Lorne Michaels Has Second Chance to Do the Right Thing

Lorne Michaels broke plenty of rules back in 1975.

The TV producer gambled on a group of raw, untested comic actors to create a new kind of sketch series. “Saturday Night Live” shouldn’t have worked, but boy, did it ever.

The show is now in its 52nd season. an amazing accomplishment if not for one nagging problem.

“SNL” is no longer part of the counter-culture movement. It’s as safe as a Pop Tart with those “dangerous” corners nibbled off.

The show’s hard-Left bias is indefensible. So is Michaels’ actions during a critical moment in Cancel Culture history. He hired relative unknown comic Shane Gillis to join the show’s ensemble in 2019. Then, when inappropriate Asian jokes from Gillis’ past “resurfaced,” NBC fired him.

Michaels could have used his gravitas to take a stand. Comedy is all about risk, he might have said, noting that some humorists cross a line occasionally but need that space to stretch their skills.

Would he go back and fire some of his original cast members? Remember how much drug use went on behind the scenes? That version of Michaels stood his ground.

Not the new, not-so-improved model. He buckled under the woke mob’s weight. Shame on him.

Except Michaels might just have gotten a second chance.

“SNL” brought Gillis back to host the show for a third time over the weekend. The ratings aren’t in yet, but it’s clear that NBC sees value in Gillis. And skits like this prove the Peacock network out.

That skit has more than 2.5 million views in just a day. 

The scuttlebutt in the media, though, is over the usual woke types decrying Gillis’ monologue. Here’s the “offensive” material.

“Also, I haven’t been to the gym in so long I didn’t know women just dress like whores now? Look, I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe [it]. Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. You’ve seen the shorts? They’re those neon, like, artificial bait-colored [shorts], and the wrinkles go around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole. And don’t look! You’re not allowed to look. For real, don’t look, because they are filming. I’m in the background of ten TikToks right now [grinning].”

The usual suspects are melting down – think feminists who didn’t say a peep after Hamas savages raped Israeli women on Oct. 7 and failed to defend Gina Carano because she doesn’t share their politcal views.

Oh, and “Schitt’s Creek” alum Dan Levy.

Enter Michaels. Or, in a perfect world … enter Michaels.

Now is the time for Michaels to take a public stand for both Gillis and comedy. Michaels’ cultural gravitas remains sky high. He’s won the Mark Twain Prize for American humor and is beloved within Hollywood circles. His tentacles are stretched across the industry, from feature films to TV beyond “SNL.”

Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers both became stars under his tutelage and are key players in the late-night landscape.

So will Michaels do the right thing? Remember how Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos stood up for Dave Chappelle when his controversial special, “The Closer,” nearly got him cancelled?

Michaels did no such thing.

Why does it matter? Woke 2.0 is revving up and ready to go. Just ask the arts worker fired for wearing cornrows at the Burning Man festival. Or the sports announcer canned for Tweets he posted when he was 15. Or the BBC cancelling classic comedy sketches for being “problematic.”

If no one stands up to the woke bullies, it’ll only get worse. Did we not learn anything from the last decade?

It matters. But will the second time be the charm for Michaels? The Vegas odds suggest otherwise.