‘Saturday Night Live’ Boss Lorne Michaels Offers First Reaction to Doc
Donna Langley, Lorne Michaels and Steven Spielberg the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Lorne’ at the Steven Spielberg Theater on the Universal Lot in Universal City, Calif. on April 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Eric Charbonneau for Focus Features
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With Lorne, Morgan Neville pulled off the unthinkable by getting the enigmatic and elusive Lorne Michaels to sit for a feature length documentary that offers unprecedented access to the long reigning king of Saturday Night Live including his creative process, recollections, unique habits and inner circle.
If that weren’t enough, Focus Features, which is releasing Lorne April 17, pulled off another rare feat by getting Michaels to Los Angeles for a West Coast premiere held inside the Steven Spielberg Theater on the Universal Lot Tuesday night after which he sat for a Q&A with NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios chairman Donna Langley.
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The nearly 35-minute conversation marked Michaels first public comments about the film and found him opening up on a range of SNL-related subjects from the sketch show’s expansion to the U.K., the recent epic 50th anniversary, and more. And he did so in front of an intimate and SNL-heavy crowd in the 250-seat theater that included Spielberg, David Geffen with plus-one Kris Jenner, Jon Hamm, Owen Wilson, and alums like Chris Parnell (who narrates the doc), Laraine Newman, Will Forte, Vanessa Bayer, Kyle Mooney, Kevin Nealon and more.
But about the film, Michaels gave it a thumbs up. “I watched it in New York for the first time and I had been completely dreading it. And then I kind of liked it,” Michaels told Langley to kick off the conversation. She then asked him to expand on his review.
“Lot of memories, a lot of history there, and I really prefer the parts where I’m much younger. But you sort of see just the growth of both the show and certainly my growth, and how the times changed. But the essential thing we do, turns out it still matters, and that’s the surprising thing. A large part of that is that new people are always coming in. And almost everything is forgivable in young people.”
John Mulaney was only 26 when he started on SNL, and the comedy star turned up as a surprise guest to help Neville introduce the film. Neville went first, saying how “incredible” it was to be in Los Angeles to premiere the film after three years of production. He then offered a mic drop of a quote to describe his subject. “As a subject, Lorne is, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, a riddle wrapped inside a mystery inside of an enigma. So in other words, really fucking difficult.”
As for Mulaney, who is featured in the documentary but was seeing it for the first time Tuesday, he got laughs for addressing the retirement question. “I don’t know if [the film] covers any of the succession rumors. Who would succeed Lorne Michaels if he ever left? I don’t think Lorne Michaels is going to ever leave, but obviously a lot of people are excited. Which lucky duck will get to run that show at a third of the salary with none of the stature?”
Michaels didn’t offer an answer during his chat with Langley but he did cover many newsworthy subjects in the Q&A, a transcript of which is below, edited for length and clarity.
LANGLEY Lorne, they made a movie about you.
MICHAELS Evidently, yeah.
LANGLEY And you watched it this evening, and I think you watched it in New York last week?
MICHAELS I watched it in New York for the first time and I had been completely dreading it. And then I kind of liked it.
LANGLEY Would you like to expand on that? How do you feel?
MICHAELS Lot of memories, a lot of history there.
LANGLEY Yeah, and you’re watching 50 years.
MICHAELS Also, I really prefer the parts where I’m much younger. But you sort of see just the growth of both the show and certainly my growth, and just how the times changed. But the essential thing we do, turns out it still matters, and that’s the surprising thing. A large part of that is that new people are always coming in, and almost everything is forgivable in young people. If the original cast was still doing that show…
LANGLEY That would be challenging.
MICHAELS Yeah. And we’d all have guns in our mouths.
LANGLEY You bring up an interesting thing, which is this idea of reinvention. After the 40th, it was, “OK, what are we going to do now? How are they ever going to reinvent the sh