Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels says he might exit from the NBC series after its 50th anniversary season in 2024: ‘I have a feeling that’d be a really good time to leave’
- Lorne Michaels said he’s ‘committed’ to doing Saturday Night Live until 50th anniversary – which is in three years time
- But 77-year-old then said he has ‘a feeling that’d be a really good time to leave’
- The screenwriter has been with the comedy show since its inception in 1975
- He made the comments while speaking with Gayle King on CBS Morning
Lorne Michaels has said he might be ready to step down from Saturday Night Live after five decades producing the show.
The 77-year-old, who created comedy hit SNL back in 1975, hinted at a departure date after the show’s 50th anniversary season in 2024.
‘My plan is to be here for the 50th … and then by that point, I really deserve to wander off,’ he told Gayle King on CBS Mornings.
He added: ‘I’d like to see that through, and I have a feeling that’d be a really good time to leave.
‘But … I won’t want the show ever to be bad. I care too deeply about it. It’s been my life’s work. So I’m going to do everything I can to see it carry on and carry on well.’
Michaels has long been the major driving force for the show behind the scenes, and has worked with comedy legends including John Belushi and Chevy Chase, and launched the careers of Bill Murray and Tina Fey.
The latest: Lorne Michaels, 77, said he might be ready to step down from Saturday Night Live after the show’s 50th anniversary season in 2024. He was snapped at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington D.C. earlier this month
Michaels said that the show could ‘of course’ continue without him, and that he has ‘a sense of where we’re headed with that.’
When asked who could be his successor as the show’s executive producer, Michaels said, ‘I’m not going to go on about it – it’s three years away.’
He has received 20 Primetime Emmy Awards from 94 nominations, and holds the record for being the most nominated individual in the award show’s history.
Michaels, who was honored earlier this month by the Kennedy Center, said he was emotional in ‘just seeing all the generations of the show’ congregate for the series’ 40th anniversary in 2015.
‘You can’t put anyone in the cast that you don’t have complete faith in,’ Michaels said. ‘You may not know how it’ll turn out, but you want that decision to have been pure of heart.’
The SNL creator, speaking with Gayle King on CBS Mornings , said he’s ‘committed to doing this show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years’
Michaels co-created the NBC comedy staple in 1975
When asked who could be his successor as the show’s executive producer, Michaels said, ‘I’m not going to go on about it – it’s three years away’
Last year, Michaels set a similar timeline when outlining a potential retirement plan in speaking to NBC.
‘My plan – and I’m not sure that I’ll see it through – but my plan is to be here for the 50th … and then by that point, I really deserve to wander off,’ the Emmy-winning producer told the show.
Michaels is also the executive producer of NBC late night franchises The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers.
The chat with the TV icon aired after SNL this week was broadcast with a ramped-down staff and no studio audience amid a spike in COVID-19 cases amid the spread of the omicron variant in New York City.
Michaels is also the executive producer of NBC late night franchises The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers