for our 2025 Netflix schedule and 2025 TV guide, respectively. One of the Mad Men alum’s titles arrive first, with Your Friends & Neighbors rapidly approaching among the upcoming Apple TV shows. He joined Tina Fey and Interview Magazine to recount highlights of his career, including his low-key vetting for 30 Rock that was tied to his inaugural time hosting the historic late-night show. She revealed that the two hadn’t met and she checked in with Michaels if Hamm checked all the right boxes:

Clearly, the Landman series actor got the stamp of approval from the two comedy legends, and rightfully so. The body of work he has to show for himself proves he’s a talent across the board. And for that reason, he’s the next on the list of scheduled hosts and musical guests for SNL’s big 50th season (along with the April 11 premiere of his Apple drama).

Hamm jumped in to agree with the Four Seasons series creator, restating simply that it’s not great to work with people who aren’t easygoing.

It’s great to hear that their time together on 30 Rock was as fun as it looked, and just bolsters the reasons why the show remains one of the best sitcoms. Fey elaborated, revealing it’s a non-negotiable preference because it’s more important to enjoy what you can:

It’s great that both stars have continued to grow over the years, and each of them has worked that boundary into their careers. It may be more apparent in Fey’s resume, which next includes her upcoming Four Seasons show (which will be watchable with a Netflix subscription). Steve Carrell, Colman Domingo, and Will Forte seem like dream casting. But finding out that she and a handful of other 30 Rock alums are behind the coming Tracy Morgan/Daniel Radcliffe project really speaks to her process.

I wonder how Jon Hamm feels to have had the early stamp of approval from Fey and Michaels. Surely he was pleased, especially since he passed the aforementioned duo's "Make sure you weren’t a dick" test.

Throughout the history of comedy and Saturday Night Live, so many iconic characters have recurred over years of entertainment. Season 50 (continuing in the 2025 TV schedule) has the "Domingo” sketches to lay claim to, and that happenstance is built on the ability of SNL writers to tap into the overlapping spheres of the timely and the timeless.

But there almost wasn’t a foundation to allow Wayne’s World, the Spartan Cheerleaders, or any potential bits an upcoming SNL host will want to claim as their future trademark. That all changed early on in the run of NBC’s landmark comedy series, in a story that saw Lorne Michaels creating a lineage and history of laughter.

Lorne Michaels’ Opinion On Recurring SNL Sketches Changed, Thanks To Buck Henry

Leave it to Susan Morrison, author of the recent book Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, to school me yet again on this show's history. Today's lesson goes pretty far back in time too, further back than Lorne Michaels almost being fired by NBC.

It's practically the beginning, as Ms. Morrison told CinemaBlend this story about how comedy legend Buck Henry's hosting gigs leading to that change of heart:

That historical decision can still be considered a net positive, even if it was that recurring character that resulted in one of SNL’s most infamous moments. When John Belushi’s Samurai made an infamous return during Buck Henry’s October 30th, 1976 hosting gig, the guest host saw himself injured by his “Samurai Stockbroker” scene partner thanks to an alleged lack of rehearsal and a katana.

While Buck Henry’s 2012 TV Time Machine interview saw the comedian seeming to debunk the story, it was real enough to Lorne Michaels to take it to heart. And as Susan Morrison continued to explain the further benefits of introducing recurring sketches to CinemaBlend, this is how that approach fell in line with what Saturday Night Live was trying to put out into the world:

I was pleased that Ms. Morrison mentioned the defunct gag of random captions being put under audience members. While it was no longer present on SNL by the time I started watching as a teen, I was introduced to them by Tiny Toons Adventures’ “Weekday Afternoon Live” parody episode - which only hammers home that ethereal connection between the Looney Tunes and SNL. Even that long dead gag is still getting laughs years later.

The Five-Timers Club Sketch Further Proves Why Lorne Michaels Changed His Mind On Recurring Bits

Coincidentally Buck Henry has another honor that’s absolutely confirmed in the history books: he's technically Saturday Night Live's first "Five Timers Club" member! If you want the story behind SNL’s Five-Timers Club, that’s a lesson you can learn outside of class.

As far as how that legacy ties to Susan Morrison’s stories to Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, here’s what she had to say about why that particular sketch epitomizes the importance of recurring bits:

In the entire process of covering Lorne, from the prep to writing this very story, I’ve come to appreciate Saturday Night Live on an even more personal level. The reverence shown to Lorne Michaels isn’t consistent, as his management style varies from person to person. But the one thread that pulls it all together is that his methods are exacting, and he’ll never force an outcome.

To close this story out, I’d like to share a scene from the climax of 2024’s Saturday Night, which I think best embodies the energy and purpose that’s been rooted at 30 Rockefeller Center since October 11, 1975:

Whether you’re a fan of Domingo, or any of the other recurring characters and sketches that paved the way for him to arrive, I think we can all agree this is a decision that helped keep SNL live from New York for five decades. That practice will likely continue, no matter which theory on Lorne Michaels’ retirement plan you subscribe to. And if you want to get a little more personal with the man behind this legendary program, you can currently pick up Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, at all fine booksellers.

In any dynasty the line of succession becomes a subject of great discussion. With Saturday Night Live currently playing through its 50th season on the 2025 TV schedule, that topic is certainly in the air - as Lorne Michaels doesn’t look to be retiring any time soon.

For biographer and colleague Susan Morrison, this isn’t really a surprise, and her reasons why come with a strategy she thinks the Canadian comedy mogul could use to continue his reign. If she's right, it'll probably leave the audience, and upcoming SNL hosts, asking the same question: ‘Is Lorne Michaels ever going to retire from SNL?’

Susan Morrison is someone who’d know, as her extensive biography Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live pours over the man’s entire history. As I had the opportunity to speak with her on behalf of CinemaBlend, the oft-discussed matter of his retirement was an obvious point of conversation, especially since he's previously teased wanting to get to SNL 50, which finally just happened.

When we approached that question, Susan Morrison shared her firmly held belief that she doesn’t think Lorne ever will retire from NBC’s landmark sketch show. Which, for NBC execs and Peacock subscription holders alike, is probably seen as a good thing.

Citing good health, and a stellar work ethic, the articles editor for The New Yorker shared with CinemaBlend the strategy she thinks Lorne Michaels could use in the future:

Right at the beginning of Lorne, Susan Morrison lays out the show’s schedule as kicking off on Monday evening, with the introduction of the guest host to the writers and actors of SNL. The rest of the week is meticulously planned out, from pitching to writing to read throughs to rehearsals. Michaels is, of course, involved with all of it right now, but as she speculates, perhaps there's a future in which he's only involved in some of it.

Michaels' future isn't the only thing covered in the biography. It's filled with plenty of Saturday Night Live stories, like that time in the mid-90s when NBC considered firing Lorne Michaels. Instead, he survived for another 30 years, long enough to be at the center of Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live. In addition to covering the creator, it also doubles as a history lesson in what it’s taken to keep that legendary show running for 50 years.

A span of work experience that long means you're doing something right, and there are plenty of stories that preceded Lorne's publication to prove that fact. Whether convincing key cast members to stick it out or greenlighting legendary sketches, he's been connected to and responsible for almost all of it.

Susan Morrison’s background as a writer’s assistant on the infamous The New Show has given her a unique perspective to weigh in on the matter of who, if anyone, could succeed him. One of the projects Michaels worked on during his time away from SNL in the ‘80s, she was there to learn the same lessons the impresario himself gathered before heading back to his television child.

Which is why her further reflection below is something that’s stuck with me:

As Morrison remarked during her appearance on David Spade and Dana Carvey’s Fly on the Wall podcast, she’s of the mind that Lorne Michaels will be running Saturday Night Live until they carry him out of 30 Rock on a stretcher. But her theory is also backed by her insistence that Lorne was one of the first people to really invest in “self care,” playing as hard as he worked.

For a show that’s known for its topical entertainment, perhaps there’s more lessons we could all learn from how SNL runs. And if that interests you, you should definitely pick up Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, as it’s currently available at all fine booksellers.

For almost 50 years, Saturday Night Live has been run by the steady hand of its creator, Lorne Michaels. Save for a period of time when he left the series in the 1980s, the Canadian comedy mogul has been at the head of this landmark NBC program, and continues to do so throughout the 2025 TV schedule. That being said, I imagine it would surprise the world to learn that there was a point when the network tried to replace Michaels, and an equally stunning candidate was apparently among the prospective hires.

On behalf of the 50th anniversary of SNL, and the release of the new book Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, I reached out to author Susan Morrison to discuss the tome in question. When asking her about what she felt were the most surprising stories in the book, both of her answers had to do with Lorne Michaels’ very stewardship. One story was about how the father of Saturday Night Live almost didn’t do the show, simply because he didn’t want to do it in New York.

However, the more shocking story shared with CinemaBlend is the anecdote on how control was almost taken from him, with Judd Apatow apparently considered as a replacement. Susan Morrison started that tale with this recollection:

To further set the scene, Morrison shared that this course of action was apparently being considered after the time period of Adam Sandler and Chris Farley’s SNL departure. At that point, NBC and producer Don Ohlmeyer spurred the higher-ups to conduct secret interviews, which included the eventual writer/director of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

This wasn't the first or last time that the Michaels/Ohlmeyer conflict would lead to firings, as anyone who's seen Norm MacDonald's SNL hosting gig from the year after his firing could tell you. At this specific point in time, It's no surprise why Apatow was considered to take over, as he had both The Ben Stiller Show andThe Larry Sanders Show’s run under his belt by time Saturday Night Live Season 20 ended in 1995.

In her research for Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, Susan Morrison also learned how Mr. Apatow felt about both the show, and the process that led to him being interviewed to possibly run things. Sharing those details with CinemaBlend, here’s the rest of how that tale shook out:

Lorne is a book that came along at the right time, with its release arriving just two days after Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary special. So learning new stories about the series’ progress through five decades of history is something fresh in everyone’s minds. It sees Susan Morrison’s unique position in that firmament offering a convenient window into the anxiety-ridden history of SNL.

The current articles editor for The New Yorker, Morrison actually has a claim to fame that most devotees of the series would readily cite. As a writer’s assistant on the ill-fated NBC series The New Show, she worked with Lorne Michaels in those wilderness years.

Just like any SNL star whose made an epic return after they’ve left, Michaels’ mark on the series going forward can still be felt to this day. Recognizing that truth only makes this story all the crazier to consider, as who knows if the series would have made it to its 25th anniversary, much less the era of the Peacock subscription, without him.

For more stories like this, I recommend checking out Susan Morrison’s Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, which is currently available at all fine booksellers. Meanwhile, the upcoming SNL hosts and musical guests can still be found at the usual time and place: 11:35 PM ET, every Saturday night, on NBC.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal battle continues to be a topic of discussion within Hollywood. Over the past several months, the two actors – who worked alongside each other on the 2024 film It Ends with Us — have filed lawsuits and leveled accusations against each other. As fans continue to weigh in, it seems Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels is invested as well. This claim comes from Dana Carvey, who recently texted with Michaels after the show’s 50th anniversary taping (which was a highlight of the 2025 TV schedule).

What Did Lorne Michaels Allegedly Say About The Lively/Baldoni Situation?

SNL50: The Anniversary Special aired nearly a week ago and was filled with plenty of memorable moments, including a star-studded Weekend Update. One of the night’s standout bits was a Q&A segment, which saw Amy Poehler and Tina Fey field queries from the audience. One person who raised their hand was Ryan Reynolds, who was in attendance with wife Blake Lively. After Fey and Poehler asked how things were going, Reynolds replied good, before asking, “Why, what have you heard?’ while Lively appeared nervous.

It’s since been revealed that the Reynolds/Lively joke was pre-planned, with the Deadpool star pitching his own line. The bit was among the topics discussed by SNL alums Dana Carvey and David Spade on their Fly on the Wall podcast just recently. It was during the discussion that Carvey recalled a text exchange he had with Lorne Michaels after the show. Based on the comedian’s comments, which can be heard on YouTube, the veteran EP couldn’t stop talking about the ongoing legal controversy:

As of this writing, the Canadian businessman himself has yet to speak out on the IEWU situation publicly. When it comes to the 50th anniversary show itself (which is streamable with a Peacock subscription), the A Simple Favor star was allegedly “hesitant” to attend, given the legal drama. She reportedly ended up having a “nice time,” though. Meanwhile, Bryan Freedman, the Jane the Virgin alum’s lawyer responded to the joke, saying that he was “surprised” that the couple would seemingly make light of the situation in that way.

What’s Going On With Blake Lively And Justin Baldoni’s Legal Battle?

In December 2024, Blake Lively filed a legal complaint against Justin Baldoni, his production company (Wayfarer Studios) and others. Lively accused Baldoni, who directed and co-starred in It Ends with Us, of sexually harassing her on set. Via a lengthy story published by the New York Times, the actress also alleged that Baldoni and his team launched a smear campaign against her because she raised on-set concerns to the studio. In early 2025, Lively formally sued Baldoni and co. over the points raised in her complaint.

Justin Baldoni, who was dropped from WME amid the controversy, denied the allegations and, shortly after, he sued the NYT for $250 million on the grounds of libel and more. Eventually, Baldoni filed suit against his former co-star, her husband, Ryan Reynolds and others for alleged defamation and extortion among other offenses. With that suit, Baldoni is currently seeking $400 million.

The most recent development in the Lively/Baldoni situation involved the actress claiming that two other women had problems with Baldoni on set. Lively is also facing a suit from a PR company as a result of her filing. As of this writing, the two actors have yet to go to court, but a trial date has been set for March 9. 2026. In the meantime, one can only guess as to how feverishly Lorne Michaels and other members of the public might continue to discuss the matter.

50 years: that’s how long Saturday Night Live has been on the air, with the night of that first episode being recently chronicled in the biopic Saturday Night. It goes without saying that such a milestone needs to be commemorated in a huge way, and that’ll happen on the 2025 TV schedule when the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special airs this Sunday. But that’s not enough to celebrate SNL being around for half a century, as Season 50 has also brought in major names like Maya Rudolph, John Mulaney and Chris Rock to make special appearances or host. Evidently Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator, has spared no expense with recruiting this lineup of talent.

In a Vulture piece discussing Michaels’ work on SNL and what will happen to the series when he retires, it’s mentioned that he poured so much money into inviting back SNL “family members,” which also includes Andy Samberg, Dana Carvey, David Spade, Alec Baldwin and Martin Short, that an unnamed NBC executive called up an old colleague to complain about these “exorbitant expenses. This former executive responded:

Logic would dictate that the person who’s running Saturday Night Live ranks below these NBC executives, but this is Lorne Michaels we’re talking about.With the exception of the first half of the 1980s, he’s been leading the charge on SNL and made it into a comedy institution, not to mention been around much longer than most, if not all of these executives. So if Michaels wants to spend a lot of money to bring in so many familiar faces back to SNL Season 50, apparently it’s going to happen, even if he has to make a few of these special calls to get his way.

Along with the aforementioned names, SNL Season 50 also brought in Jim Gaffigan to play Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz during the election season. Also, the episode Martin Short hosted saw him and John Mulaney being joined by Tom Hanks, Paul Rudd, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Emma Stone and Jimmy Fallon for Short’s induction into the Five Timers Club. Lucy Liu, Adam Sandler, Kyle Mooney, Pete Davidson and Lin-Manuel Miranda have also all popped by this season. So yeah, it’s no wonder so much money has been spent lately, and I imagine this will continue happening for the remainder of Season 50.

As for the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special, I could spent a whole other article going over who will appear there, with Sabrina Carpenter being one of the more recent additions. Suffice it to say it will be quite the event, and you can watch it unfold Sunday at 8 pm ET on NBC. You’re also welcome to break out your Peacock subscription to stream any and all of the hilarious sketches that SNL has delivered over the decades to your heart’s content.

As SNL continues to bring in hosts and musical guests for Season 50 and fans get excited for the 50th-anniversary special that is set to air on the 2025 TV schedule, there’s plenty of Studio 8H lore surfacing. So, it comes as no surprise that Lorne Michaels would have plenty to share about his late-night sketch show. However, I was not expecting to find out that he coined the phrase “cold open,” and learning this information has left me absolutely floored.

The skit performed before the opening credits of the long-running NBC show has been a signature of theirs for all 50 years. It’s brought plenty of memorable viral internet moments along with historic ones too, and the top SNL cold opens are like nothing else. And while the show didn’t invent the format of adding a skit or scene before the opening titles, it wasn’t as common as it is today.

Michaels adopted the style because he knew from the beginning he wanted viewers to know instantly what they were watching. He also claims that he coined the term used to describe this action, as The New Yorker reported:

It’s incredibly impressive if he is the one who invented the title, especially since it's a term that's used all the time today. It also reminds me just how effective SNL's format is, since they've been rocking with basically the same one since day one. With Michaels as the constant driving force, he’s continued to level up SNL to the laugh factory it is today, and he's developed a timeless format while constantly evolving the show to fit modern times too.

Well-known and veteran comedians took note of the sketch show’s format, too. Steve Martin shared that he was doing sketch-forward-then-introduction work for his shows and felt ahead of the curve. He stated that he was shocked to see the historic television premiere doing the same, saying:

I felt like I was the avant-garde. I was the one doing the new comedy. I thought, 'Oh, fuck—they did it. They had gotten there first.’

For that order of operations to be relatively new in the seventies, and for a network show to formulaically weave that into its structure, is pretty badass. Plus knowing that so many of the best sitcoms and shows in general -- like Parks and Rec and Abbott Elementary -- also use it makes this knowledge even more mindblowing.

Honestly, learning about Michaels’ claim on the cold open is stellar and an incredible easter egg to get amid Saturday Night Live’s 50th Season. Here’s hoping that more insightful and shocking BTS stories continue to rise as we near the reunion and the second half of this historic season.

Saturday Night Live returns on the titular night, January 18th at 11:30 p.m. on NBC. Stream it the following day with a Peacock subscription.

Saturday Night Live is a grind, and it’s not an easy show to make. However, the cast members who figure it out and stand out in the series, become some of the biggest names in comedy. Pete Davidson is one of those who figured out his spot on the show and was loved for it. Before that happened though, he asked Lorne Michaels to fire him after his first season, and the advice the SNL mastermind gave him in response would have sent me running away.

With SNL celebrating its 50th anniversary on the 2025 TV schedule, they’re pulling back the curtain and giving folks a sneak peek into how the show works. In the first episode of SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night, Pete Davidson candidly spoke about his first year on the sketch comedy series and how hard it was to work on, explaining:

Davidson was on the show from 2014 to 2022, and clearly, he found his footing and outlasted the three or four seasons Michaels told him to grind it out. However, that couldn’t have been easy.

If I were working any job where my boss told me it’d take three or four years to really find my way, I’d probably run away. Plus, on top of all that, it’s well-known how hard it is to get a successful sketch to air and consistently play a big role in the program. Then, to make matters even harder, the comedian has also talked about how low SNL’s starting salary is as well as the difficulty of auditioning, because no one laughs during it.

Talk about hard! However, persistence and determination are always key, and the King of Staten Island star took his boss’s advice and ran with it. Eventually, the trials and tribulations paid off big time, and folks started to adore him for his Weekend Update bits, digital shorts and more. In fact, when he returned to host, his “I’m Just Pete” sketch was the most viewed pre-taped bit of the year.

After a successful run on SNL, Davidson has gone on to make movies and TV shows that people love, too. Along with his co-stars who have come and gone from Studio 8H, it seems clear that if you can make it on Saturday Night Live, you can make it big in TV and film too. Plus, being on this program allowed the actor to develop a close and supportive relationship with Michaels, who he deeply admires. So, while sticking it out for three or four seasons sounds like a nightmare, I’d assume that the payoff was well worth it!

Now, the Bupkis star is taking the time to look back and celebrate the show that helped him break big, as SNL continues its 50th season with new hosts and musical guests and prepares for its anniversary celebration in February. Here’s hoping the comedian comes back for all this too, so we can see more Update bits and digital shorts like the ones that helped cement him as a Saturday Night Live legend.

To go back and watch Pete Davidson’s tenure on SNL as well as SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night, all you need is a Peacock subscription. Then, make sure to also check out the return of Season 50 on Saturday, January 18 at 11:30 p.m. ET and SNL50: The Anniversary Special on Sunday, February 16 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC or Peacock.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was a spoof of James Bond-style spy movies, but for three movies Mike Myers’ inept secret agent became just as iconic a character as those he was poking fun at. The same could be said for Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' bitter rival, also played by Myers. But while Austin owes his existence to classic British spies, Dr. Evil owes his existence to a much more real source: Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels.

Visually, Dr. Evil is clearly an homage to the character of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the villain of several James Bond movies. However, it’s long been said that the personality of Dr. Evil is actually based on Lorne Michaels, who Mike Myers worked with on SNL in the ‘90s. It turns out the story actually goes deeper, because apparently Myers stole the impression from fellow SNL star, and Wayne’s World co-star Dana Carvey.

Dr. Evil Is A Lorne Michaels Impression

In a profile of Lorne Michaels in The New Yorker, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, the fact that Dr. Evil’s origins come from Michaels is mentioned. It turns out Dr. Evil's famous raising of his pinky finger to his mouth was a reference to Lorne Michaels’ tendency to bite his nails while looking over SNL sketches.

I had certainly heard that Dr. Evil had been inspired by Lorne Michaels before. However, a new piece of information that did surprise me is that I had always assumed that the impression was something that Mike Myers himself had come up with. Apparently, that’s not the case.

Mike Myers Apparently Stole The Impression From Dana Carvey

The New Yorker calls the impression “caricature theft” as apparently the original impression was done not by Myers but by Dana Carvey, and even Dr. Evil’s baldness, was apparently part of the impression, as Carvey would only do it while wearing bald wigs. The New Yorker explains…

Of course, now I need to know how Dana Carvey feels about all this. Carvey and Myers have had a tumultuous relationship, with the former nearly quitting Wayne's World at one point. It wouldn't be a shock if Carvey was upset by this unless he'd been asked ahead of time. Although they have seemingly put all that in the past, appearing together in a Wayne's World Super Bowl Ad a few years ago.

But now I also wish Dana Carvey had just played Dr. Evil. While Myers playing both roles is part of the joke, and there’s no argument that he’s great in both, seeing Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World play opposite sides in a spy movie also sounds like an amazing movie that I wish I could see.

Watch any of the best sketch TV shows of all time, and it’s easy to see how unique a small-screen offering they are, and Saturday Night Live is an organizational beast all on its own, with Lorne Michaels as its nail-chewing figurehead. As depicted in Saturday Night in limited fashion, Michaels has long adhered to a certain system for plotting out each week’s sketches alongside the talented cast and crew. But sometimes it’s a guest host like Donald Trump that can affect the lineup.

Ahead of SNL hitting the 2025 premiere schedule with the back half of its celebratory 50th anniversary season, The New Yorker ran a lengthy profile on Michaels and the methods behind the perceived madness that goes into the alchemy of weekly sketch-sorting. But no matter how purposefully selective and meticulous the legendary producer can be with his choices, it’s impossible to predict a situation like the former and future POTUS opting out of a sketch semi-parodying a beloved children's book.

Donald Trump’s SNL episode was the fourth of Season 41, airing back in 2015. It appears he was set for an approved-by-Michaels sketch in which the business mogul would be dressed up like a tree while standing next to Shel Silverstein’s titular Giving Tree, who offers up its apples, shade, lumber and more until a point when its reduced to a stump.

The crux of the sketch was the end punchline, which would have had the tree-costumed Trump looking over and calling the Giving Tree a “sucker” for sacrificing all of its goods. A clever enough gag, if limited in scope, the sketch was brought up in reference to the Saturday afternoon run-through at Studio 8H, so it sounds like Lorne Michaels may have had to do some last-minute shifting at the then-candidate’s request.

Why did Trump refuse to go forward with the Giving Tree sketch? It allegedly wasn’t about the content of the sketch itself or the way in which he was portrayed; instead, it’s claimed that Trump was worried that the tree costume set up for him would make him look fat.

Such a late-stage game-change might sound like something that would completely set off Lorne Michaels and others in charge, considering the costume possibly had to be crafted in full, or at least altered to Trump's specifications, not to mention any sets that were built. However, Michaels himself is self-awarely guilty of the same kind of timing.

Here's how Lorne Michaels himself summed up the mindset behind waiting until the afternoon before SNL tapings to make the final decisions about which sketches will be used:

Donald Trump likely won't be remembered as one of the best guest hosts of all time, and likely won't be back in the fold among other upcoming Saturday Night Live guest hosts.. And I guess we can also go on the record saying he probably won't be dressed as a tree on TV in the near future, either.

But fans can see upcoming guest hosts like Dave Chappelle and Timothée Chalamet when SNL reutns to NBC for its midseason premiere on Saturday, January 18.

With 50 years of episodes under its metaphorical belt, Saturday Night Live is a TV series unlike any other, even within the genre boundaries of sketch comedy. It takes both mental and physical prowess for not just the cast members to hit the Studio 8H stage each week, but also the lineup of guest hosts and musicians. And while some of those muscle memories might stick around, even Will Ferrell admits that it’s more difficult than one might expect to return as host after years away.

Ferrell hasn’t (yet) been locked down as frontman for any episodes hitting the 2025 TV schedule, though something along those lines is almost definitely coming, given how big NBC and Peacock’s 50th anniversary celebrations will get. (The Will & Harper co-star will indeed appear in the upcoming docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, which will feature cast members’ audition horror stories.) Speaking with Jason and Travis Kelce on the brothers’ New Heights podcast, Ferrell compared jumping back into SNL mode to a track and field competition, saying:

Given the fact that the actor recently went viral for showing up at a basketball game as an out-of-work Buddy from Elf just for kicks, it’s easy to assume he’s exuding modesty here. Sure, he may not be bouncing off the walls with quite the same energy that he had during his initial run from 1995-2002, but that’s more about age than anything else. Still, even if it looks to viewers like he’s locked in step with other cast members, it’s apparently more of a struggle below the surface.

And it sounds like series creator Lorne Michaels isn’t a producer who offers the most sympathetic ear for cast member gripes, with Will Ferrell saying even he was shocked by Michaels’ reaction to the actor’s self-assessment during his most recent hosting gig — Season 47, Episode 7 from 2019 — which made him a member of the lauded Five-Timers Club. Here’s how he explained it:

For as much of a subtle burn as that was from Lorne Michaels, it probably takes that kind of cold practicality to keep a show on the air for 50 years, especially when one is surrounded by a bunch of comedians all trying to get more airtime. And if anyone is aware of the energy and effort balance between younger cast members and their more veteran co-stars, it’s the guy who’s been in charge for the bulk of the show’s history.

But I mean, we can all agree that Kenan Thompson is the exception to the age-gap rule, right? He’s just that timeless.

In any case, Saturday Night Live guest hosts have had plenty of opinions over the years about taking on the monologue and acting alongside some of the biggest names in comedy. And many of them have handled it once and never returned for one reason or another. So anyone out there who watches the show each week thinking it’d be a cake walk to jump in for the week, let Will Ferrell’s anecdote sway you to be more honest with yourself.

And, of course, don’t forget to tune into the next new episode of SNL, which will air on January 18 and will feature comedian Dave Chappelle as host along with musical guest GloRilla.