On the latest episode of Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast, the comedian opened by asking his guest, Late Night With Seth Meyers host Seth Meyers, about the rumors that longtime Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels would be leaving after the show’s 50th anniversary show.
“Are you gonna take over for Lorne, or is it Tina [Fey] and then you?’” Birbiglia asked Meyers.
“I really don’t—I think this is a false narrative that Lorne is going anywhere,” Meyers replied. “I think it made sense for Lorne who’s, yeah, got a flare for the dramatic to say, I think I’ll be done at 50. Yeah. But now, it’s not like Lorne’s got something else he wants to do more than this.”
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“So you think it’s Kenan,” Birbiglia joked, referring to longtime SNL core cast member Kenan Thompson.
“I think it’s Kenan,” Meyers joked back.
In January, 79-year-old Michaels, who created SNL in 1975 and who’s been its producer since 1985, was asked by Entertainment Tonight whether he’s thought about a potential successor.
“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Michaels told ET outside the Emmys. “We’re doing the 50th anniversary show in February of ’25, so I will definitely be there for that and definitely be there until that. And sometime before that we’ll figure out what we’re going to do.”
Could Mean Girls mastermind, former SNL head writer and “Weekend Update” co-host Tina Fey take his spot, ET prompted Michaels? “Yeah, it could easily be Tina Fey,” he replied. “But there are a lot of people who are there now who are also, you know.”
Fey, Michaels added, is “brilliant and great at everything. She’s a very important person in my life.”
