Fey and other “Saturday Night Live” alums share insight on the sketch show’s creator in an exclusive clip of new documentary, “Lorne.”

Tina Fey reveals how much she and *SNL *boss Lorne Michaels are really like 30 Rock’s Liz and Jack (exclusive)

Fey and other "Saturday Night Live" alums share insight on the sketch show's creator in an exclusive clip of new documentary, "Lorne."

By Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm is news director at *. *She has worked at EW for more than eight years. Jillian has previously worked as a reporter, social media editor, and homepage producer at NBC News, Digital First Media, Newsday, and Random Lengths News.

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April 17, 2026 12:00 p.m. ET

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- New documentary *Lorne *offers a look at the inner workings of *SNL *and its creator Lorne Michaels.

- In an exclusive clip from the film, Tina Fey shares how she got even closer to Michaels after she left the cast to create '30 Rock.'

- Fey reveals the parallels between her and Alec Baldwin's characters to her real-life dynamic with Michaels.

Just like Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy, *30 Rock** *brought Tina Fey and her own high-powered mentor even closer together.

"So much of that *30 Rock *time was really, I think, when I would call him and say like, 'What do I do about this? How do I handle the network and this?'" Fey recalls of her former *Saturday Night Live** *boss, Lorne Michaels, in an exclusive clip from the new documentary *Lorne* (out now), about his life behind the scenes at *SNL*.

"If I look at *30 Rock* now, I feel like I'm talking to him every day, and I'm talking about him through that show," she says. "The Jack-Liz relationship is in many ways like a huge thank you note to Lorne, probably."

Fey worked at *SNL* first as a writer, beginning in 1997, before joining the cast from 2000-2006. Her stint there included being a head writer and a "Weekend Update" co-anchor with both Jimmy Fallon and Amy Poehler.

Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin on '30 Rock'; Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels.

Ali Goldstein/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Walter McBride/WireImage

She left after season 31 to create *30 Rock, *a sitcom about the inner workings of fictional NBC sketch comedy show *TGS*, starring Fey as head writer and showrunner Liz Lemon, who finds herself both challenged and mentored by Alec Baldwin's powerful network exec Jack Donaghy.

From Oscar-winning *20 Feet From Stardom* documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville, *Lorne* offers as intimate a look as possible at the elusive *SNL* creator who often hilariously tries to avoid the cameras. The doc features never-before-seen archival footage and candid interviews with beloved cast members and writers.

The same clip (above) features other alums sharing the most memorable advice they got from Michaels during their time at the show.

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"The first thing he told me was always tip at least 15 percent in a restaurant, or they'll write about you in the *New York Post,*" former writer Conan O'Brien says.

"You can't make an entrance if you never leave," former cast member Chris Rock shares.

"If you ask people this, we can all tell you this: Buy a bigger apartment than you think you can afford," Fey recalls of Michaels' frequent guidance to his stars.

"You should look at it and think, ooh, who lives here? It's me!" Andy Samberg says with a laugh, of hearing the same.

*Lorne *is in theaters now.

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