Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live

The cold open refers to the first sketch in each Saturday Night Live episode, usually addressing a current political or cultural event. It ends with the iconic line, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” In Lorne, Morrison presents the cold open as a creative pressure point where editorial instincts, network sensitivities, and cultural commentary collide, often revealing how Michaels balances provocation with restraint.

Throughout Lorne, Morrison explores the idea of a comedy hierarchy—a subtle but rigid pecking order within SNL based on performance quality, writing talent, Michaels’s preferences, and legacy status. This hierarchy informs everything from who gets screen time to who earns writing credit. Michaels’s editorial decisions often reinforce or recalibrate the hierarchy, especially when new talent enters the ensemble.

This is one of Michaels’s foundational editorial rules: Don’t complicate a joke that already works. It reflects his minimalist sensibility—stripping jokes down to their cleanest, most efficient form. Morrison uses this phrase to symbolize Michaels’s broader comic philosophy: Clarity, elegance, and tonal discipline matter more than noise or novelty.