“Saturday Night Live” boss Lorne Michaels said TikTok helped to drive the show’s stunning turnover recently.
Appearing on the Emmys red carpet Sunday before he won an award for SNL’s 50th anniversary special, the producer was asked by “Entertainment Tonight” host Nischelle Turner about the changes. “What decision goes into that?” she asked.
“The show has always brought people in from new, different ages and different generations, and it has to, it’s how it revives itself,” he said. “It’s always hard when people leave, but there’s a time for that. And our audiences always stay relatively young, more so now with TikTok.”
“Change is good,” he continued. “And the people we’re bringing in, I’m really excited about.”
But it was people on the way out who spurred much buzz lately.
Cast veterans Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner headlined the turnover. Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim and Devon Walker also departed.
The 50th anniversary season was the most-watched in three years ― spurred in part by it being an election year, according to Michaels.
But like the man said, change has always been part of the show’s brand.
“I won this award for the first time 50 years ago, in 1975,” he said. (It was actually at the 1976 ceremony.).
“I was younger and I had a lot of dreams about what would happen, and not one of those dreams was that I would still be doing the same show for the next 50 years,” Michaels said in accepting the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) award. It was the sketch comedy classic’s 113th Emmy, according to LateNighter.
The 51st season of “SNL” begins Oct. 4. Veronika Slowikowska, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane and Kam Patterson are the rookies. “SNL” writer Ben Marshall has also joined the ensemble.
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