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Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live

Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live

by Susan Morrison

Random House ·2025 ·656 pages ·Hottest Books of the Season
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About This Book

A definitive biography of Lorne Michaels, the man behind America's most beloved comedy show Over the fifty years that Lorne Michaels has been at the helm of Saturday Night Live, he has become a revered, inimitable, and bewildering presence in the entertainment world. He's a tastemaker, a mogul, a withholding father figure, a genius spotter of talent, a shrewd businessman, a name-dropper, a raconteur, the inspiration for Dr. Evil, the winner of more than a hundred Emmys—and, essentially, a mystery. Generations of writers and performers have spent their lives trying to figure him out, by turns demonizing and lionizing him. He's "Obi-Wan Kenobi" (Tracy Morgan), the "great and powerful Oz" (Kate McKinnon), or "some kind of very distant, strange comedy god" (Bob Odenkirk). Lorne will introduce you to him, in full, for the first time. With unprecedented access to Michaels and the entire SNL apparatus, Susan Morrison takes readers behind the curtain for the lively, up-and-down, definitive story of how Michaels created and maintained the institution that changed comedy forever. Drawn from hundreds of interviews—with Michaels, his friends, and SNL's iconic stars and writers, from Will Ferrell to Tina Fey to John Mulaney to Chris Rock to Dan Aykroyd—Lorne is a deeply reported, wildly entertaining account of a man singularly obsessed with the show that would define his life—and have a profound impact on American culture.


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Reviews

"Weirdly barren of laughs."

James Parker· The Atlantic Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Morrison uses meticulous research and pleasurably crisp writing to tell the life story of a man who has shaped pop culture for a half-century ..."

Amy Scribner· BookPage Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Morrison uses meticulous research and pleasurably crisp writing to tell the life story of a man who has shaped pop culture for a half-century ..."

Amy Scribner· BookPage Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"A top-shelf showbiz biography."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"It's as though she videotaped his life and the lives of everyone he's ever spoken to, edited out all the boring parts and left us a book rich in details and anecdotes ..."

Curt Shleier· The Minneapolis Star Tribune Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Essential...this is a deft and insightful look at one of the most enigmatic and influential figures in entertainment and the legacy he's built."

Kristine Huntley· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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