Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Saturday Night
Jason Reitman’sSaturday Nightis currently in theaters, a movie based on the real-life events and anecdotes surrounding the 90 minutes before the first-ever episode ofSaturday Night Live. This includes a striking phone call producer Lorne Michaels received fromThe Tonight Show’sJohnny Carson, one that was quite threatening. However, Carson’s actual feelings aboutSNLwere quite different from those depicted in this new movie.
While dodging NBC executives like David Tebet (played by Willem Dafoe) who want to pull the plug before the first episode makes it to air, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) receives a call from Johnny Carson himself in Burbank, California. Voicing a lack of support, Carson even becomes threatening towards Michaels ahead of theSaturday Nightmovie’s ending, who ultimately hangs up onThe Tonight Showhost to deal with the next crisis ahead of airtime.That said, Johnny Carson’s true feelings aboutSaturday Night Livein real life were somewhat different.
Saturday Night Live Was Created Because Of Johnny Carson’s Dispute With NBC
It Was Created As A Solution
In actuality,Saturday Nightwas created and greenlit to solve an ongoing dispute between Carson and NBC. No longer wanting reruns ofThe Tonight Showto air on the weekends, Carson instead wanted to do his show three nights a week and have the reruns air on the remaining two days, allowing him to have more time off. As such,Saturday Night Livewas created as a means to fill the newly opened weekend slot.
Saturday Night’s True Story & What Happened On SNL’s First Episode Explained
2024’s Saturday Night Live movie chronicles the show’s origin and first episode, telling the true story behind Lorne Michaels' late-night series.
Instead of losing the ad revenue to local stations, NBC decided to create its own programming for Saturday night,hence turning to Lorne Michaels and the creation of a new live variety show. This way, Carson could have his reruns on the weeknights as he wanted.As such, to suggest that Carson wantedSaturday Night Liveto outright fail is far too simple and largely untrue.
Johnny Carson Talked To Lorne Michaels, But Not The Way Saturday Night Showed It
The Real Story Is Pretty Different
PerEntertainment Weekly, Carson did indeed meet with Lorne Michaels. However, it wasn’t via a phone call just ahead of the show’s premiere as is seen in Reitman’sSaturday Night. Instead,Carson and Michaels reportedly met weeks prior, agreeing not to book guests at the same time.
Additionally,it’s been reported that Lorne repeatedly asked Carson to guest-host onSaturday Night Live.While the “King of Late Night” never did end up hostingSNL, it’s evident that Carson wasn’t nearly as negative towards the show as the movie makes him out to be. That said, things did change over time asSNLestablished itself and gained popularity following its premiere.
Was ‘The Tonight Show’ Host Johnny Carson Openly Hostile Over ‘SNL’?
Skeptical, But Not Threatening
Rather than being unsupportive and threatening before the show even aired,James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales' bookLive From New Yorkclaims that Carson was simply skeptical of the show and whether it would be a success. However, he gradually grew “openly appalled by some of its more outrageous gags.” However, that was only afterSaturday NightLivehad been on the air for quite some time. The hostility ahead of the first episode going live looks to be nothing more than fiction for the sake ofSaturday Night’soverall narrative and added entertainment value.
Saturday Night
Cast
Saturday Night (2024) is a forthcoming film with an undisclosed director. The movie centers on the vibrant nightlife of a bustling city, capturing the intertwining lives and stories of a diverse ensemble cast navigating personal and social challenges over the course of a single evening.
