NBC Contemplated Firing Lorne Michaels From SNL in the '90s and They Even Interviewed a Popular Comedy Writer for His Job

It has been 50 years since the comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live hit NBC and became a weekly staple on many of our screens.

In celebration of the show’s major milestone, the network released several specials including ones that focused on the rich musical history of the series, a live concert, and another show that welcomed back many previous cast members to relive both old skits and brand new material as well.

It’s been a lot of fun to look back over the last 50 years of comedy greatness. But there’s also been some dirt revealed about the show’s past, including a period of time when the studio contemplated firing the show’s founder, Lorne Michaels.

One celebratory release was the book Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, by Susan Morrison, which gave fans some never-before-heard stories about the history of SNL.

One such story was relayed to CinemaBlend in an interview in which Morrison explained that back in the ‘90s, NBC talked briefly about giving Michaels the boot, and they even interviewed someone they had in mind to take over the massive job. Morrison explained:

“I didn't know that the network had gone so far as to interview people to maybe replace him. You know, I didn't know that they had reached out to Judd Apatow, who was just in his twenties and had these kind of, you know, very vague conversations with him about, you know, maybe coming in in a producer role and who knows what would happen next. And because they were really thinking of firing Lorne.”

Apatow is best known for writing and directing great comedies like The Ben Stiller Show, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Freaks and Geeks, The is 40, and so much more. He has a unique and super funny style, and I get the appeal, but I am glad that Lorne Michaels has been able to hold on and continue to create a hilarious and relevant show.

In her research for Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, Susan Morrison also learned how Judd Apatow felt about both the show, and the process that led to him being interviewed to possibly run things. Morrison relayed:

“Judd loved the show. It was always his dream to work at the show, and [Adam] Sandler was his roommate. He knew the show well, and so he was intrigued, but he was so put off by the sneaky back channel behavior of these guys that I think he felt that karmically it would just be so wrong and so disrespectful of Lorne, and what Lorne had created, that he told them, ‘Forget it.’ I don't think it's widely known that he was really on the ropes there.”

That takes a lot of character to turn down a job like running Saturday Night Live. But luckily Apatow’s career has remained steadily solid, so he did the right thing. And who knows? Maybe Lorne Michaels will be ready to retire soon, and Apatow can step in on his terms. We will just have to wait and see.