Lorne Michaels
The creator of Saturday Night Live, Michaels has been producing the show for more than three decades.
After briefly writing and producing programming for the Canadian Broadcasting
Company, in 1968 Michaels moved to Toronto to be a writer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Eight years later, he decamped to New York after convincing NBC's Dick Ebersol to take a chance on a new late-night comedy variety program. Michaels' creation was startlingly unique at the time: With a house band, a scrappy group of sketch comedians, and a weekly guest star, the show was shot live in front of a studio audience, unlike most programs on the air. It quickly became a late-night institution, launching the careers of an entire generation of young comedians, and becoming the most successful late-night TV franchise in television history.
Shy of a brief absence in the 80s, Michaels has been with SNL ever since. In addition to SNL, he helms a production company that is responsible for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and for bringing SNL spinoffs like Wayne's World, A Night at the Roxbury, and Superstar to the big screen along with Tina Fey's 2003's movie Mean Girls and sitcom 30 Rock among others.
Michaels' personal life has never strayed too far from the office. Once married to SNL writer Rosie Shuster, in 2004 he wed his former assistant, Alice Barry. [Image via Getty]