NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The definitive biography of Lorne Michaels, the man behind America’s most beloved comedy show
“The kind of biographical monument usually consecrated to founding fathers, canonical authors and world-historical scientific geniuses.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)
“Readers are treated to the Holy Grail for any journalist hoping to crack the show: a warts-and-all week in the life of SNL, where Morrison gets to see the real process of putting the thing together.”—Variety
Over the fifty years that Lorne Michaels has been at the helm of Saturday Night Live, he has become a revered and inimitable 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), “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.
“Beautifully written—a model of research, narrative structure, concision and observation . . . a dense, entertaining read that marvels at an invisible yet hugely influential career while never stooping to valorize it . . . If you take nothing else from Lorne, it’s that Lorne Michaels is Saturday Night Live.”—The Washington Post
“A towering achievement, the definitive portrait of a cunning and creative genius responsible for cultivating a half-century of comedy’s biggest stars.”—The Toronto Star
“A biography that’s both enlightening and entertaining . . . The detail that unfurls in the book’s 600 pages is a testament to [Morrison’s] commitment to her task and the depth of her research.”—BookReporter
“The best biography I have ever read of a living person.”—Lawrence O’Donnell, host of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
“Indispensable, especially for ‘SNL’ completists. Morrison, an editor for The New Yorker, brings that magazine’s combination of access, reporting and fluid analysis to a subject who, despite his high visibility, has often played it close to the vest.”—Los Angeles Times
“The others, as they go tumbling in furious vulnerability across Morrison’s viewfinder, are fascinating. . . . But somehow no one is quite as fascinating as Michaels himself, easing in his faintly reptilian way through showbiz vicissitudes and blinding storms of ego, nurturing brittle artists and disarming corporate thugs, ‘impervious to refusals,’ sending mixed signals, making strange noises of approval or demurral, getting richer and richer, living better and better, quietly arrogating to himself enormous cultural power without ever appearing to break a sweat.”—The Atlantic
“The kind of biographical monument usually consecrated to founding fathers, canonical authors and world-historical scientific geniuses . . . a tribute to Morrison’s journalistic chops.”—The New York Times
“One of the best biographies I’ve ever read. It’s as though [Morrison] 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.”—The Minnesota Star Tribune
“New Yorker editor Susan Morrison turns her eye on one of the most recognizable yet enigmatic figures in comedy: Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. Michaels’ legend is one that has grown primarily from the stories people tell about him rather than stories he’s told about himself; he’s famously hard to pin down for interviews. That’s why Morrison’s extensive access to Michaels is so notable, and why Lorne is such an exciting read: A lot of biographies claim to have ‘unprecedented access’ to their subjects, but this time, it’s actually true.”—AV Club
“Lorne gives us a history of television in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and a high school yearbook portrait of the people who made it happen over the years. We see Candice Bergen posing for a selfie with Leslie Jones, and Keith Richards at a Canadian heroin trial.”—Vogue
“Readers are treated to the Holy Grail for any journalist hoping to crack the show: a warts-and-all week in the life of ‘SNL,’ where Morrison gets to see the real process of putting the thing together. . . . This isn’t the Lorne Michaels many of us know, because many of us don’t really know Lorne Michaels.”—Variety
Susan Morrison is the articles editor of The New Yorker. She is the former editor in chief of the New York Observer and an original editor of SPY magazine. She lives in New York City.
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