Lorne Michaels Kept Vanishing During the Filming of His Documentary, Says Morgan Neville (Extended)

0:01 -Morgan Neville, welcome to the show.

0:02 You're one of my favorite directors, and we actually met before.

0:05 -We did.

0:06 -You interviewed me for "Lorne," for the documentary.

0:09 -I did.

0:09 You're in it.

0:09 -I'm in the documentary.

0:10 I know that was my favorite part.

0:11 -You're great.

0:12 -Yeah.

0:12 Thank you.

0:13 Yeah.

0:13 You do a doc on our pal, the great Lorne Michaels.

0:17 And I got to say, that is a tough gig.

0:19 -It's incredibly hard.

0:21 I mean, it's like trying to make a film about "The Wizard of Oz." You know?

0:24 -It kind of is.

0:25 -He's an inscrutable character, and I had to scrut him somehow.

0:29 -Yeah.

0:31 He doesn't like talking about himself.

0:32 He's very humble and he's just like, yeah.

0:34 He just wants everything around him to kind of work.

0:36 But you followed him around.

0:37 You were with him 24/7.

0:39 You were in the building for a while.

0:40 -Well, we were here for a couple of years, you know,

0:42 but in the— I say this is my first nature documentary because in the beginning,

0:48 day one, I pulled the cameras out and Lorne vanishes.

0:51 I mean, literally vanishes.

0:53 And so I find him half an hour later in a hallway.

0:56 -Yeah.

0:56 -And I say, "Lorne, you know, we're making a film here." And he says,

0:59 "Come with me." And he walks me to the wardrobe department and says,

1:02 "Tom, meet Morgan." And I shake Tom's hand.

1:05 I turn around and Lorne's vanished again.

1:06 -Yeah, he does that.

1:07 -Yeah.

1:08 -How did you find out that you were going to do this documentary?

1:10 -I don't even know how it happened.

1:11 I never pitched him on making this film.

1:13 He never agreed to make the film, but somehow it happened.

1:17 I mean, what really what happened is, you know,

1:19 going back before "SNL 50," before the 50th anniversary,

1:23 years ago, three years ago,

1:25 he said, "Well, let's meet and talk about documentary ideas." He said,

1:30 "Come to my office." It was a show week, 9:00.

1:32 Let's have a meeting.

1:33 So I go into Lorne's office 9:00 and there are 16 people in the room.

1:38 And he said, "So what are your ideas?" And Higgins was in the room,

1:42 all the senior writers, everybody.

1:44 And I just said, "Okay," I stand up,

1:46 I start pitching all these ideas and I'm just going and going,

1:49 and I finish and I sit down and Lorne doesn't say anything.

1:53 So then I said, "So any thoughts?

1:56 Any ideas?" And he turns to one of his producers and says,

1:58 "Caroline, what do you think?" And she said,

2:01 "Well, I thought there was some good things."

2:02 Like she didn't want to get called on.

2:04 She tosses the hot potato to the next person,

2:06 and then finally the meeting just ends and I walk out with Katie Hockmeyer,

2:10 the head of NBC Late Night, and I said,

2:11 "What just happened?" She said, "Oh, he likes you." So...

2:15 I had this story that all the cast members

2:18 tell about getting hired and not knowing you got hired.

2:20 -Yeah, but you did such a great job.

2:23 I mean, he's such an interesting guy,

2:26 but he's such a funny human being and a caring human being.

2:31 He cares about everybody.

2:33 Did anything surprise you, being a fan of "SNL," going in and going, "Oh...

2:38 that's not what I thought it was at all." -I mean,

2:40 so many things aren't what you think they are,

2:42 but even, I mean, Lorne is a big part

2:43 of it because he has such mystique to him, you know?

2:46 And people think that he sits on the throne of comedy

2:49 and decides who makes it and who doesn't make it.

2:52 And I think Lorne's just worried about the music

2:55 guest is going to be in two weeks, you know, I mean, he's so in the trenches.

2:59 So in like, what's the next thing?

3:00 What's the next problem?

3:02 And I asked everybody I interviewed, I said,

3:04 "When do you think 'SNL' was going to be

3:06 a show that was going to last forever?" And people said,

3:09 you know, 9/11 or 20 years ago.

3:10 And Lorne said, "Maybe this year." -Yeah, he's still going.

3:16 -Still doing it, still just worrying about next season.

3:18 -Yeah, and when you're doing this, when you're talking to all these legends,

3:22 you're talking to Chris Rock, you're talking to Mike Myers.

3:25 Do you— Do you— Do you get, I don't know, you don't get intimidated, but do you?

3:29 Do you go like, "I'm talking to these comedy--" -I mean,

3:32 they love talking about Lorne.

3:33 You know, they're not talking about themselves.

3:35 They're talking about somebody who,

3:37 for most of them, completely changed their life.

3:39 I mean, you're one of those people.

3:40 -He completely changed my life.

3:42 I mean, NBC didn't really even want me to host "Late Night." And this is true.

3:47 And Lorne said, "You have to do it with Jimmy.

3:49 If you don't, then I'm not doing it." -That's amazing.

3:51 -He really went to bat for me.

3:53 -Yeah.

3:53 -I would not have the time.

3:55 He's the best.

3:57 For so many people.

3:58 -Oh, yeah.

3:59 Conan.

3:59 -Conan O'Brien.

4:00 -Tina Fey, you know.

4:01 -Everybody.

4:02 -So many people.

4:02 -So many people.

4:03 He gets their back.

4:03 He's loyal.

4:05 And I know at the same time, you were also doing another great— I hate

4:09 to just fanboy about all your great stuff.

4:11 -It's okay.

4:11 -I loved you since "Mr.

4:13 Rogers." But I really, I love you, you know, I love that.

4:16 But you just did a great documentary on Paul McCartney

4:18 called "Man on the Run." If you haven't seen it, you're going to love it.

4:21 Quest, did you see it?

4:22 -Yes.

4:23 -Oh my gosh, it's awesome.

4:24 It is so good.

4:24 I thought I knew everything about Paul McCartney,

4:26 but here you come again and show me that I knew nothing.

4:29 And I go, "Oh my gosh." And I'm just like crying.

4:32 And I'm like, "Oh, of course.

4:33 What would it feel like if he got kicked out?" Like,

4:35 or the Beatles ends, now you have to redo your career.

4:38 How would you even know what that feels like?

4:40 But you make it— It's amazing.

4:42 But at the same time, were you doing Paul's doc and Lorne's doc?

4:46 -I did Paul for a while first, and then the Lorne doc came along,

4:51 and I didn't want to tell Lorne that I

4:53 was working on a Paul doc because they're friends,

4:55 and I just thought it would be weird.

4:57 And then after about eight months, Lorne said,

5:00 "So how's the Paul film going?" -They know.

5:02 He knows everything.

5:02 -The word got out.

5:03 -He knows everything.

5:04 -And then I heard that they had a dinner

5:06 and they just compared notes about me during dinner.

5:10 My inner 14 year old would have lost his mind.

5:13 Completely.

5:14 -You're like "Lorne Michaels and Paul McCartney talking about me at dinner?

5:17 Hello!" Uh, I think you captured him so perfectly.

5:21 He's just— Everything about him is great.

5:24 Did he get— Did he see the film?

5:26 Cause I don't think he— -He told me the entire time we made this film,

5:29 he was never going to watch the film.

5:31 -Yes.

5:31 -He always says, "I'm never going to— I don't read anything.

5:33 I don't watch anything." -He doesn't watch "SNL" after it airs.

5:36 That's the end of it.

5:38 -So we had a premiere recently here in New York,

5:40 and there was a seat held open for him,

5:42 and I didn't think he was going to watch it.

5:44 After the movie ended, people started coming up to me and saying,

5:46 "Lorne watched the film, Lorne watched the film." And so it blew my mind.

5:50 So there was a party afterwards, and Lorne's in his corner booth,

5:54 and I walk up to him and he nods at me and says, "Good."[ Laughter] -Take the W.

5:59 -That is a five-star review.

6:01 -Take the W.

6:02 That's a win right there.

6:03 I want to show everyone a clip.

6:05 Here's a look at Morgan Neville's documentary "Lorne." Enjoy.

6:09 -The questions you want to ask Lorne,

6:11 I would ask other people and then they'll give you a bunch of different answers.

6:15 And then you can— -Cut them together through funny music?

6:18 -Exactly.

6:20 -Do you know anything about his childhood?

6:25 -Suburb of Toronto?

6:26 -Uh-huh.

6:26 -Right?

6:27 That's Canada.

6:28 -He liked hockey.

6:30 -Liked hockey.

6:32 -A lot of like, outdoor hockey kind of stuff.

6:35 -Fishing and, you know, stuff like that.

6:38 -If you told me he made maple syrup, I would believe you.

6:40 -I guess I don't know what his dad did.

6:45 -We should ask him.

6:46 We should, like, meet Lorne.

6:48 Just talk to him.

6:50 -Yeah.

6:50 You should meet Lorne.

6:51 Yeah.

6:52 It's fantastic.

6:53 Congratulations.

6:53 It is so great.

6:55 Morgan Neville, everyone.

6:57 His documentary "Lorne" is in theaters now.

6:59 We'll be right back, everybody.