But what is true and whats not?
Saturday Night Liveis so old that it predates being called Saturday Night Live.
Originally, the show was known simply asSaturday Night.
the guard asks with more than a hint of condescension.
Even within those limitations, it was subversive, exciting, and a moment of upheaval.
SNLwas the Woodstock moment of television.
Reitman tells us after he recently stopped by theDen of Geekstudio.
WhatThe GraduateandFive Easy PiecesandHarold and Maudewere to cinema,SNLwas to television.
Howard Cosell was its permanent host.
So… what else is true and what is not?
This includes eventually threatening him with being unable to perform on live TV without signing the dotted line.
That disdain led to Belushi turning down other gigs beforeSNL, including appearing onThe Mary Tyler Moore Show.
NBC wont allow you on the air until you do.
Brillstein even sweetened the pot by promising he helped craft the contract, which wasnt true.
When Crystal insists he needs at least four minutes, Lorne says youre cut.
The next time we see Crystal, he is slinking off in a cab alone at night before airing.
Then came the first episode.
Afterward, Michaels sent a note: I need two minutes.
All you get is two minutes.
At that point, Crystals manager Buddy Morra got involved.
I had my makeup on!
Gilda got all upset and angry.
I was totally confused about the whole thing.
No reason was given and the sketch was cut.
However, whatever ego boost Chase was on apparently did begin the first night.
And Chevy said, Whats going to happen to me?
Because it was a big moment, you know, for all those people.
He says, Where am I going to go from here?
I said, Youll probably end up hosting a talk show.
I was kidding, but its strange, you know.
Think what that means when Johnny leaves.
The Censors vs. the Kids
InSaturday Night, one particularly dedicated Standards and Practices executive (i.e.
And they included, Hes going to have to get his hair cut and have to look neat.
With that said, Michaels/Ebersol won the fight over the delay, which was never implemented… against Carlin.
And I dont think he was kidding.
Its a clever way to avoid the usual pitfalls of short-form, biopic storytelling.
Youve got the regular one.
Ive got the one with the donkey dick.
He added, Billy was out of line.
It would have been too petty for someone else to do it.
Michaels is accepting of it since their marriage is essentially over, but… its still awkward.
At least initially, however, this would have been news to Lorne Michaels.
I was very close to Danny, and he was like, Dont tell anybody, Davis.
He then finds the guy who wrote the jokes, young and insecure Alan Zweibel (Josh Brener).
Lorne offers him a job on the spot to come start writing for television in the next five minutes.
In the lead up to the first season, Michaels walked into the bar that hosted young comics.
Zweibel later toldThe New York Times, I was 21 years old and these guys were 50.
I wanted to write about marijuana and they wanted me to write about paving driveways.
It was like writing for my parents friends.
So he tried performing his own material to very little applause.
Afterward, he went to the bar where a guy named Lorne sat next to him.
Youre the worst comedian Ive ever seen, Michaels apparently told Zweibel.
Your materials not bad.
Do you have any more I might see?
Whoever drew the short straw that week had to write the Muppet sketch, Zweibel explained.
What was he doing you ask?
He was lynching Big Bird.
And thats how we all felt about the Muppets.
They just didnt get along.
For Zweibel the final straw came when he was forced to write a Muppets sketch one week.
What Really Happened?Milton Berle was not in the building on Oct. 11, 1975.
He would apparently pat Lorne on the shoulder after every note and say, I know, its satire.
Alan Zweibel got it worse though.
Uh no, I dont believe I did, Zweibel said.
Would you like to?
Its like anI Love Lucysketch, the writer remembered.
So Whos Working on Weekend Update?
While things were not cutthatclose, it was among the juiciest things Reitman discovered in his research.
Thats something I never read, I never heard, Reitman tells us.
And Lorne said it, Chevy confirmed it.
And thats how all that happened.
Sometimes that can even mean by way of depicting things that never happened.
Thats showbiz, kiddo.
After Ebersol and Michaels agreed, Carson gave the show his tacit blessing, albeit he regretted it.
Afterward Bill Rudin, the then head of research, was asked by his boss what he thought.
Associate producer Barbara Gallagher said inLive from New York, They thought we were a joke at the beginning.
Trying to get through the red tape really took a lot of time.
We couldnt even get stationary with the shows name printed on it.
They had no faith in us at all.
The show was a pain in the ass.
Everything that Lorne wanted to do was to upend how they did television.
KaufmansMighty Mousesketch was always a winner, but wasnt performed just for Tebet that night.
Lornes response was even-tempered.
He wasnt necessarily stroking me like I was a pet, but he was fair.
He did not fire me, and to this day, I am thankful for that.
Saturday Night is playing in theaters now.
