Lorne Michaels Once SaidSaturday Night Live’s Original Cast Members Were All 'Stuck in Adolescence'

Mar. 15, 2025

John Belushi, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Elliott Gould, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin and Garrett Morris in a 1976 episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’.Photo:NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

Back in 2004,Lorne Michaelsreflected on one thing everyone in the original cast ofSaturday Night Livehad in common.“Everybody that I chose had gone through some screw up in adolescence in that original group,” he said. “Either death of a parent, divorce, something, some upheaval.”The off-the-cuff comment came during a break in Michaels’ 2004 interview with60 Minutes’Lesley Stahl, and is one of several unaired outtakes featured in the latest episode of CBS News’ new podcast,60 Minutes: A Second Look.Michaels, now 79, added thatSNL’s original 1975 cast members, which included comedy legendsGilda Radner,Dan Aykroyd,Chevy ChaseandJohn Belushi, were all “stuck in adolescence” for one reason or another.Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in 1976.Fred Hermansky/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/GettyStahl noted that this was something Michaels had said of himself previously.“I know that your father died when you were 14 years old,” she said. “And I read that you said that you think you got stuck in adolescence because of that. Is that right? Do you think that you’re still an adolescent?”“I’m considerably less since being a father, but I think there was a long period of time in which I thought it was all right to challenge authority,” Michaels, a father of three, replied in the unaired exchange.Stahl also questioned Michaels about drug use amongSNL’s original cast in the mid 1970s.“I think we were no different than anybody else that was working [at the time],” Michaels said. “There were parties afterwards, as there still are. I mean … you pump that much adrenaline and it’s 1 a.m. and the nights are over and then people would go to a party. I think there was just as much alcohol as there was anything else.”Michaels explained that things changed for him afterBelushi’s 1982 death— at a time when neither was working onSNL— from a drug overdose following a long struggle with addiction.John Belushi and Jane Curtain in a 1978 episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’.NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via GettyNever miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.“There was a period which ended abruptly for me when John Belushi died,” Michaels told Stahl in the unaired 2004 clip. “But there was something, a value system that was much more fraternal, in the sense of ‘Whatever gets you through the night’ or ‘Who might have judged what somebody else does as long as people show up on time, can do their job, whatever.’ Clearly a bogus value system, and it didn’t work. And I think people felt that, you know, people’s privacy and what they did was their own thing.”The dawn of that early period inSNL’s history will be depicted in the upcomingSaturday Night. TheJason Reitman-directed film tracks the 90 minutes leading up to the show’s Oct. 11, 1975, premiere, withGabriel LaBelleas Michaels and Matt Wood as Belushi alongsideDylan O’Brienas Aykroyd,Cory Michael Smithas Chase,Matthew RhysasGeorge CarlinandNicholas BraunasJim Henson. The film opens wide on Oct. 11, 49 years to the day sinceSNLpremiered.

Back in 2004,Lorne Michaelsreflected on one thing everyone in the original cast ofSaturday Night Livehad in common.

“Everybody that I chose had gone through some screw up in adolescence in that original group,” he said. “Either death of a parent, divorce, something, some upheaval.”

The off-the-cuff comment came during a break in Michaels’ 2004 interview with60 Minutes’Lesley Stahl, and is one of several unaired outtakes featured in the latest episode of CBS News’ new podcast,60 Minutes: A Second Look.

Michaels, now 79, added thatSNL’s original 1975 cast members, which included comedy legendsGilda Radner,Dan Aykroyd,Chevy ChaseandJohn Belushi, were all “stuck in adolescence” for one reason or another.

Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in 1976.Fred Hermansky/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

Fred Hermansky/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

Stahl noted that this was something Michaels had said of himself previously.

“I know that your father died when you were 14 years old,” she said. “And I read that you said that you think you got stuck in adolescence because of that. Is that right? Do you think that you’re still an adolescent?”

“I’m considerably less since being a father, but I think there was a long period of time in which I thought it was all right to challenge authority,” Michaels, a father of three, replied in the unaired exchange.

Stahl also questioned Michaels about drug use amongSNL’s original cast in the mid 1970s.

“I think we were no different than anybody else that was working [at the time],” Michaels said. “There were parties afterwards, as there still are. I mean … you pump that much adrenaline and it’s 1 a.m. and the nights are over and then people would go to a party. I think there was just as much alcohol as there was anything else.”

Michaels explained that things changed for him afterBelushi’s 1982 death— at a time when neither was working onSNL— from a drug overdose following a long struggle with addiction.

John Belushi and Jane Curtain in a 1978 episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’.NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“There was a period which ended abruptly for me when John Belushi died,” Michaels told Stahl in the unaired 2004 clip. “But there was something, a value system that was much more fraternal, in the sense of ‘Whatever gets you through the night’ or ‘Who might have judged what somebody else does as long as people show up on time, can do their job, whatever.’ Clearly a bogus value system, and it didn’t work. And I think people felt that, you know, people’s privacy and what they did was their own thing.”

The dawn of that early period inSNL’s history will be depicted in the upcomingSaturday Night. TheJason Reitman-directed film tracks the 90 minutes leading up to the show’s Oct. 11, 1975, premiere, withGabriel LaBelleas Michaels and Matt Wood as Belushi alongsideDylan O’Brienas Aykroyd,Cory Michael Smithas Chase,Matthew RhysasGeorge CarlinandNicholas BraunasJim Henson. The film opens wide on Oct. 11, 49 years to the day sinceSNLpremiered.

source: people.com