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Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels is not a shy man as much as a man averse to interviews. Documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville who has made non-fiction portraits about backup singers (Twenty Feet from Stardom), Mister Rogers (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) and Paul McCartney (Man on the Run) found Lorne Michaels was a hard man to pin down. 

The most humorous moments in Neville’s latest, Lorne, which premiered this week at Alice Tully Hall, are the subject giving Neville’s lens the fish eye, or pacing elusively, or walking out of the room. And yet, this contrarian interaction makes for a highly entertaining documentary, telling as much as Lorne Michaels would reveal, while illuminating the successful strategies and accidents that have made SNL such a powerful cultural touchstone.

Fueled by copious amounts of popcorn, celebrity hosts and cast members sit on couches in Michael’s office putting together the weekly show, ready each Wednesday, putting artistic crews to work. The deadline is 11:30 PM Saturday night. It seems a surprise to everyone that the show comes together as it does. Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Wiig, Michael Che, Colin Jost, James Austin Johnson, Kate McKinnon, Conan O’Brien are some current cast and alum who weigh in on screen. Paul Simon, his erstwhile neighbor, speaks about his friendship with Lorne. Most intimate is the footage of Lorne in Maine, in nature surrounded by his animals. Yes, he has a goat. Later that night, Neville told me one person he missed interviewing was Dan Ackroyd.

P!nk, just named to host the TONY awards attended the screening—ironic as she was missing the opening night of “Death of a Salesman” down the street on Broadway. She could not make it to the afterparty. David Letterman in long beard and cap added to the A-listers on hand.

At dinner at Lincoln, Steve Buscemi, Oren Moverman, Natasha Lyonne, Seth Myers munched on Bolognese, pea risotto, chicken cutlets, and cannolis while Beachboy Al Jardine worked the room speaking about new musical projects, touring with his band Pet Sounds. Lorne Michaels hid seated in a back banquette. This was the first time he had seen the film, and Morgan Neville recounted his response: “Good,” he said.