Michael O’Donoghue, The Acerbic Writer Who Wanted To Give SNL A ‘Viking Funeral’
YouTubeMichael O’Donoghue and John Belushi in the very first SNL sketch.
Though he appeared in the very first SNL sketch teaching English to an immigrant, played by John Belushi, Michael O’Donoghue mostly operated behind the scenes. That said, O’Donoghue — who died in 1994 at the age of 54 from a cerebral hemorrhage — left his mark on the show.
Born on Jan. 5, 1940, O’Donoghue forged a unique path to Saturday Night Live. Sharply intelligent but with little tolerance for those who he saw as beneath him, O’Donoghue ping ponged between newspaper jobs and various literary endeavors until he became the only non-Harvard member of the National Lampoon writing staff.
He and several National Lampoon writers and performers joined Saturday Night Live when it premiered in 1975, with O’Donoghue as the head writer. O’Donoghue worked primarily behind the scenes — though he appeared in a few sketches as well — during the show’s first three seasons.
YouTubeMichael O’Donoghue on SNL. Though primarily a writer, he appeared in a handful of sketches.
O’Donoghue left, then returned, but had little interest in keeping the show afloat as it struggled to establish itself. According to Vulture, he allegedly dubbed SNL a “death ship” that deserved a “Viking funeral.” To The New York Times in 1985, O’Donoghue remarked: “I think the show is an embarrassment. It’s like watching old men die. It’s sad, sluggish, old, witless and very disturbing. It lacks intelligence and it lacks heart, and if I were grading it I’d have to give it an F.”
For this and other behavior, O’Donoghue was let go.
On Nov. 8, 1994, Michael O’Donoghue — who had long suffered from chronic headaches — died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 54.
