Will SNL ever end? The late night sketch show is closing in on its 50th anniversary, and save the first half of the ‘80s it’s been run by the same guy: Lorne Michaels. That’s a long time to be with any job, and at least one longtime cast member, Kenan Thompson, thinks the show should finally come to a close when it hits its half-centennial. Michaels doesn’t appear to feel the same way, and though one day he’ll retire, he’s already floating names about who could replace him.
In a new chat with Entertainment Tonight (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), Michaels was fed one name about his possible successor: Tina Fey. Michaels seemed into the idea.
“It could easily be Tina Fey, but you know, there are a lot of people who are there now who are also, you know…” he said, suggesting that there are other names being bandied about for the gig.
He continued to praise Fey, saying, “Tina’s brilliant and great at everything,” he said. “She’s a very important person in my life.”
Fey joined SNL’s writing team in 1997, became head writer two years later, and started performing sketches the year after that. The year 2000 was also when she began co-anchoring Weekend Update with Jimmy Fallon. After Fallon left in 2004, he was replaced by Amy Poehler. In 2006 Fey left and thus began a little show called 30 Rock.
Fey, of course, can be seen in the new musical movie version of Mean Girls, reprising her role from the original, which was both her first major film and her first produced film script. Whether she wants one of the most demanding jobs in television is another story.