Lorne Michaels

Lorne Michaels is a Writer-Producer and occasional actor. He is best known for being the creative force behind Saturday Night Live. A graduate with a degree in English from the University of Toronto, where he wrote and directed the annual revue, UC Follies, he left Canada after graduation to sell Jeeps in England. Who says Producers don’t have a sense of humour? A large and early influence on Lorne was his first father-in-law, Frank Shuster of the comedy duo, Wayne and Shuster, Lorne started out in front of the cameras and microphones. Returning to Canada in late 1966, he teamed with Hart Pomerantz and they worked as a comedy team appearing on CBC radio, and doing a little TV including a CBC political satire show, Five Nights a Week at This Time. They landed their own show, The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour. Next they headed to New York where they performed at the Improvisation on West 44th, and wrote for stand-up comics including a very encouraging Woody Allen, Dick Cavett, and Joan Rivers. By the beginning of 1967, they were under contract to the William Morris Agency. A year later, they accepted an offer to to write for the summer replacement, The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show, and so headed to Hollywood. The rest, with some ups and downs, is history. A 13-time Emmy winner (as of 2016) in addition to Saturday Night Live, he has also produced The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers and the acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock. Michaels was honoured in September of 2006 with a Governor General’s performing arts award for lifetime artistic achievement. In mid-November 2016 it was announced that Canadians Frank Gehry and Lorne Michaels were among the recipients of America’s highest civilian honour: the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

These are his credits as a Producer and/or Executive Producer (-E).

Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
-W indicates also Screenwriter
-E indicates Executive Producer.

Lily Tomlin (TV-1975)
Things We Did Last Summer (TV-1977)
The Paul Simon Special (TV-1977)
The Rutles (TV-1978-E)
Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video (1979-E)

Gilda Live (1980)
Steve Martin’s Best Show Ever (TV-1981)
Simon and Garfunkel: The Concert in Central Park (1982-E)
The Coneheads (TV-1983-E)
Nothing Lasts Forever (1984)
The Best of John Bulushi (VR-1985)
Looney Tunes 50th Anniversary (TV-1986-E)
Three Amigos (1986-W)
Superman 50th Anniversary (TV-1988-E)
The Best of Gilda Radner (VR-1989)

Saturday Night Live Goes Commercial (TV-1991-E)
Lookwell (TV-1991-E)
Wayne’s World (1992)
Frosty Returns (TV-1992)
Coneheads (1993)
Wayne’s World 2 (1993)
Lassie (1994)
SNL: The Best of Molly Shannon (VR-1995)
Tommy Boy (1995)
Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
Black Sheep (1996)
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996)
SNL: The Best of Phil Hartman (TV-1998-E)
SNL: The Best of Mike Myers (VR-1998-E)
SNL: The Best of Eddie Murphy (VR-1998)
SNL: The Best of Chris Farley (TV-1998-E)
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
SNL: The Best of Steve Martin (TV-1999)
SNL: The Best of Dana Carvey (TV-1999)
SNL: The Best of Chris Rock (TV-1999)
SNL: The Best of Adam Sandler (TV-1999-E)
SNL: Christmas (VR-1999-E)
SNL: 25th Anniversary (TV-1999-E)
SNL: Game Show Parodies (TV-1999)
SNL: Best of the Clinton Scandal (TV-1999-E)
SNL: 25 Years of Music (TV-1999-E)
Superstar (1999)

The Ladies Man (2000)
SNL: Presidential Bash (TV-2000-E)
Enigma (2001)
SNL: The Best of Molly Shannon (TV-2001-E)
50 Years of NBC Late Night (TV-2001-E)
NBC 75th Anniversary Special (TV-2002-E)
SNL: The Best of Will Ferrell (TV-2002-E)
Saturday Night Live Christmas 2002 (TV-2002-E)
America’s Most Terrible Things (TV-2002)
Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Halftime Special (TV-2003-E)
Night of Too Many Stars (TV-2003-E)
Late Night with Conan O’Brien: 10th Anniversary Special (TV-2003-E)
SNL: The Best of Chris Kattan (TV-2003-E)
Mean Girls (2004)
SNL: The Best of Cheri Oteri (TV-2004-E)
SNL: The Best of Will Ferrell Volume 2 (TV-2004-E)
SNL: The Best of Tracy Morgan (TV-2002-E)
SNL: The Best of Christopher Walken (TV-2004-E)
SNL: Presidential Bash 2004 (TV-2004-E)
SNL: The Best of Tom Hanks (TV-2004-E)
The Rutles 2: Can’t Buy Me Lunch (TV-2004 -E)
SNL: The Best of Jimmy Fallon (VR-2005-E)
SNL: The Best of Alec Baldwin (TV-2005-E)
SNL: The Best of Jon Lovtz (TV-2005-E)
SNL: The Best of John Belushi (TV-2005-E)
SNL: The Best of Gilda Radner (TV-2005-E)
SNL: The Best of Dan Aykroyd (TV-2005-E)
SNL: The Best of David Spade (TV-2005)
SNL: The Best of Commercial Parodies (TV-2005-E)
The Weekend (TV-2005-E)
SNL: The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse (TV-2006-E)
Saturday Night Live in the ’90s: Pop Culture Nation (TV-2007-E)
Hot Rod (2007)
The Gleib Show (TV-2007-E)
Baby Mama (2008)
Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash ’08 (TV-2008-E)
To Love and Die (TV-2008-E)
Saturday Night Live Sports Extra ’09 (TV-2009-E)
SNL: The Best of Amy Poehler (TV-2009-E)
Saturday Night Live: Just Shorts (TV-2009-E)
A Very Gilly Christmas (TV-2009-E)
Saturday Night Live Just Commercials (TV-2009-E)

Saturday Night Live Presents Sports All-Stars (TV-2010-E)
MacGruber (2010)
The Women of SNL (TV-2010-E)
Beach Lane (TV-2010-E)
Jimmy Fallon’s Primetime Music Special (TV-2012-E)
The Guilt TRip (2012)
Inside Portlandia (TV-2012)
Saturday Night Live: Halloween (TV-2013-E)
People in Jersey (TV-2013-E)
Saturday Night Live: Thanksgiving (TV-2013-E)
Saturday Night Live: Christmas (TV-2013-E)
Saturday Night Live: Best of This Season (TV-2014-E)
Best of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Primetime Special (TV-2014-E)
SNL Sports Spectacular (TV-2014-E)
SNL Shorts (TV-2014-E)
The Maya Rudolph Show (TV-2014-E)
Saturday Night Live: Thanksgiving Special (TV-2014-E)
Saturday Night Live: Christmas Special (TV-2014-E)
SNL’s NFL Saturday (TV-2015)
An SNL Valentine (TV-2015-E)
Saturday Night Live: 40th Anniversary Special (TV-2015-E)
Staten Island Summer (2015)
Adele Live in New York City (TV-2015-E)
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)
Goodnight, Sweet Prince (TV-2016-E)
Brother Nature (2016)
The 2016 SNL Election Special (TV-2016-E)
Saturday Night Live: Thanksgiving Special (TV-2016-E)
Michael Che Matters (TV-2016-E)
A Saturday Night Live Christmas Special: 2016 (TV-2016-E)
Masterminds (2016)
Brothers in Atlanta (TV-2016)
SNL Presents: Halloween (TV-2017-E)
Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (TV-2018-E)
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards (TV-2018-E)
The Hell 9000 Dance Party (2019)
My Favorite Shapes by Julio Torres (TV-2019-E)

A Saturday Night Live Mother’s Day (TV-2020-E)
A One-Time Special (2020-E)
Vampires vs. The Bronx (2020)
Saturday Night Live Election Special 2020 (TV-2020-E)

TV Series:
The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour (1970-1971)
Saturday Night Live (1975 – )

The New Show (1984)
Sunday Night (1988-E)
The Kids in the Hall (1988-1995-E)

Late Night with Conan O’Brien (1993-2009-E)
The Vacant Lot (TV-1994-E)

The Colin Quinn Show (2002-E)
The Tracy Morgan Show (2003-2004-E)
Sons & Daughters (2006-2007-E)
30 Rock (2006-2013)
Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Thursday (2008-2017-E)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009-2014)

I Wanna Have Your Baby (2011)
Up All Night (2011-2012)
Portlandia (2011-2018)
The Awesome (2013-2015)
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014-2018)
Mulaney (2014-2015)
Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014-)
Man Seeking Woman (2015-2017-E)
Documentary Now! (2015-2019)
Maya & Marty (2016-E)
Detroiters (2017-E)
A.P.Bio (2018-2020-E)
Shrill (2019-E)
The Other Two (2019-E)
Los Espookys (2019-E)
Miracle Workers (2019-2020-E)

Mapleworth Murders (2020-E)
The Kenan Show (2021-E)