It’s probably better that this didn’t come out during the time of SNL50.
Lorne Michaels often gets most of the credit for the long-running success of Saturday Night Live, but as he explains in this hour-plus documentary, the true comedic voice of SNL that established the show that generations have come to know and love can be traced back to one of his on-again, off-again writers, Jim Downey. So why do most people outside of comedy nerds know who Downey is? That’s exactly why Peacock is broadcasting this now.
Opening Shot: Over interstitial shots of New York City, we hear a phone recording of a woman putting Lorne Michaels on the line, where he says: “It’s not like a conventional documentary. Your subject is ground zero in the world of comedy.” And he’s going to be “capital E” elusive.
The Gist: Downey joined SNL as a writer in 1976 for Season 2, where he shared an office with fellow SNL newcomer Bill Murray.
Murray called Downey “the best writer I’ve ever worked with,” and the film also features quotes and testimonials from Fred Armisen, Andy Breckman, Dana Carvey, Greg Daniels, Will Forte, Al Franken, Bill Hader, Darrell Hammond, David Letterman, Jon Lovitz, Seth Meyers, Lorne Michaels, Garrett Morris, John Mulaney, Laraine Newman, Conan O’Brien, Bob Odenkirk, Lawrence O’Donnell, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon, Martin Short, Robert Smigel, David Spade, Emily Spivey, Ben Stiller, and Kenan Thompson.
Downey spent more than three decades inside 30 Rock. He worked at SNL for Seasons 2-5, left with most everyone else in the first exodus, became the second head writer for Late Night with David Letterman in 1982, then left Letterman to head up Michaels’ short-lived 1984 sketch series, The New Show, and found refuge back at SNL afterward for another decade. NBC fired Downey alongside Norm Macdonald over the duo’s ongoing O.J. Simpson jokes in 1998, but Michaels rehired him again in 2000 where he became the go-to political satirists for the show’s cold opens for another dozen or so years.
