There’s no such thing as a documentary filmmaking superstar. They never get the reverential treatment in the populous like Christopher Nolan or Steven Spielberg do, usually working 20 Feet From Stardom. Morgan Neville did that documentary, and since then, has probably come the closest to becoming the big budget documentarian that people might know about. After being the Mr. Rogers guy, and the Pharrell guy. Neville’s now taken a shot at becoming the Lorne Michaels guy, in his run of trying to dig deep into cultural icons. I look forward to his next documentary Survivor: The Jeff Probst Story after this.
Lorne is so culturally synonymous in the US with the SNL producer the doc doesn’t need his last name. Neville tries best he can to make a doc EVERYONE he interviews says is impossible: try to dig deep into Lorne Michaels, the man, and how who that man is can have such a profound effect on what is funny. He goes about it the smartest way possible: get maybe 80% of the funniest people on the planet to explain who Lorne is to them to paint 80% of the picture, so Lorne doesn’t have to do the whole thing himself.
And that’s the reason to watch Lorne. SNL is one of the formative parts of my life, teaching me about what makes something funny. Watching people like Tina Fey, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock, John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, responsible for some of the biggest laughs of my life, all be alums of the Lorne experience, and have something to say about the man, makes Lorne appointment cinema viewing. Mulaney is the surprising winner if there is one: showing how underneath that stoic demeanor is actually a friend when you need it, who’s mastered the art of managing specific comedian personalities through trial and error. Watching most of my comedic heroes waxing poetically about how Lorne taught them how to grow up and manage their own comedic careers is both awe inspiring, and always funny, as people this clever can’t help but end their anecodotes with something hella silly to say. Intersperse all these comedians with a framing device around a week of making the show, and eons of great SNL clips, and you’re probably definitely leaving home smiling and satisfied. If I was just grading Lorne on if it’s working for the target audience, the movie would be an A+.
But Neville’s task was to give us a clearer picture of Lorne Michaels. And as ALL the people in this doc say, “good luck with that impossible job.” I almost would have preferred Lorne to come out after Michaels’s passing, when Neville could have really dug deep and come up with something interesting. With Lorne’s blessing is also the documentarian curse: the film is forever compromised by a master manager manipulator. Lorne Michaels knows he’s not gonna be around forever, so he gets ahead of a future one of these docs by getting Morgan Neville to do HIS version, where he can be who he wants people to perceive him: an unknowable amoeba, shapeshifting as the situation necessitates. As cute as it is watching Neville make the SNL showrunner squirm everytime the camera ends up on Michaels, any chances the director tried to get something real out of Lorne must have ended up on the cutting room floor, as Lorne probably refused or straight up said nonsense. At some point Neville makes that THE point of the doc: Lorne’s thing is that he’s ever changing and therefore ever unknowable. But as a documentarian subject? That means we kinda wasted 90 minutes.
But what a fun distraction! I’d say Lorne is required viewing for any teenager looking for their comedic voice, as they watch legend after legend tell you Lorne made them who they are today. I can’t wait for that to send them down the rabbit hole of SNL sketch history. I hope they find this one, this one, and especially this psychotic, dangerous one. I can’t believe some of the stuff SNL pulled off.