Just because your work doesn’t immediately connect with people, that doesn’t mean you should give up. That’s the advice Kristen Wiig, Bowen Yang and Maya Rudolph gave to Lorne Michaels, the celebrated head of “Saturday Night Live” and their former boss, who is about to celebrate his 50th season of the NBC staple.
“We heard something backstage that needs to be addressed,” Rudolph said while presenting at the 76th Emmy Awards. “We heard that our dear friend, our mentor, Lorne Michaels, has been nominated for and lost the Emmy 85 times. He has never won.”
“Never,” Yang emphasized. Immediately, Meyers corrected the two, saying “No,” but he was overpowered.
“It’s just wrong, and we’d like to take this occasion to say a few words to him,” Yang continued.
“No no no no no. Lorne, look at me. It’s really hard to see he’s looking,” Wiig said. “Yes, you do have value. You are worthy, and you are not and have never been a loser, even though you have lost a lot.”
“Lorne, now immediately look at me. Look at me and look at my mouth,” Rudolph said. “Each and every one of those 85 times you lost, you were robbed.”
After mistakenly calling Lorne “Lauren,” Yang offered his final word of advice. “Look, it gets better. OK, just because ‘SNL’ didn’t work doesn’t mean your next idea won’t. Keep dreaming!” Yang concluded.
Ever the voice of reason, Meyers was the one to correct his presenters’ mistake. “Guys, you’ve been very nice, but Lorne has won 28 Emmys, not to mention that ‘SNL’ won over 200,” Meyers said.
“That’s too much,” Wiig said.
The four former “SNL” cast members didn’t just swing by the Peacock Theater to rib their old boss. Both Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for their roles in “Loot” and “Palm Royale,” respectively, both of which are on Apple TV+. Yang was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in “Saturday Night Live,” a category he lost to “The Bear” star Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Finally, Meyers was nominated for Outstanding Talk Series for “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” which lost to “The Daily Show.”
