From The Comic's Comic

The only reason to stay through Season 50 is EGO, and I don’t mean Nwodim.

Variety scored a scoop on Monday with the “exclusive” intel that Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels has asked his veteran cast members to stick around, not just for this upcoming Season 47, but perhaps all the way through Season 50.

The trades were quick to relay the party line that it’s all about Lorne’s flexibility!

See how he let Aidy Bryant take time off to film her final season of Shrill for Hulu? Or let Cecily Strong take most of the fall and winter away to film the first season of her Apple TV+ musical comedy, Schmigadoon? Or how Kenan Thompson and Chris Redd got time away from 30 Rock during the weeks when they filmed NBC’s Kenan sitcom on the West Coast, only coming back for final dress rehearsals on the weekends?

Never you mind that Aidy, Cecily, Chris and Kenan continued to work for Lorne on all of those other comedy shows, produced by Broadway Video and executive produced by Lorne.

This isn’t about Lorne’s flexibility. It’s about his EGO. And I don’t mean Nwodim.

Despite everything you saw with your eyeballs and heard with your earholes, with Kate, Cecily, Pete and maybe Aidy and Kenan out the door after the Season 46 finale, Lorne desperately wants to keep the gang together for his 50th anniversary season to signal both a celebration and a send-off for himself.

Which means he’s probably ready to hang it up already. When you’re counting the days to retirement four years early, you’re already looking at the exit and future-tripping.

But for whatever reason, Lorne can’t say goodbye to his SNL baby.

Perhaps the allure of having so many comedy superstars looking up to Lorne as a guru has blinded him to the truth. I wonder if he watched the new Del Close documentary, For Madmen Only, and thought, if that’s the coronation a guy who was brutal to many of his students can get, just think of the tributes they’ll make to me! (It’s already long-held legend that SNL star Mike Myers based his “Dr. Evil” voice on Lorne).

Of the current SNL cast, several already have stayed longer than most performers under contract with Lorne and NBC. The typical stay for SNL stars? Seven to nine seasons. Kenan Thompson (18 years) Kate McKinnon (10), Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong (9); Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney, hired as a team (8); Colin Jost, hired as a writer first before hitting Weekend Update (8); Jost’s Weekend Update co-anchor, Michael Che (7); and Pete Davidson (7).

On the Season 46 finale’s Weekend Update, Pete Davidson all but said he was out. And I wrote that he’s better off for leaving now, anyhow.

Cecily followed up with an even more on-the-nose, cannot-say-it-any-clearer, thanks-for-the-memories flourish, singing “My Way” as Jeanine Pirro sloshing in a vat of red wine.

I’ve written at length about how Lorne coulda shoulda woulda left SNL in 2015 after the massive three-hour primetime tribute to him and SNL’s 40th season. I’m not going to go back and recount all the ways his 2015 retirement made sense personally and professionally, not just for him but also for the sustained success and relevance of the show.

But no, here we are.

Is he sentimental and wants to see them all stay? Perhaps, but they can all always come back anytime for guest spots and hosting duties, as evidenced by just about everyone from the 1970s to today who keeps coming back for surprise cameos or not-so-surprise stunt casting. Regardless, everyone alive and kicking will come back to 30 Rock for Lorne’s big retirement bash, whenever that happens.

So no, that’s not it. Or not the real answer.

Is he worried he won’t go out on a high? That if he lets Kate, Cecily, Aidy and others to leave now, that the show’s quality might suffer? As Rudy Giuliani cracked at Lorne onstage in the cold open for SNL’s first episode after 9/11/2001, “Why start now?” The quality of SNL is fully dependent upon him, his producers and his casting department, isn’t it?

I can empathize with Lorne or anyone who looks ahead to retiring yet never can quite say goodbye. But Lorne’s legacy — at least professionally — remains very secure already, even if he didn’t also bring Kids In The Hall to TV or pluck a plucky Conan O’Brien out of the writing ranks to become a late-night TV host, both of whom inspired and influenced another generation of funny people.

Lorne could go out with a bang whenever he wants.

50 is just a number. So are 46 and 47. Besides, Lorne skipped out on Seasons 6-10 in the early 1980s, which means Season 50 wouldn’t be his 50th anniversary with SNL, anyhow. Lorne even produced his own Friday-night comedy sketch show alternative for NBC in 1984, The New Show.

It’s long past time for a new show in town, or at least a new showrunner for SNL. Whether we have to wait until 2025 for that to happen still seems to rest solely with Lorne.

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