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>> after five golden years, lorne decided to leave and so did those close to him, including me, al frank. so, nbc had to pick a new producer. now, most knowledgeable people, as you might imagine, hoped it would be me, al franken. >> well, there was a real question whether "saturday night live" would continue at all. whether it would just die. >> the press hasn't been overly kind. >> yeah, i read that stuff. "saturday night live" is saturday night dead. >> oh, come on. >> my favorite, though, is vile from new york. it's funny. it's funny. >> they were having a hard time. and then, came the man that saved the show. eddie murphy. there was buzz about him, so you tuned in. and there was this kind of explosion of talent in front of your eyes.
>> he had no experience. >> i was kind of surprised that lorne went along with it. >> begrudgingly, agreed to a screen test. and then, of course, he didn't have a jacket. >> i met him at his car in the parking lot. he took, out of the trunk of his car, a rumpled sport coat. >> it was vaguely white, if i remember. >> a white-linen jacket. awful. >> thank you for coming. >> how could i miss an opportunity like this? >> no, it's not often you get to share camera time with me. >> in the middle of the meme rogers interview, conan said -- >> people always say it's tough to be like a model. but you know, like turning a big crank is tough. it is. >> and in that second, i thought to myself, this guy's got it. >> that is eat the end of my mo show. if that's all i ever get, it was
was too frightening to try to step into the shadow of david letterman who, at that point, was the shottesthottest thing i business. >> when you are looking at people 30, there are very few people with his name or experience. so then, you go, well, who are the best people i know right now? >> lorne called me up and thought conan will have good ideas. he can be the producer. >> conan had been here, on "snl," as a writer and he's truly funny. >> but conan o'brien, since he was a boy, literally, had dreams of being a late-night talk show host. >> when you're a kid, you naturally start running through your checklist. i'm not a good athlete. i'm anxious. i have a weird name. so, when i found that i could make people laugh. >> and then, he said what he really wanted to be was host.
i was kind of surprised that lorne went along with it. >> they grudgingly agreed to a screen test, and of course he didn't have a jacket. >> i met him in his car in the parking lot. he took out of the trunk of his car a rumpled sport coat. it was basically white, as i remember. >> a white linen jacket. awful. >> thank you for coming. i really appreciate it. >> how could i miss an opportunity like this? >> it's not often you get to share camera time with me. >> there you go. >> in the middle of the mimi rodgers interview, conan said -- >> but you know what? >> people say it's tough being a model. no, turning a crank is tough. >> i thought to myself, this guy has got it. >> that's the end of my mock show. if that's all i ever get, it was a lot of fun, i had a great time. thank you very much. good night. >> all i remember, it felt
in the shadow of david letterman who, at that point, was the hottest thing in show business. >> my feeling was you had to drop down a generation. when you're looking at people of 30, there are very few people with any seasoning or experience, so you go, who are the best people i know right now? >> lorne called me up and thought conan will have good ideas, he can be the producer. >> conan had been here on "snl" as a priority and he was truly funny. >> but conan o'brien, since he was a boy, literally had dreams of being a late night talk show host. >> you literally start oning through your list. i'm not a good athlete, i'm anxious, i have a weird name. so then i found that i could make people laugh. >> and then he said what he really wanted to be was host. >> he had no experience.
show dead for the past-15 years, could not explain how he was going to make that transition. >> "saturday night live" did not change my opinion of johnny carson. there is a sophistication there. he's wearing a tie. and then, suddenly, on "saturday night live," you have burt reynolds looked like he was just walking into a 7-eleven to buy some beef jerky. >> thank you. i know, i know. i have to live with it every day. >> the big revolution of "saturday night live." it's very hard to explain to people today. is that nobody's wearing a tie. >> lorne changed comedy, forever, with that show. and -- and the proof of it, it's 43 years later, and people are still watching it. take your blonde to the next level. new feria hyper platinum. from l'oréal. next level lightening with up to 8 levels of lift. no wrecking or ravaging with new after care conditioner.
>> i'd been in l.a. for almost-four years. i had done a lily tomlin show, earlier. and every time i worked on a pilot of some sort, it would always be, you can't do this, you can't do that. television had become so not fossilized but there were a lot of restrictions. >> don't understand what's bothering you. >> well, i'll tell you what's bothering me. i am a grown man. you got me all dressed up in this silly, bunny outfit. >> a meeting is set up for lorne and i. >> it was more a courtesy than anything else. >> it was very welcoming. okay, boys. tell me about the show. >> and it was funny, because he kept saying 90 minutes one time a week. and he was doing five -- five nights of 90 minutes. and we were so precious and thoughtful about what we were going to do in our one.
>> the concept was regular programming has stopped at 11:30. and these young kids have taken over the network. >> i think we were, by definition, disruptive. the thing about live was the network will see it the same time that the audience does. and i thought, if i could just get through to the audience that was interested in music and politics and films and all that was happening in 1975, that it would be a hit. >> live, from new york, it's saturday night! >> the tool that lets you use the whole bass with no fish waste, without scaling, cuttincutting, or gutting. >> it's so revolutionary. it's so anything goes. >> lorne says if you listen to the early shows, you are always
wanted to be was host. >> he had no experience. >> i was kind of surprised that lorne went along with it. >> they grudgingly agreed to a screen test, and then of course he didn't have a jacket. >> i met him at his car in the parking lot. he took out of the trunk of his car a rumpled sport coat. >> it was vaguely white, as i remember. >> a white linen jacket. awful. >> thank you for coming. >> how can i miss an opportunity like this? >> no. >> it is not often that you get to share camera time with me. >> there you go. >> in the middle of the mimi rogers interview, conan said -- >> people always say it's tough to be a supermodel. >> in that second, i thought this guy got it. >> that's the end of my mock show. if that's all i ever get, it was
>> but a lot of talent felt it was just too frightening to try to step into the shadow of david letterman who at that point was the hottest thing in show business. >> my feeling is you had to drop down a generation. and when you're looking at people 30, there is very few people with any seasoning or any experience. so you go who are the best people i know right now? >> lorne called me up and koening will have good ideas. he can be the producer. >> koening had been here on "snl" as a writer and he was truly funny. >> but conan o'brien since he was a boy literally had dreams of being a late night talk show host. >> when you're a kid, you naturally start running through your checklist. i'm not a good athlete. i'm anxious. i have a weird name. so then i found that i could make people laugh. >> and he said what he really