Photo: Library of Congress Life / CC0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Lorne Michaels is, to me, one of the most quietly influential people in modern comedy. He created Saturday Night Live in 1975 and has steered it for nearly half a century, while also shaping Late Night and The Tonight Show, an empire of laughter built mostly from behind the curtain. The shelf of honors, an Emmy, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Mark Twain Prize, the Order of Canada, only hints at how many careers he launched. What impresses me most is the producer's discipline: he stayed off-camera and let others shine. The man who built comedy's launchpad deserves the loudest respect.
Overview
Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian and American television and film producer, comedian, screenwriter and director. He created and produced Saturday Night Live (1975–1980, since 1985) and produced the Late Night series (since 1993), The Kids in the Hall (from 1989 to 1995), and The Tonight Show (since 2014).
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Lorne Michaels
- Name (Japanese)
- ローン・マイケルズ
- Reading
- ろーん・まいけるず
- Born
- November 17, 1944 (age 81)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Monkey
- Origin
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- screenwriter / film producer / television actor / film actor / television producer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- University of Toronto
Awards & achievements
- 2018 Companion of the Order of Canada
- 1975 Primetime Emmy Award
- 2010 International Emmy Directorate Award
- 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom
- 2004 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
- 2003 Canada's Walk of Fame
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Screenwriter — see all → · Film producer — see all → · More people from Canada →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.