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Dana today we have Susan Morrison a writer uh we don't always have writers we have SNL writers but she's a writer
00:00:07
SNL yeah yes yes she wrote a big fat book about Lauren and it's the 50th anniversary of
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SNL it's a good time to have it out um Lauren the man who invented SNL and uh she covers a lot she's
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telling things to you listeners that even we don't know you're going to here's something that's a a little
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shocking a little surprising how's that for a tease but if we do a deep dive the
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man the moment Lauren Michaels uh based on the book and what she learned by interviewing I got interviewed I don't
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don't my quotes are probably silly I got interviewed got interviewed everyone got
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interviewed everyone talked and it's just sort of a comprehensive look at Lauren Michaels through his childhood
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all the way through his travails Seasons that were rougher than others and on and
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on so it's a very interesting Sayan oh yeah and they got you know Tina Fay and Steve Martin and John malany
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there's all these quotes up front and everywhere you turn you know who they're
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talking about so very indepth took years to put this together years to put it together and uh and it was very
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interesting talk we went on and on so uh yeah here she is and you're going to
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learn a lot Morrison and I started forgot I I had forgotten until recently the the wonderful accent thing
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that everybody says the igles oh the igles right so you claim to have a book I do I
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actually can even show it to you just it's coming out okay I don't know when
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this airs but it's February 18th it's called right Lauren the man who invented SNL that's
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right independed Saturday night life we decided that Lauren has monomial status you know like or Madonna Madonna you
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know one one name does it Lauren you know you can tell the rookies because Lauren is such a uh name that comes up
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millions of times in our podcast and in life but the people that call him Lauren
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and they spell it Lauren like the female name is pretty interesting because you know they're an outsider and I don't
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listen to one thing they say it's like the people who say skits and instead of
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sket immediate disqualifier right d oh boy don't even me oh skits gets him going it's kind of interesting to me I'm
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just thinking out loud to myself is that because of his hallowed place and his uh
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Mount Rushmore you know thing that's been going on for the 50th um he had left for five years did a lot of things
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left SNL in 1980 none of them really landed comes back in 85 has a rough season and then then I meet him so
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probably in this whole 50 years that was would it be a n i I went to State School
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his nater or something I think no I think that's right and Dana I remember that when I interviewed you you told me
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that when you showed up there you thought you were probably going to be in the last cast of SNL you thought it was
00:03:24
on its way out and it was kind of a hail marry pass and you know it's interesting
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because I'm met Lauren when he was perhaps at an even lower point you know I work for him well I worked for him
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when he did the new show which was new show yeah remember public spectacular flop and you know I don't think people
00:03:46
thought he was going to be coming back from that and he also lost his own money in that show it's strange it was such a
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flop because it was packed with Talent you know the writer room was incredible Jim Downey Jack Handy George me wow John
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John Candy did amazing work on that show it's worth looking up food repair man no
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I watched it was funny it was just that besides In Living Color which was a niche kind of um prime time and it was
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on Fox in the day Prime Time sketch I did one that didn't make it Martin Short
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did I you have to line them all up that's your next book why was there bazillion sketch shows in prime time the
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50s 60s and into the 70s and then so many swing in a miss you know I don't know if you have I've never totally
00:04:35
figured that out I I mean I I have a I have an a theory Lauren press he loved uh oh sure we've been recording don't
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worry I'm kidding Lauren loved variety TV you know he grew up watching um you
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know Sid Caesar and your show shows and all that stuff and when he went to LA in
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the 60s and 70s he just bounced around from one Cuddy variety show to the next you know Perry Como Burns and shriber pH
00:05:05
what about Burns and shriber where he met his wife yeah but but um the thing is he liked the form but he thought that
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it was like stuck in the 50s you know the people writing those shows were guys who had written for radio and his big
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idea was to take that format and bring it into the modern world you know movies were cool you had Terrence Malik and
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Robert Alman music was coool but television was like a really weird Backwater so he was the first person who
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said let's make variety TV something that has something to do with what people in their 20s are like you know
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let's put drugs on yeah and in my age group uh you remember that when George
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Carlin was on Ed Sullivan in a suit and tie in a short haircut yeah and he he was like so a a
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symbol of this change and one one lane of it when he became the hippie long hair and all that so there was a whole I
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don't even call it counterculture but laugh him maybe was the last water cooler sketch show that was so different
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of course than SNL but yeah it was it was in The Ether and then Lauren Lauren picked up the toys off the carpet and
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said okay we're gonna play with the but you know the I mean the other thing that
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Lauren will say is that when he he was pitching a show like SNL for years and nobody wanted it
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and what happened is that they needed something in late night on SN you know on NBC to replace Carson's reruns and
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Lauren had never thought of late night and but the thing it ended up being what made the show work because the way he
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put it you know the network thought of late night as like a vacant lot on the edge of town they weren't going to pay
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attention to what was going on there they weren't going to meddle you know he
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just got to do whatever the hell he felt like and with no notes you know no interf
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right and you can be a little dirty like even TV shows on at 8 versus 9 when I was a sitcom you can say a little more
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at 9 cuz kids are asleep you say way more at 10: and when you're way up there
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at 11:30 they don't worry so much about content as much yeah I think he thought
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they were probably not even watching you know well they didn't care it was anti
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anti slick and and late so it right out of the bat I'm just a little curious
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sorry David did you have something to say not at all to interrupt him did you see the movie Saturday night uh and what
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was your reaction to it I mean obviously it's trying to get a feeling rather than
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a linear story yeah but um did you how did you feel about well I had I I guess I had several simultaneous reactions you
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know the journalist in me was watching with my head exploding because there were so many things that were
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fictionalized or you know five years worth of events were kind of crammed into one night but I I did think that it
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it it captured some of as you guys know you've lived this you know just some of
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the nail-biting knife edge chaos that I think gives the show its U continues to fuel the show it's funny I talked to
00:08:15
some of the current people the people at the show now some of the writers and casts and they were indignant about it
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um they said that it was sort of like watching somebody you know Screw Up Your Song in a karaoke bar or you know that
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someone they were feeling proprietary about it what did you guys think well well I went in into it with a
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you know kind eyes because I knew it was an impossible thing to really capture so
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we interviewed Jason the director and um there were things that I really liked we you know in real
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time uh that there probably wasn't a a bulletin board on 8 with like 80 sketches on it right before air or that
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Lauren Michaels was the update guy until right before air so you have to kind of
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give into it and see Did It capture the essence I wasn't there then they weren't
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famous the show wasn't famous because as it evolved it would never no one would
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go ice skating right before the show and most of the show is Disappointment even
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in the best seasons and the best shows I'd say maybe if you can get one out of
00:09:27
five great sketch pretty good most the time I was just there for 10 weeks most of the time we all went well I guess
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that's it and just walked off stage no I I mean I found it enjoyable to watch it kind of you know it felt
00:09:42
like the Poseidon Adventure or something you know it was almost like an adventure
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flick you know I love that that reference I love theic yeah there's got to be a morning
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after there has to be a party after the show other people I know told me they had similar reaction to to mine at the
00:10:02
very end when it comes off and they do the Wolverine sketch and Chevy comes out and says live from New York and Saturday
00:10:08
night I mean I kind of teared up a little bit because it made you realize how improbable the whole show was and
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how close it came to not happening you know it it could easily have not happened I did like little things I
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didn't know now Dana I was going to ask Jason about that Lauren one for update
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because I did like the chaos I did like it was almost obviously too chaotic but definitely
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knowing no no Fame it just shows people it's like sort of here's what it was if
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you don't know how it started this is they weren't famous no one thinks of Dan
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Aid or Belushi is not famous you know so you have to go back and say hey they all
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get a job it's a cruddy place they're just throwing [ __ ] together and then it
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there's you know Billy Crystal leaving those are cool moments where you go oh
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my God there's just so many things that happened where everything there was lifechanging you get me in the first
00:11:05
sketch Chevy's on update like this this he's a big good-look dude I thought
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there was a lot of parts about I really did like and uh and you're right when it
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all came together like what are the bricks on the stage I don't even know like I don't know what part was real
00:11:20
what wasn't you know fictionalized that was real so that was real they were hammering those bricks in the day of the
00:11:26
first show and of course the old-timers on the crew looked at Eugene Lee the designer you
00:11:32
know who wanted brought in old oak doors and bricks and they said what the [ __ ]
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are you doing you know we just use Cyclorama walls and you know the way it used to be in Old variety shows where
00:11:44
instead of a set you'd have like you know a window frame or a tree in a pot yeah suggests a park but Lauren's idea
00:11:54
was that you wanted this hard wall reality and um it looked counterculture and I did love when um was it JK Simmons
00:12:02
who play he played Milton Burl and he's doing a song and dance number and that
00:12:06
was a really interesting ju toos because the writer shows everything was shiny and clean and 8h still looks the same
00:12:14
it's kind of beat up and if you walk in there without an audience you're like
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it's kind of a [ __ ] hole everyone thinks it's tiny people go this isn't where you
00:12:21
because I went back to do Hunter Biden it was just again like when Dana going back you go oh so here's Tom wardrobe uh
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you know this a lot of the same people and a lot of it's obviously bigger and a
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little fancier in places but you get out there it's the same tiny stools even
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people I was with were like this isn't where the audience this is it this is
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this is where every sketch is this tiny room yeah I know wow it is that's the
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fun of it you know can I I just unless you have something you need to say well one thing I was just going to say to you
00:12:57
know we were talking about the improb ility of it and how those people weren't
00:13:01
famous it's one of the things that was fascinating for me to learn is Lauren
00:13:06
had trouble hiring people like who wanted to be on this late night show with this weird Canadian guy no one had
00:13:12
never heard of had ever heard of and you know Chevy almost didn't come on because
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he was doing a play like a dinner theater with Paul Lind you know didn't take the J I like Broadway
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yeah and uh I love that Paul Lind stood in the way of another hire alen s Bell almost didn't because he had been
00:13:37
offered a job in prime time writing the questions for Paul Lind in the center square of Hollywood Squares I have I had
00:13:45
a dirty joke about Paul L you want to hear it anything about Paul cut um Paul ly walked into a party and he goes it
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smells like [ __ ] in here I think anyway Dana back to you no I will say I don't I don't get the reference I just
00:14:03
thought he was a funny guy I mean I don't understand Paul was a hero by the way with Hollywood Squares unreal when I
00:14:09
was a kid I laugh everything that dude said oh he was always hilarious and I Bewitched my God and bewitched and
00:14:16
wherever he was M had a great kind of Rhythm you know just naturally funny I was just curious so you knew Lauren
00:14:25
during the new show is that when you met him yeah I uh I I uh was brought into the brill
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building um in 83 by Tom gaml gaml and Fross who i' gone to college with and I
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met Jim Downey uh for the first time and Jim hired me just one second I I can talk to you in a little bit I'll just be
00:14:46
right back I'll be right back no I want I want to talk to you I really do but I
00:14:49
gotta go sorry go ahead stay right there yeah stay right here so but yeah so Jim
00:14:57
in a rare Act of decisiveness right hired me that day um rare act deis funny to be his assistant I was 23 my gosh I
00:15:09
was 23 years old my job chiefly consisted of ordering shitloads of food from the Carnegie Del I mean you know if
00:15:17
I didn't know what chicken in the pot was you know then I I wrers writers eat
00:15:22
they have to eat hle feed their brains and you know it was a great thing for me I was really young my mom had just died
00:15:29
suddenly and and I was kind of at Sea and so I got to go to this place with all these funny people every
00:15:37
day and they were so kind to me you know and think about it I mean what a and Christina mcginness and Lauren and
00:15:45
George Meyer and Jack Handy you know Z Bell it was really it was fun so I didn't have a lot of one-on-one time
00:15:51
with Lauren but it was a it was a pretty small operation and we were all just in
00:15:56
this the little on the ninth floor of the of the brill building so yeah I mean I I knew him a little bit
00:16:02
and um again I didn't realize that what I was witnessing was this Soul crushing
00:16:08
uh failure on his part how did he take that failure if you could even remember or all of you because I did a real I did
00:16:17
a variety show that lasted eight episodes and kind of blew up the network yeah so was this did you get a full
00:16:25
season or did you I don't long I no it wasn't there were we were I think we did
00:16:31
like eight shows and then and this is the thing that was really weird about it you know Lauren had been used to working
00:16:37
live but the new show was taped on Thursday to air on Friday so it brought out all of Lauren's you know less genius
00:16:48
impulses I mean people always say that Lauren always says that the show doesn't
00:16:53
go on because it's ready it goes on because it's 11:30 and you know he he
00:16:57
needs that deadline needs the deadline and that's when he gets into his kind of
00:17:01
superpower mode you know the meeting between the dress rehearsal and air but if you think about it so the new show we
00:17:07
would be taping and he would yell cut and then theyd start a sketch over and sometimes these tapings would last for
00:17:15
five hours and you know perfectionist and you can't stop fixing yeah yeah yeah
00:17:21
and I remember the audience trying to leave in droves and Tom gamble coming out and going like you quitters you know
00:17:28
sure so they're watching the same sketch over and over again well it's like a sitcom
00:17:33
you know you're you're trying to get it right when you're on a movie and it's a
00:17:35
big budget that happens where you just do take after take someone's got to go
00:17:39
hey are we any good like can we just move on like this is it the best we can do and then they'd be up all night in
00:17:46
the editing room like splicing the takes together so that it leeched all of the you know the magic out of it I mean you
00:17:54
guys know because you've done it the live the adrenaline of live really adds
00:17:58
something but imagine these comedy sketches pieced together they had to add laugh tracks right so it's all different
00:18:05
I I remember I remember knowing that it wasn't going well and then I guess Brandon K tarov said to Lauren after I
00:18:13
can't remember maybe eight shows like why don't you just not make the rest of
00:18:17
them and instead and here's the novel idea let's make best of the new show
00:18:22
hours Best of oh after only eight episodes we're going to do best of finished
00:18:34
[Music] out by the way I don't know we have what time we have how did you end up writing
00:18:40
this book I'm just that's popped in my head you know I I I I was only that was
00:18:46
my only time in television I I switched J I switched to journalism after that but I stayed you know I stayed friends
00:18:54
with a all those writers and a lot of them including Steve Martin and Jack and you know have written for me at the New
00:19:00
Yorker and other places I've worked so I was always kind of in the you know I
00:19:04
would see run into Lauren every five years and say hi I think our daughters knew each other in school and but
00:19:11
um after the 40th anniversary I I just well I was an empty nester I had this crazy idea I was going to have a lot of
00:19:18
time and I just realized it it really hit me how Lauren is like single-handedly responsible for what
00:19:25
America thinks is funny you know across so many generations and I I thought he'd be a great subject
00:19:31
for a book so I I did a I I sold I sold a book first I I did a proposal there was a bidding war I chose random house
00:19:40
and then I went to see him in his office and I said because I I know you know you
00:19:46
guys know Lauren he likes to be out of the frame he likes to be behind the curtain he's he's not a very public
00:19:52
facing guy so I said Lauren I I I just sold signed a contract to write a book about you in the show I don't need
00:20:00
anything from you you know I know your people and I'm kind of around but if you
00:20:06
wanted to talk to me and participate in it it'll be a better and a richer book
00:20:10
and you know your legacy deserves that and at first he looked like he was gonna have a heart attack you know he just was
00:20:17
like yeah and then you know he said he think about it and we had a drink a couple of days later and and he just
00:20:25
started telling those stories he just started talking and uh so he he was in um we didn't have any kind of agreement
00:20:33
you know it's he liked the fact that it was my book it's not a vanity project
00:20:38
that he had any approval over or anything but you know he's smart enough to know that that's better to have like
00:20:43
a real work of Journalism about you and not some silly you know sort of puff book he had always told me I I would
00:20:50
never write a book because I couldn't tell the truth so in terms of like you're writing this better and like what
00:20:59
do I include you Susan what do what do I not include is this unflattering to Lauren who I have affection for and I
00:21:05
think it's seminal um and though so when he was sharing with you it was stories
00:21:11
that you felt were benign I mean the book's coming out uh did he bury people what
00:21:18
did he say about me sorry oh Dana you know what he said about you is it's a [ __ ] show Pony I mean
00:21:25
you both of you um both of you are really really up there in his Pantheon no I think that he uh I think
00:21:36
one of his reservations in the beginning and this was very smart of him he knows
00:21:40
that people have very selective memory you know I I don't know that he read deeply in those like the oral history by
00:21:47
Tom shells and Jim Miller but he certainly knew that over the years people had put out versions of things
00:21:53
that were wildly exaggerated you know and he also know that comedians like to kind of embellish a story to make it f
00:22:00
right that's a a human thing so I think he he was a little worried about that
00:22:06
but he he uh you know you know he I asked him lots of questions he told me lots of stories
00:22:12
uh I'd say in the final two years of the reporting what I was doing was I'd go
00:22:17
over there on a Friday night and I'd say okay now what we're going to do is try
00:22:21
to do some like factchecking because a lot of times I'd have three or four different versions of an event yeah and
00:22:27
I wanted him to try to be a TI Breer like what do you think actually happened here and you know he was very honest a
00:22:32
lot of times he just said God I don't know it was the 70s you but I but again
00:22:38
because I you know work at the New Yorker and we're factchecking and accuracy are important I worked really
00:22:43
hard to try to get get it the things and there were definitely things um and I brought all these things to him there
00:22:53
were definitely things that maybe stung a little bit or that he would have preferred not be in the book but he
00:23:00
never said like oh God don't put that in the book you know he he he understood
00:23:04
that yeah um and I God I really respect the H hell out of him for that you know I mean he knew I was going to write a
00:23:10
real book and but the response among you know his world and his publicists and the people around him has been really
00:23:19
has been really positive people think that I've really got him but you know I
00:23:23
I mean going into something like this with a character as mysterious and feared as Lauren is I I always knew that
00:23:31
there would be a contention of people who said like oh God this is just a [ __ ] and then there would be other
00:23:37
people who would say this is a hatchet job you know right so I think I mean I'm
00:23:44
I really I I I'm in awe of Lauren and I really admire him and I admire and like
00:23:49
him even more at the end of this process than I did at the beginning I I think what he's done is incredible but you
00:23:56
guys work there when people would be bitching about this or that or you know it's a tough place right uh do you uh do
00:24:04
did you talk to any cast that said anything that or are any any personalities just very different than
00:24:10
what you thought once you get them on the phone huh let's see or is everyone kind
00:24:16
of that's a that's such a good question did you hang up with someone and go wow
00:24:19
I they were very one person who blew my mind uh was Dan akroy because he talks in these yeah sentences have you guys
00:24:28
ever we did a live podcast with him at David's house you know what I mean like
00:24:33
he talks in perfect paragraphs and he's so I just would never have thought that he you know he's
00:24:39
somebody who and and he's so uh thoughtful and uses such interesting words um let's see who you know you know
00:24:49
they didn't they didn't know what to do with the lumber back in Canada 194 he
00:24:53
has a lot of the steel the steel manufacturer at all yeah he is like this and and he made it
00:25:02
comedy rhythms he did it as Cone Heads he did talking it long free free Consciousness kind of speeches so it's
00:25:11
it's part of his well it makes you realize that you know beldar conad and Van arroy are very similar aren't they
00:25:20
very parental units I told someone are you with your parental units tonight and then I said after I've said this a
00:25:28
million times I go you know that's from Coen heads they're like what is that
00:25:32
term I go I think so isn't it remember he goes parental and no one knew that I
00:25:37
go oh that's so funny it just gets in The Ether and people you had some good
00:25:41
quotes here from uh a lot of the Stars I think some are funny some are just straight ahead interesting and I like
00:25:48
Steve Martin says Dave Letterman is genuinely self-deprecating he genuinely doesn't
00:25:53
think he's any good those issues don't come up for Lauren so and I mean go ahead oh Jane curtain
00:26:02
saying he spent a lot of time talking about where he's going to eat is that very Oro tonight at 9 o'
00:26:12
Chevy will be there Chevy Chase no no no Chevy Wilson uh one of the Pauls um you'll find with Susan she's
00:26:21
that thing of like you know she wants to please and yet she has has an Eagle Eye uh and she sees what others don't
00:26:30
Bill hater is funny Bill hater yeah bill has a great Lauren you have different you just a very much very he says Dana
00:26:38
um if you start drowning he's not like hey here's a life jacket he's like oh
00:26:42
that guy's drowning in my pool let's go here and let's go hang with Alec
00:26:48
Baldwin well you know it is what one of the things that is so interesting about Lauren is that uh even though people
00:26:56
would early in the show as the show started getting successful and Lauren started getting richer with fancier
00:27:02
friends you know people would [ __ ] and moan about that you know Belushi referred to Lauren fancy friends as the
00:27:07
dead you know all those socialites and everything but I think that it was kind of interesting the way Lauren managed to
00:27:14
Parlay that into kind of a comic character on the show you know um like the the Lauren that you see in the
00:27:21
smiggles TV fun hous T fun give me back my show you know and back with my show yeah you know he kind of I feel like he
00:27:34
almost you know the L posha like producer character became a character on the show as much as like church lady did
00:27:43
you know the aloof producer that just stands there with a beer or something or a glass of wine yeah yeah and I remember
00:27:50
you know I actually I mean I hope we hear more of your Lauren data today but I remember asking Alec Baldwin at one
00:27:58
point who do you think does the best Lauren impersonation and Alec just said Lauren all right telling telling
00:28:09
right um it's that thing of like I never met anyone who talked like that you know
00:28:17
but I do believe that that's what I'm kind of curious about and yeah so you
00:28:21
you went on this journey and it's not so much just like what makes Lauren tick
00:28:26
but it's sort of like where's the where's the marshmallow inside this this
00:28:31
veneer you know because I think he wants to be one of the guys and he I think he
00:28:36
is very observant and wonders what people are thinking of him and gets easily wounded in a way but he's also so
00:28:45
resilient I mean he's trumping yeah in just that way to which I we probably talked about just keeping
00:28:53
the show consistent Now 50 years we have data now a [ __ ] half century where did this
00:29:01
guy come from who is he will that be answered when I buy the book I think you're GNA get your $38 worth but no
00:29:10
everyone I talk to about Lauren it's the same they're all kind of trying to
00:29:14
Unriddle him you know Conan Conan says everybody thinks that Lauren has the secret you know part of that is that he
00:29:22
isn't like unlike a lot of guys who got rich and famous in the 80s you know Barry Diller Michael milking or people
00:29:28
like that yeah he's never been like a showoff workaholic you know he he's not
00:29:33
one of those people who says I get up at 4:00 a.m. and work out with a trainer and then I you know he he he does seem
00:29:40
to know how to live you know he is a he kind of invented work life balance you know but yeah but then in terms of you
00:29:48
say the marshmallow inside I don't want to be too psycho babbly or you know too
00:29:54
much an easy answer but go ahead a lot really does does take you back to Lauren suddenly losing his father when he's 14
00:30:03
years old he was completely at Sea and his father collapsed one night after having a big
00:30:11
argument with Lauren oh had a big fight father collapses disappears into the hospital Lauren never sees him again
00:30:19
this gives you some indication of wine you know you never see Lauren having a yelling match with anybody you know he's
00:30:26
very he keeps it very low you know he I I think at one point I I say in the book that he speaks in the
00:30:33
register of a man announcing a golf tournament you know but he I think that his whole world
00:30:41
got smashed when he was 14 you know his then he had a bad year his mother thought he was going to be a juvenile
00:30:47
delinquent to use the term juvie popular in the a Juvia and he had to kind of rebuild he had to put it all together I
00:30:57
think it gave him a kind of resilience uh that a kind of resilience that helped him throughout his whole career you know
00:31:06
just when I was starting the book I interviewed Jud Appel for the New Yorker radio hour and he said something that
00:31:13
really resonated with me when Jud was 14 his parents had a really bad divorce and
00:31:20
I think he you know they there were financial problems his whole world kind of fell apart and he told me that he
00:31:27
definitely because because of that like that's why he kind of early in his life
00:31:31
abandoned his dreams of being a performer and instead became a director and producer because you know when
00:31:38
you're that guy you you've got the clipboard you got the call sheet you're
00:31:41
making sure that everything works you're making sure that it's not going to be chaos you're taking
00:31:47
care of everything as opposed to you know if you're a performer you're just
00:31:51
kind of looking you're doing stading your own stuff and and I thought that that reminded me so much of Lauren you
00:31:58
know CU he also was a performer early in his life but you know he is he's determined to not let anything fall
00:32:05
apart because his own world fell apart when he was 14 that'll be $350 for that I always thought it was people who
00:32:14
started out in comedy and just saw that it wasn't going to happen for them and
00:32:18
then they became a writer writer or director producer I did not realize when I was on Satur Night Live that every
00:32:25
single writer essentially wanted to be in front of the camera you know I didn't realize that um I
00:32:32
didn't know that until I started reporting this book so every you know think about all the people who were just
00:32:37
writers melany Odenkirk you know yeah those guys never got on stage Robert SM they all want to be they all want to
00:32:44
trust me Conan I love that kind of Lauren you know well do you think Michael will be here he's visit it's not
00:32:50
very far from you know the bleachers to where the cameras are you know he he has
00:32:56
so many say it's a little short walk yeah that's funny yeah but when you do Lauren you
00:33:04
get to kind of inhabit Lauren and I do think because the show is magnificent chaos that's also part of his his
00:33:12
methodology is he he'll be the calm when was anybody angry H well yeah there's definitely
00:33:20
some people who are angry um because you know it's one of the things I would say
00:33:25
that maybe Lauren's biggest achievement was just creating this kind of culture
00:33:30
with walls around it you know it's a tribe and you're in it or you're out of
00:33:33
it you know it's like the Godfather kind of and you know they're of people
00:33:40
noes yeah who you know I mean I think that's one of the reasons it was so painful for
00:33:46
Conan when he lost the Tonight Show and went to TBS he was he was kind of you know he had spent his whole career at
00:33:53
NBC and I I and and for a while he had you know a little bit of a of a frosty rupture with Lauren I think you know he
00:34:01
was off the g off the t-shirt list you know stopped getting the Broadway video you guys still get those the Broadway
00:34:08
video t-shirts I don't know if I still do I think so yeah I do yeah Lauren he wants to be
00:34:16
in the loop I I I he did not produce the Conan Tonight Show right for some reason
00:34:20
that's right he he produced late night for Conan and then when Conan went to LA
00:34:26
NBC I mean it was kind of a drama NBC told Conan and his producer Jeff Ross oh you don't need Lauren to be your
00:34:33
EP you know but I think that was a misstep I think I think it probably would have been a good yeah I think in
00:34:40
the end of the day and this there's been even current things that I will mention
00:34:44
with bit different people is just show that's important to Lauren and maybe it's the how he reacts to other people
00:34:50
in his life you you show respect um you know you want to you want to give Lauren
00:34:55
the chance to say I think should do it without me you know if you started with him and he gave you your break then you
00:35:03
do kind of have that that feeling but but it's a hard back and forth to say Lauren do you want to produce this movie
00:35:09
because now you're putting him on the spot sometimes if he doesn't but if you
00:35:14
don't and it's success he's like why wouldn't you bring that to me it's very
00:35:19
it's very touchy because you don't want to go I want a new fa I want a favor
00:35:22
from you also this thing about networks is tough because Al you know let's say I
00:35:27
did a show for Network like I've done sitcoms and they're they're always
00:35:32
whining and dining you for a sitcom the whole run and the second it's over let's
00:35:37
say you do a pilot or something or they even just they cancel your show there's
00:35:42
always part of you that thinks mistakenly but this network we were friends like how could they do that's
00:35:48
the weirdest thing that you realize it's all just for the moment things are going
00:35:52
good everything's great but don't get too chummy because you're just a you
00:35:58
know a card on a on a you know board where they say we don't need that anymore we're putting this here they
00:36:04
don't think like that they don't go oh someone's feeling is going to get hurt
00:36:07
they're just like this does better than that that we got to put that there it's
00:36:11
very hard it's very rare they go hey I mean they might say it but they're not
00:36:15
just saying hey just because we're all buds we should keep this on forever yeah
00:36:20
I think that for Lauren it's these it's a relationship business you know and he
00:36:24
really does like one one of his old Canadian friends uh told me that even from the very beginning you could tell
00:36:31
he likes rabbit's feet you know he likes to have these familiar people around and
00:36:37
um I think you know one time he he was kind of half joking but he compared himself to said I'm like Prometheus you
00:36:44
know I brought I brought I'm the bringer of fire to these young people you know
00:36:48
the people he hires and whose life he changes and he is aware that um you know he's very aware that that you want to
00:36:56
stay tight with the people who were there for you at the beginning sure you know it's why he kept Bernie I'm sure
00:37:02
I'm sure he was paying Bernie brilin 15% you know up to the very end when when
00:37:07
was the last thing Bernie did for La you know even when it went to 10% he's probably still paying him 15 whatever
00:37:13
yeah yeah I by the way Prometheus for all the kids listening is a rapper Lil Prometheus Yeah Lil
00:37:25
Prometheus by the way I I have off the off the grid here the new show is it possible you would remember this I think
00:37:33
this is a dumb joke from the new show A Whitney Brown and Louie were they both on it possibly I don't think they were
00:37:41
weren't they but on camera no they weren't on it they weren't on the new show no they weren't
00:37:50
they weren't okay because it's jok is from something else it could have been
00:37:53
but W they they were weren they on Dana's show uh Louis K I hired as my head
00:37:59
writer um no Whitney Brown was not right for it I remember a sketch with Louie Anderson and Whitney Brown but what
00:38:08
Whitney Brown it could have been on uh on a on a Bad episode of SNL on a figment of my imagination might have
00:38:17
been in the 85 season I think that's when a Whitney got hired here's the joke
00:38:21
yeah okay they're in Ro it's like a just quick cutaway like on laughing they walk
00:38:26
out in Roman toga one's ripped and one isn't and Whitney goes no Whit yeah Whitney goes to Louis
00:38:35
that's ripped and says Ides and he goes humanties that's and that was that's
00:38:42
right out of that isn't that a weird that's that's toppo jio right there I
00:38:50
too pretty I'm lying but why would I even think of this when you talking on the new show but you know that reminds
00:38:57
me of um uh when Lauren directed his show in college UC see Foles which was very much like a Proto SNL thing there
00:39:07
was a Shakespeare uh T parody in it that Lauren wrote This is actually one of the
00:39:13
the first funny joke that I've ever that Lauren Michaels wrote to to my mind
00:39:17
there was a character in it named handen bra get it okay got it instead of Fort and bra yeah hand and bra you get it it
00:39:25
I like it I got it pretty good good a good that's the beginning middle end it's very economic the 50s
00:39:35
people listen I laughed harder at heaw I don't know what you know I I don't any
00:39:39
reference I laughed at Don Mar Bernie Burstein told me they take your heha money in London you know because he was
00:39:46
producing Hew he didn't like yeah I don't like fake art he just thought the
00:39:51
art scene was ridiculous you it's funny when people say like you know Belushi
00:39:55
only made $400 a week on SNL and he made grand for Animal House which is not bad
00:39:59
money especially when you're an unknown they forget that they weren't a huge
00:40:03
star in the cover of Time Magazine did did Belushi get on the cover of Tom I heard Chevy did did Belushi Belushi was
00:40:10
on Newsweek oh news Chevy for Animal House and Chevy was on New York Magazine at the end of uh season one they called
00:40:18
him the air apparent to Johnny Carson and that's basically what started all kinds of splintering in that first cast
00:40:26
because yeah you know the idea wasn't for one person to emerge as a star that
00:40:30
kind of screwed everything up right immediate problems that's always been there since then yeah yeah yeah yeah
00:40:36
yeah you know you were talking about the the asking about the new show I just remembered one funny little conflict
00:40:42
that happened there I remember uh gambl and pross wrote A Sketch called time truck it was a time traveling truck and
00:40:51
it was for a show Kevin Klein Kevin Klein was hosting and the idea was Kevin Klein was supposed to play uh Abe
00:41:00
Lincoln and some they were supposed to go back in time to prevent uh Lincoln from getting shot but Lauren thought
00:41:07
that it would be much funnier to have his close personal friend Paul Simon Lincoln just as a psych right the
00:41:16
writers are like Paul Simon not a comic actor yeah and he's very quiet Paul yeah
00:41:23
anyway yeah frustration reason number 800 why the new fly off the shelves did we um did we talk about uh
00:41:34
just well obvious you mentioned Lauren hacked life I that's the new phrase like
00:41:39
you go to buttermilk and you ski at you know and then you're in St Barts and you
00:41:43
go to Wimbledon and Paul and I would often go out and just buy socks you go downtown so and he did Pace himself
00:41:52
that's part of the half century is he does Pace himself he knows when it's
00:41:56
important for him to lock in and that's the especially this Saturday that 30
00:42:01
minutes is where everything's made and the whole show is based on ADD and procrastination so at Lauren's core does
00:42:08
he have both those elements because I do yeah well you know Jim Downey had a really smart way of describing this he
00:42:15
said Lauren is a guy bad at term papers great at tests you know so if you give him an open-ended thing that he has to
00:42:24
sit down and Fiddle with He's just never going to finish it but when there's a
00:42:28
deadline when there's an alarm Bell that goes off that's you know I think someone
00:42:33
said the deadline is Lauren's cocaine you know it's it's the thing that gets
00:42:37
him galvanized I can you imagine if that show was taped you would never have that
00:42:44
moment you know at 10:30 where he's saying you know but um yeah I think that
00:42:51
he uh he definitely he definitely has said to me a bunch of different times that he
00:42:58
he was always his whole life reluctant to burn a bridge or to close a door you know he always felt like if I do this
00:43:04
then I won't ever be able to do this I mean he's he and he also told me a story
00:43:09
this kind of related he told me it's a real memory of once his father taking
00:43:14
him to a diner when he was a little boy and saying just order anything you want off the menu so he ordered a hot dog and
00:43:21
a hamburger and a grilled cheese and onion rings and french fries and you know couldn't eat it all and then
00:43:27
his father said let this be a lesson to you you know your eyes are bigger than your stomach now I don't know how Lauren
00:43:33
converted that into a lesson about comedy but he did and and I think that if you think about that plate full of
00:43:40
junk food at the diner it's not unlike what the show is like Saturday going into you know they still have way more
00:43:47
than they can use sure and it's chopping it down and you don't need everything
00:43:52
you don't you think you don't need everything you think you need in life
00:43:55
also is a bigger way it's true right right right right I want to go lunch with his dad yeah I need to
00:44:04
learn things that's a good one buy me a hot dog uh yeah we both have Dad stuff I
00:44:10
mean do all comedians have Mom or Dad stuff right I don't know well I thought
00:44:16
it was you know a lot of people talk about these different rules Lauren has about comedy these Laur isms and I think
00:44:24
all the comedy ones are interesting but it was also really interesting for me to
00:44:28
hear how many of them were just about like how to live your life you know so many people talked about how Lauren
00:44:33
would say buy yourself an apartment that you think you can't afford because you
00:44:39
know then you'll come home after a hard day work and you'll go wow who lives
00:44:43
here you wow I live here you know and he told me that he said by he said get yeah
00:44:50
it it matters where you live so if you're torn get the nicer one he does his Laur and a lot of it is is just good
00:44:57
oldfashioned wisdom yeah well well crafted did we talk about the one that was sort of took me by surprise you know
00:45:04
about the this generation or whatever snowflakes or anxiety whatever you know we were raised in the wilderness and we
00:45:11
got like civilized they're raised civilized and then we want them to go out into the
00:45:16
Wilderness which is sort of brilliant I said that Howard stering go what what does that mean go out but no he said he
00:45:24
said that to me too and I totally get it I like yeah yeah but you know it was also I spent so much time hanging out
00:45:32
there that it was really interesting for me to see he's so patient kind of with
00:45:38
the Millennials and some of the snowflakey you know sensibilities but one day he said something that really
00:45:46
cracked me up this is in the book we were wa we were walking in the Theater District and we walked past the
00:45:52
Mean Girls Marquee and he had just got tickets for friend Margaret Trudeau to go and but he was really mad because one
00:46:01
of the leads had called in sick uh because she had to take her dog to the vet the dog had eaten glue or something
00:46:07
and he and he and he just said if it was Patty LuPone the dog would be dead just couldn't believe you know that
00:46:18
this person's pet was I Ru in the new days there's just options you didn't
00:46:23
have like you can just not do things anymore in the old days it's like no you
00:46:28
go no matter what you go work you go to school you do this and now it's like if
00:46:32
you feel like it if unless you want to call in a day you're not mentally feeling like it it's like or you have
00:46:38
anxiety if I had the word anxiety back then I would have used it all day I think Lauren has a a classic
00:46:44
characteristic of somebody who is uh has power in a meeting and that is if things
00:46:51
are going around the room and then Lauren will sort of sum up something or say something that's not exactly on
00:46:58
topic but related to the topic in very few words you know and it's like I just
00:47:04
think I you know I don't know this is a hack name one but I it just needs to
00:47:08
breathe or whatever you know make sure that the audience knows you're actually
00:47:12
performing you know sort of you know don't just do it to each other so that's
00:47:17
kind of one of his superpowers and that's really important with the suits and Universal and stuff I I had I was at
00:47:24
parties with the the suits and Lauren he doesn't talk a lot but when he does it's
00:47:29
usually it's pretty hard or it's interesting you know yeah no he has a lot of things like that that can kind of
00:47:36
close off discussion like he'll say it'll get there yeah you know or he'll
00:47:41
say it knows what it is stuff like that yeah yeah really good good things yeah all I'm saying you know he never really
00:47:50
says do this all I'm saying is like do we really have to go there with that right now you know
00:47:57
I thought it was also interesting that even though you know in that meeting between dress and air he really is like
00:48:04
a general you know and that's that's the time at which he famously yelled at Bob
00:48:08
Odenkirk once Odenkirk if you talk again I'll break your [ __ ] legs you know
00:48:13
but mostly that's when he's most confrontational because there's no time
00:48:18
left no time for any fun [ __ ] it's like go go go right but but um even even
00:48:25
though he is you know that is his moment he rarely forces somebody to change something I mean writers are always
00:48:32
telling me true yes he'll give you the note he'll say maybe this maybe that but
00:48:36
he isn't GNA say you have to change the ending you know he he lets it belong to
00:48:41
the writers which is so unusual some you know some of mine got dirty and he would
00:48:46
say to interrupt you he would say I don't know if you need that yeah yeah put it if you want but I don't know if
00:48:53
you need it and that's a good way of saying oh you feel like it's a little
00:48:57
dirty it's kind of smart the way it is I don't if you need that and you go yeah
00:49:02
okay like okay well if you say it I'm obviously younger and just new on the show I think I would take your gut
00:49:10
feeling over mine I know because I said to Lauren just in the fall when I was there I said you're like an AI like you
00:49:16
have downloaded the show in your brain that's a good so Lauren's blink is the
00:49:21
best blink because he can't even he's he's he's going back to you
00:49:26
know Danny did that in my early days similar to a Chevy idea you know say so he that's why his blink is really good
00:49:34
he kind of knows he can't even toly describe what's wrong in a way but his
00:49:39
spider sense because he's yeah yeah yeah he's downloaded the show but he might
00:49:44
say as David was just saying he might say well do you think it's working you
00:49:48
know yeah that's how he would do it do you think it's working but Dana this is
00:49:52
reminding me what David just said is the story you told me about the time he thought church lady got too dirty with
00:49:59
the football players yeah yeah and he was he was really kind of right it was just um you know it was Joe
00:50:08
Montana and Walter pyton and I'm doing a church chat and so it was just became
00:50:14
vailan sexual inuendo like we're playing football squeeze the between your legs
00:50:19
and let me you know it was just a lot of that and Lauren was like you know does it really it was like
00:50:27
you know and he didn't want church lady for a while like the church I think she
00:50:31
needs a name you know and stuff like that and he didn't really like the superior dance he wanted to be more
00:50:36
grounded in reality but like he never told me yay or nay but he the the mon Joe Montana won um because maybe it was
00:50:46
low brow or something it was later in the show but it killed so hard that the Oldtimer sound man said I've been here
00:50:53
for 20 years I I never seen the needles go that high so I anyway you know that Superior dance
00:51:02
thing I mean I didn't know he didn't like that cuz boy I think that's so
00:51:05
funny but uh well I I I think he wasn't a fan of it but maybe he probably accepted it as the as the character grew
00:51:14
got bigger yes she became a signature because I know Conan told me that uh or maybe Lauren told me maybe they both
00:51:21
told me um rare instance of everybody agreeing that Lauren was always telling Conan to get rid of that string dance
00:51:29
thing that he did you know where he would touch his nipples and go yeah Warr hated that you but Conan
00:51:36
stuck with it and it worked you know there are people yeah you know people I guess well that is the thing about
00:51:41
catchphrases Andor repetitive physical things or signature Johnny Carson does the golf swing I don't know if there's
00:51:48
something homey to your brain you know oh Conan's doing that again you know we
00:51:52
all do it right right well Mark McKinny told me that at the original at the IAL read through of the Kids in the Hall uh
00:52:00
series the one thing that Lauren just didn't like didn't understand was the
00:52:04
I'm crushing your head guy oh and and that when Mark you know that sketch yeah
00:52:10
yeah with the camera set up so it looks like you're yeah play that game as a
00:52:14
little kid first read it Lauren said like oh so it's a funny voice thing you
00:52:21
know but he didn't it wasn't you can say that better than me but um but then when
00:52:25
he saw it when he saw saw that it was a visual you know like that then he then he got it and he liked it so again you
00:52:32
have to have you really have to have a sense of yourself I guess right because a a more of a fading Violet kind of
00:52:39
performer would have just said okay we'll cut that sketch sure right and Lauren is he's he's open to if it works
00:52:46
it works I mean he just loves a laugh so if you know that that makes him so high
00:52:52
yeah you know and and you see that how he still just suffers if the show's going a little flat you see it in his
00:52:58
body language his attitude if the show is lifted it's just you know from across
00:53:03
the way your sketch destroys be like you know and and that's like a really good
00:53:09
coach that never over Praises but when he does it means a hell of a lot so that's yeah so many people told me about
00:53:18
how they would come off stage and just feeling like they really killed and you know then in the Monday
00:53:24
meeting he wouldn't talk about that would say you know like no Nora you were
00:53:30
breathtaking as the fourth waitress you know that kind of thing I thought Jan's exit was
00:53:37
breathtaking [Music] exit well Susan um Dana anything else for this young lady who's uh WR a
00:53:50
written great book so now your book is emerging yeah within this GI gigantic SNL 50th yeah whatever you want
00:54:01
Extravaganza you know and I can't keep track of all the documentaries people I
00:54:05
I don't you know were you in that one you got watch the cowbell one is great
00:54:08
we got to watch that it's a I just went to a little house they rented for me and
00:54:12
said well you talk about cowbell I okay so I'm doing it and then they were talking about it yeah I don't even
00:54:18
remember what I said but it's such an extravaganza um and then your book's
00:54:24
coming out I guess that's a good thing rather then if the book had come out during just a regular year Well I it
00:54:30
took me so long to write it that only 10 years this wasn't part of the plan yeah
00:54:35
I thought come out years fell into right now is good it really yeah it really worked and I'd say I mean uh it it
00:54:44
definitely works and especially because so much of the hoopla so much of the other stuff you know it's like Snippets
00:54:49
of sketches and but my hope is that you know people really don't know that much
00:54:54
about Lauren you know the the comedy cogn Senti know that he's Obi-Wan Kenobi
00:54:59
and everything else but I think that the greater world doesn't know how complicated and fascinating and strange
00:55:07
and Brilliant he is and um I you know I hope as you were saying Dan I hope I'm
00:55:12
kind of able to explain that a little bit so the one thing people ask me today about the show that I don't have an
00:55:18
answer for just a basic answer I guess but how the numerologically the cast has started to expand and then become an
00:55:28
expansionist cast so like 20 cast members so people will ask me why they have all those cast members and I go
00:55:37
well I guess a safety net or what did did he did he ever talk about that I think that's a really good question
00:55:42
because I know there was a time in the 90s when the when he was trying to do the change over like between the you
00:55:48
know Hartman cast to the Sandler cast he was hiring a lot of people I thought it
00:55:52
was maybe just to ease the you know create a buffer um and then there was like some big budget cut back and he had
00:55:59
to get rid of a bunch of them but yeah I I don't know the answer to that unless
00:56:04
and I'm speculating here unless it's in a diversity effort you know to just try
00:56:09
to get a more diverse cast but I don't think it serves the show because I think
00:56:14
that there's so many people you're kind of who's that one I remember for sure
00:56:17
you don't know for sure it's too hard people it's very hard I talked to some
00:56:22
of the young cast members because if you're not in it a lot and then you get
00:56:25
in there there and then you maybe flub a line or don't totally score then you go
00:56:30
back again where I think I was part of the last small cast and then when David and Sandler and Farley all you know we
00:56:38
got some really great people to add to us and some left but me and Phil and John I think were just the three major
00:56:45
male sketch players so I was in four things the first show or five things and yeah I I have a lot of empathy for the
00:56:52
cast members that are they're in the Dugout they're on the bench they're not
00:56:56
playing quit or do you stay and you go I quit SNL I didn't get anything out of it
00:56:59
like it's so hard just sit there and rot going am I going to ever score it really
00:57:03
takes one good sketch then you're on the map what was yours David what was the
00:57:09
thing that made you feel like God it took a long time I think it was one where I played a receptionist was the
00:57:13
first time I got any any sort of and you had a catchphrase did it at at it was in
00:57:19
dress the last sketch in the air it was the first sketch and so oh that's that's
00:57:24
a good you are you are so good just a dry bit based on kind of Lauren going to see and and and
00:57:32
the assistance yeah yeah and all that you know the thing the thing about the huge cast that's even harder now Dana
00:57:39
and and when I was hanging around there a few years back you know the cast would
00:57:45
also they would let you know I mean of course it's thrilling for them when Geniuses like you and you know Alec and
00:57:52
everybody come in to pay play these cameos but during the first Trump Administration you it's so many you know
00:57:59
you have all these stars coming in yeah and that also squeezes Matt Damon and so
00:58:04
forth all great people doing great Parts if you were in the cast you might be pissed of course well I did ask and I
00:58:12
was I was sincere about it when they asked me to do Biden I said does Mikey still want to do it does anybody want to
00:58:19
do it and I you know and they said no because Biden was sort of a thankless task it was a difficult one and there
00:58:26
was the whole energy around should you make fun of his mental acuity or not and and threading that needle so I was
00:58:33
totally aware of that and um they're all incredibly sweet they seem sweeter than
00:58:40
we were but they're very nice people but we never we had Dan akroy come in and do
00:58:46
Bob Dole that was it once yeah yeah and then it was all us playing it so I don't
00:58:51
know I I mean Lauren has his thing I don't think he likes when people leave I
00:58:56
think when blushi and aoid left it kind of left him flat-footed and so he he liks a I get it he liks a bench that can
00:59:04
come in and you know so right 50 years now a final question okay how much longer since you've been inside this
00:59:12
Lauren brain will he go well I firmly believe I don't think he's gonna just say over and out you
00:59:22
know he's never missed a show he's never missed the show I think I think I think
00:59:27
they'd have to carry him out of there in a Stretcher but I don't think that any
00:59:31
any of um I don't I don't buy any of the replacement theories I don't think Tina
00:59:36
or Seth or I I can't see any of them doing it um what I think is the likelier
00:59:42
idea and I I hope this doesn't sound too McKenzie you know but the way I see it
00:59:48
Lauren is completely essential two days of the week he has to be there during read through because he really pays
00:59:54
attention to the room yeah and and then he you know picks the show after that with his depuy's help and then Saturday
01:00:01
when he's sitting there under the bleachers um it's a good theory you know
01:00:05
and you know so I think he has this great team of people who could do the other stuff and if he came in you know
01:00:12
was wheeled in on Wednesday afternoon and on Friday and on Saturday evening stretcher well there's an element
01:00:19
there's a there's like a soft element of that now you know I would want an answer
01:00:26
you know when Lauren gets here it's four: Lauren knows how to Pace himself and when to lock in so he's doing a soft
01:00:33
version of that you know yeah I think that's right and and all those people you know Doyle and and henard and
01:00:41
Higgins they really know him you know so they can give a pretty good approximation yeah when he'll come in
01:00:47
what he might say yeah but you know there's no there's no one could do what
01:00:53
he does under the bleachers I mean when I'm sitting there under the bleachers
01:00:56
with him and you guys I'm sure you've done this right and he's I mean the
01:01:01
funniest one when we got I was there for the Jonah Hill show and Maggie Rogers who was then just starting out as a
01:01:08
singer comes out on stage at dress wearing this big red calf tan and no shoes and lawen just goes Barefoot
01:01:18
where's she from a place with roads you know he was so mad I know well the the funniest one is
01:01:27
just that he watched the dress show and the chardonay should be more pale you know stuff like that it's like but he
01:01:34
notices things you're not even aware but yeah I think he's G to go a while um he
01:01:40
seems very you know he's very with it and alert and and I've never seen him
01:01:45
sick you know he he's taking good care of himself true you don't hear that I
01:01:49
never I never it doesn't look like even I was there briefly it doesn't seem like
01:01:54
he's you know barely getting to this 50th it's like 50th then they got the
01:01:59
rest of the season after the Big Show and then uh they start working on next season I don't see I don't know when
01:02:05
this podcast airs but I I bet you Lauren he is he's only human I mean he will be
01:02:11
kind of a little bit relieved when this whole hoopla over because we can't unless it was the mic drop the show ends
01:02:17
he knows that pretty soon okay we look have 10 more [ __ ] shows to do well one thing he did tell me when the wman
01:02:25
moov came out um you know that was sort of the beginning of you know like his anonymity being blown in a way I mean he
01:02:34
he told me he didn't see it I mean who knows who knows if he did I said I saw I
01:02:37
saw it for you and you come off great I so I said you don't have to see it but
01:02:41
he said uh he said I just feel like I've lost control of my life you know it's
01:02:46
like he it it as as a 50th approach I think he's really excited about the show
01:02:50
and he's excited about seeing everybody you know he loves everybody but he he
01:02:55
does feel I mean even to some extent with a book it's just like he's he's
01:02:59
kind of stepping out you know the wman movie put him Center Stage this book puts him Center Stage it's it's it's
01:03:06
it's a it's a shift for him right and in the end of the day he he is the Lynch
01:03:11
pin he's bigger than any cast member as far as the history of SNL he is sure you
01:03:16
know well he is as as I think I quote some agent in the book saying that when her she is clients going to audition for
01:03:24
Lauren she says you got to remember remember he is the star of the show it's
01:03:28
Lauren yeah you know which is interesting interesting but he loves funny people and he yeah he really does
01:03:37
he does and and and he's funny he's a funny person which a lot of people don't
01:03:40
extremely dry droll wit yeah that hits you pretty hard sometimes um wow well uh congratulations it's hard to write a
01:03:50
book and I I'm sure it's going to do really well and um what was your advance
01:03:55
how much did you got so far hello February 18th thank you so much really fun you guys this flew by it
01:04:06
was easy we love talking about our old boss call back anytime okay I can't wait
01:04:10
to read my chapter all right bye thanks have a good day bye bye you too bye bye this has been a presentation of Odyssey
01:04:20
please follow subscribe leave a like a review all the stuff smash that button whatever it is wherever you get your
01:04:26
podcast fly on the wall is executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade Jenna Weiss Burman of Odyssey and
01:04:32
Heather Santoro the show's lead producer is Greg Holtzman