With “SNL” approaching its 50th season and Lorne Michaels hinting he may be ready to retire then, Seth Meyers is one of the names that’s been tossed around as a possible replacement — the former head writer and “Weekend Update” anchor has thoughts about that.
Is there any job more exciting and terrifying (at the same time) than the thought of stepping in to replace Lorne Michaels at the head of “Saturday Night Live”? The show’s creator has been hinting at retirement, so names are coming up, including Seth Meyers.
“I’m very flattered,” the “Late Night” host told Deadline in an interview posted Wednesday. “First of all, you have to remember, I still can’t believe I was on ‘SNL’ and then I can’t believe that I got to be head writer and I got to host ‘Weekend Update.'”
Younger fans may mostly know Meyers as the long-time host of “Late Night” on NBC. While he’s been there for nine years, he spent the previous 13 at “SNL” — he has the third longest tenure of all time behind Kenan Thompson and Darrell Hammond.
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He served as head writer and had the longest run as anchor of “Weekend Update,” as well, until current co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che both recently surpassed him. In other words, more than almost anyone, Meyers knows “SNL.”
The idea of replacing Lorne and “SNL” surviving is a daunting one at best. He’s been associated with the show for nearly half a century now, and the one time he did step away, the show was a disaster and nearly got canceled.
It is worth noting, though, that this has happened under Michaels’ tenure, too. That said, it’s been many years at this point, with “SNL’ becoming a stalwart tradition at the network and a consistently strong performer. That consistency and legacy is why replacing Michaels is such a scary, but important, prospect.
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NBC doesn’t want to see a solid ratings performer like “SNL” go and neither do the show’s fans; most of whom at this point have grown up with the show. Logically, former head writers and cast members are the first places to look as you want a sense of continuity and connection when you’re talking tradition.
When asked about the fact his name keeps coming up in these conversations, Meyers said it was “lovely and flattering” to hear people even anecdotally considering him up to the task of that job.
“With that said, it is not a job for me,” he continued. “I really think everybody underestimates the idea that Lorne Michaels might just be irreplaceable.”
For him, it comes down to the “consistency to the taste and tone” of “Saturday Night Live” that is one hundred percent attributable to there having been one man (mostly) at the helm all these years.
He also seems to consider it an impossible ask to hire anyone to fill Michaels’ shoes. “if you take over for an icon, you don’t get to be an icon,” he said.
I really think everybody underestimates the idea that Lorne Michaels might just be irreplaceable.
Instead, his solution was more along the lines of a sacrificial lamb. “They should do a favor and just go to monster.com and hire somebody with no background in TV,” he said. “Let them do it for six months and have the entertainment press f—ing put them on a spit.”
“Tell that person coming in that you’re just here to take the heat and you’ll get a golden parachute,” he continued. “They should get someone’s who not in TV because after they’ll never work in TV again.”
After five years on top of the late-night game Michaels stepped away from the show under extremely muddy circumstances. Making things even more challenging, the entire original Not Ready for Primetime Players cast also moved on, as did most of the writers.
He wanted a later start for Season 6 and suggested Al Franken and Tom Davis as his replacements. Unfortunately, Franken proceeded to eviscerate NBC president Fred Silverman on the very next show during “Weekend Update,” and that nixed any chance of him taking over.
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Instead, NBC brought up associate producer Jean Doumanian to sit captain over the most disastrous season in the show’s history. While it probably wasn’t intended to be this way, her rein could certainly be seen as the sacrificial lamb concept Meyers suggested. She lasted 12 episodes.
“SNL” survived its five years without Michaels, thanks in large part to breakout teen star Eddie Murphy. One of many factors in how wrong it went and why audiences turned so hard against it was Michaels not being involved in his replacement — and the network hiring a non-writer to helm a writer-driven show.
With just a couple of years left before the 50th season, and the 78-year-old Michaels not getting any younger, succession talk needs to begin. Maybe we could start chronicling it now for a “Succession II” series!
Hopefully smoother than the “SNL” succession of 1980 and the “Tonight Show” succession of — well, any of them that involved Jay Leno — Michaels’ departure will be a monumental moment in TV history. NBC needs to get it right, or maybe consider that Meyers is right and “SNL” can’t exist without Michaels.
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