The creator of this world-famous television show will be celebrating his sixty-fourth birthday this year. Let's kick off the celebration by reflecting on a few of his more famous quotes.



1. "God knows there has been a lot we could have done in the last six weeks. That tends to get written in the last two days."

2. "People go to the zoo and they like the lion because it's scary. And the bear because it's intense, but the monkey makes people laugh."

3. "Could I get a friggin' Hot Pocket around here?"

4. "Sometimes the wheel turns slowly, but it turns."

5. "Look, she really screwed up and it had a profound effect on her career. To me, it seemed it wasn't fair for someone that young to be that severely beaten up. So we're letting her come back."

6. "It's been dying since the second season. It's always about reinvention."

7. "You can tell a lot from someone's eyes."

8. "The National Broadcasting Company has authorized me to offer you this check to be on our show. A certified check for $3,000. Here it is right here. A check made out to you, the Beatles, for $3,000. All you have to do is sing three Beatles songs. "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah." That's $1,000 right there. You know the words - it'll be easy. Like I said, this is made out to the Beatles -- you divide it up any way you want. If you want to give less to Ringo, that's up to you -- I'd rather not get involved."

9. "I'm Lorne Michaels, producer of Saturday Night Live. A short while ago I went on the air and addressed myself to John, Paul, George, and Ringo -- the Beatles. At that time, I invited them to appear on Saturday Night and told them I was authorized by NBC to pay them in the sum of three thousand dollars. That was three thousand dollars for just three songs. Well, a month has gone by. We've heard from the Monkees, Freddy and the Dreamers, Herman's Hermits, Peter and Gordon, the Cowsills, and Lulu. But still no word from the Beatles. I'm not discouraged and neither is NBC. Because of the recent acclaim that Saturday Night has received, I was able to convince NBC to sweeten the pot. John, Paul, George, and Ringo -- we are now prepared to up the original offer to three thousand, two hundred dollars."

10. "It's really important that we get out there and we laugh. We're not going to be overly sappy."

So this year as Lorne's birthday comes to pass, let's remember all the years of entertainment he has provided to generations.

After all, Saturday Night Live is somewhat of an American institution. Let's honor the man who created it with the above 10 Lorne Michaels' quotes.