Saturday Night Live, now in its 50th season, has featured many public figures, including Jeff Daniels. While the Dumb and Dumber star has only hosted twice, he recalls a specific moment between him and showrunner Lorne Michaels from decades ago. Michaels had a vision and asked Daniels to deliver, which he did. The story highlights Michaels’ decisive nature and part of why the show has lasted long enough to hit the 50-year mark.
SNL paraded through our 2024 TV schedule with incredible hosts, fun musical acts, and some viral sketches (and continues into our 2025 TV schedule). The show has brought undeniable success to its cast members while boosting both hosts' and musical acts’ careers. Still, some of the BTS stories are surprising, especially concerning Michaels. Jeff Daniels’ Audible Original ‘Alive and Well Enough Continues,’ showcases a moment of the head honcho getting what he wants.
The memoirist and actor revealed that during his second time hosting, they needed someone to play Jay Leno to play opposite Dana Carvey’s Johnny Carson. Ultimately, the job was assigned to Daniels by Michaels, even though he couldn’t do an impersonation at the time. The A Man in Full actor jumped right into practice, after having received a tape of Leno interviewing his first guest, Valleri Bertinelli.
As much as the two-time Emmy Award winner tried to find the then-Tonight Show host’s voice, he had a lot of difficulty. The Newsroom alum noted how peculiar it was for him to mimic Leno’s voice, saying it was a "key unknown to those who studied music theory." Fortunately for Daniels, the VHS tape of Leno and Bertinelli’s response to what she'd gifted to her husband – a Lamborghini – proved incredibly useful to his impersonation of the comedian.
The way the talk show host pronounced the luxury car name was the path he needed. Daniels’ episode does also include his impression, and the funnyman delivered his promise to Michaels. Personally, I’m not surprised that the Arachnophobia actor pulled it off. After all, he was the one to simultaneously impress and scare Jim Carrey during their read through for Dumb and Dumber and agree to the project for a ridiculous salary. Daniels is that talented.
It’s certainly not the first time the show’s creator made bold moves for SNL. One of the most recent instances comes from Nate Bargatze’s episode and the Washington sketch almost got axed by Michaels; thankfully it was a success in dress rehearsal and became one of the favorite sketches from the comedian’s night. Another moment comes from Heidi Gardner and the one requirement behind Travis Kelce hosting SNL.
Although some of these instances may seem wild or overwhelming, I think they're examples of why the sketch show has survived for so long. The one constant is that Michaels has been and is still running the show, and can tell if a host or cast member can rise to the occasion. As for Daniels and his on-the-fly Leno impression, it’ll live in infamy all thanks to Lorne Michaels’ deft decision-making.
Hopefully, for the Godless actor, a return to Studio 8H is in the cards after his '90s appearances and he can up his hosting count to three. Watch SNL on Saturday nights at 11:30 PM on NBC or stream it with a Peacock subscription the following day.
