Morgan Neville, welcome to the show.
You're one of my favorite directors.
And we actually met before.
We did.
You interviewed me for Lorne, for the docu... I did.
You're in it.
I'm in the documentary.
I know.
That was my favorite part.
You're great.
Yeah.
You do a doc on our pal, the great Lorne Michaels.
And I got to say, that is a tough gig.
It's incredibly hard.
I mean, it's like trying to make a film about the Wizard of Oz, you know?
It kind of is.
He's an inscrutable character, and I had to scroot him somehow.
Yeah.
He doesn't like talking about himself.
He's very humble, and he's just like, yeah, he just wants... everything around him to kind of work.
But you followed him around.
You were with him 24-7.
You were in the building for a while.
We were here for a couple of years.
But I say this is my first nature documentary because in the beginning Day one I pull the cameras out and Lorne vanishes.
I mean, literally vanishes.
And so I find him half an hour later in a hallway.
And I say, Lorne, you know, we're making a film here.
And he says, come with me.
And he walks me to the wardrobe department and says, Tom, meet Morgan.
And I shake Tom's hand.
I turn around and Lorne's vanished again.
Yeah, he doesn't.
How did you find out that you were gonna do this documentary?
I don't even know how it happened.
I never pitched him on making this film.
He never agreed to make the film. but somehow it happened.
I mean really, what happened?
Is you know?
Going back before SNL 50, before the 50th anniversary years ago, three years ago, he said well, let's meet and talk about documentary ideas.
He said, come to my office, it was a show week, nine o'clock, let's have a meeting.
So I go into Lorne's office, nine o'clock, And there are 16 people in the room.
And he said, so what are your ideas?
And Higgins was in the room, all the senior writers, everybody.
And I just said, OK.
I stand up.
I start pitching all these ideas.
And I'm just going and going.
And I finish and I sit down and Lorne doesn't say anything.
So then I said, so any thoughts, any ideas?
And he turns to one of his producers and says, Caroline, what'd you think?
And she said, well, I thought there were some good things.
Like, she didn't want to get called on.
She tosses the hot potato to the next person.
And then finally, the meeting just ends and I walk out with Katie Hochmeier, the head of NBC.
Late Night.
And I said, what just happened?
She said, oh, he likes you.
So I have this story that all the cast members tell about getting hired and not knowing you got hired.
Yeah.
But you did such a great job.
I mean, he's such an interesting guy, but he's such a funny human being. and a caring human being.
He cares about everybody.
Anything surprise you, being a fan of SNL, going in, going oh, that's not what I thought it was at all.
I mean, so many things aren't what you think they are.
Yeah.
But even, I mean, Lorne is a big part of it because he has such a mystique to him.
You know people think that he sits on the throne of comedy and decides.
You know who makes it and who doesn't make it.
And I think Lauren's just worried about the music guest is going to be in two weeks.
You know, I mean, he's so in the trenches, so in like, what's the next thing?
What's the next problem?
And I asked you know everybody I interviewed I said when do you think SNL was going to be a show that was going to last forever?
And people said, you know, 9-11 or 20 years ago.
And Lauren said, maybe this year.
Yeah, he's still going.
Still doing it.
Still just worrying about next season.
Yeah, and when you're doing this, when you're talking to all these legends you're talking to Chris Rock, you're talking to Mike Myers Do you get?
I don't know you don't get intimidated, but do you?
Do you go like, I'm talking to this comedy.
I mean, they love talking about Lorne.
You know, they're not talking about themselves.
They're talking about somebody who, for most of them, completely changed their life.
I mean, you're one of those people.
-"Completely changed my life."
I mean, NBC didn't really even want me to host late night.
And this is true.
And Lawrence said, you have to do it with Jimmy.
If you don't, then I'm not doing it.
And he really went to bat for me.
I would not have the time.
He's the best.
For so many people.
Oh, yeah, Conan.
Conan O'Brien.
You know, so many people.
So many.
He gets their back.
He's loyal.
And I know at the same time you were also doing another great.
I hate to just fanboy about all your great stuff, but It's okay.
I loved you since Mr. Rogers.
I love you.
I love that.
But you just did a great documentary on Paul McCartney called Man on the Run.
If you haven't seen it, you're going to love it.
Quest, did you see it?
Oh, my gosh.
It's awesome.
It is so good.
I thought I knew everything about Paul McCartney, but here you come again and show me that I knew nothing.
And I go, oh, my gosh.
And I'm just, like, crying.
And I'm like, of course.
What would it feel like if you got kicked out?
Or The Beatles ends, and you have to redo your career.
How would you even know what that feels like?
But you make it.
It's amazing.
But at the same time, Were you doing Paul Dock and Lorne's Dock?
I did Paul for a while first, and then the Lorne Dock came along.
And I didn't want to tell Lorne that I was working on a Paul Dock because they're friends and I just thought it would be weird.
And then after about eight months, Lorne said, so how's the Paul film going?
The word got out.
-"He knows everything."
And then I heard that they had a dinner, and they just compared notes about me during dinner.
My inner 14-year-old would have lost his mind.
Like, Lorne Michaels and Paul McCartney talking about me at dinner.
Hello!
I think you captured him so perfectly.
Everything about him is great.
Did he see the film?
Because I don't think he's going to.
He told me the entire time he made this film he was never going to watch the film.
He always says, I don't read anything.
I don't watch anything.
He doesn't watch SNL after it airs.
That's the end of it.
So we had a premiere recently here in New York.
And there was a seat held open for him.
And I didn't think he was going to watch it.
After the movie ended, people started coming up to me and saying, Lorne watched the film.
Lorne watched the film.
And so it blew my mind.
So there was a party afterwards, and Lorne's in this corner booth.
And I walk up to him, and he nods at me and says, good.
Take the W. That is a five-star review.
Take the W. That's a win right there.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's a look at Morgan Neville's documentary, Lorne.
Enjoy.
The questions you want to ask Lorne, I would ask other people and then they'll give you a bunch of different answers and then you can Cut them together to funny music.
Exactly.
Do you know anything about his childhood?
Suburb of Toronto, right?
That's Canada.
He liked hockey.
Liked hockey.
A lot of, like, outdoor hockey kind of stuff.
Fishing and, you know, stuff like that.
If you told me you made maple syrup, I would believe you.
I guess I don't know what his dad did.
We should ask him.
We should, like, meet Lorne.
Just talk to him.
Yeah, you should meet Lorne, yeah.
It's fantastic.
Congratulations.
It is so great.
Morgan Neville, everyone!
His documentary, Lauren, is in theaters now!
We'll be right back, everybody.
