‘SNL’ Creator Lorne Michaels Donates Archives to University of Texas

AUSTIN, Texas– AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lorne Michaels, the creator of the long-running sketch television show “Saturday Night Live,” has donated his career archives to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, the center announced Wednesday.

The collection includes behind-the-scenes rehearsal notes, scripts and photographs of iconic characters and sketches from a show that launched the careers of comedians Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and others. It also includes some of the personal correspondence of the 80-year-old Michaels.

SNL, the most Emmy-nominated show in television history, is in its 50th season. He is scheduled to air “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” live on February 16.

Although far from Broadway and the show’s New York roots, the Ransom Center is one of the nation’s premier literary and humanities archives and research institutions.

Its literary archives include the collections of Nobel Prize winner JM Coetzee, Pulitzer Prize winners David Mamet and Norman Mailer, actor Robert DeNiro, the television series “Mad Men” and the “Gone With the Wind” collection of Hollywood producer David O. Selznick.

The Michaels Collection documents his television career since his early writing for “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” and “The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show,” but most of it has to do with SNL. The Ransom Center is planning an exhibition titled “Live from New York!” The Making of Lorne Michaels” will open in September with draft sketches, correspondence, videos, photos and artifacts that detail the show’s production and highlight SNL’s role as a comedic window and influence on culture and politics.

“Lorne Michaels has made us laugh and put us to sleep for 50 years,” said Stephen Enniss, director of the Ransom Center, “and I am confident that for years to come his archives will be studied by students and researchers at seeking insight into the social, political, and cultural history of our times. We are deeply grateful to him for entrusting us with this rich heritage.

A representative for Michaels did not immediately respond to a request for comment.