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How Lorne Michaels’ Biographer Convinced ‘SNL’ Chief to Reveal Rare View of Life Off-Camera
Lorne Michaels' biographer, Susan Morrison, reveals how she convinced the "Saturday Night Live' chief to discuss his off-camera life and times
As the week drags on past dinners with hosts and worries about coming up with a great “cold open,” things often boil down to the 90 minutes between the end of dress rehearsal and the start of the real broadcast, when Michaels takes a bevy of notes he utters about staging, jokes and costumes, and makes the ultimate decision about what sketches get on air and which cast members appear on screen. Readers learn how the death of Michaels’ father has haunted him for decades, and how he’s tried to keep his family away from the glitzy blur of managing “SNL” cast members, various Hollywood projects, and the increasing feeling of proprietorship the viewing public has over the program. Readers will discover that around the time of the show’s 40 th anniversary, Steve Burke, then the CEO of NBCUniversal, “told Michaels that the company wanted to buy back his half of ‘SNL,’ and offered him several hundred million dollars.
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