Michael O'Donoghue (January 5, 1940 – November 8, 1994) was an American writer, actor, editor and comedian.
He was known for his
dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, and was a major contributor to
''National Lampoon'' magazine. He was the first head writer of ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' and the first performer to deliver a line on the series.
Early life
O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in
Sauquoit, New York. His father, Michael, worked as an engineer, while his mother, Barbara, stayed home to raise him.
O'Donoghue's early career included work as a playwright and stage actor at the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...
where he drifted in and out of school beginning in 1959. His first published writing appeared in the school's humor magazine ''Ugh!''
After a brief time working as a writer in San Francisco, California, O'Donoghue returned to Rochester and participated in regional theater. During this period, he formed a group called Bread and Circuses specifically to perform his early plays which were of an experimental nature and often quite disturbing to the local audience. Among these are an absurdist work exploring themes of
sadism entitled "The Twilight Maelstrom of
Cookie Lavagetto", a cycle of one-act plays called ''Le Theatre de Malaise'' and the 1964 dark satire ''The Death of JFK''.
His first work of greater note was the picaresque feature "
The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist", published as a serial in ''
Evergreen Review''. This was an erotic satire of the comic book genre, later released in revised and expanded form as a book by that magazine's publisher,
Grove Press
Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United S ...
. Drawn by
Frank Springer, the comic detailed the adventures of
debutante
A debutante, also spelled débutante ( ; from , ), or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and is presented to society at a formal "debut" ( , ; ) or possibly debutante ball. Origin ...
Phoebe Zeit-Geist as she was variously kidnapped and rescued by a series of bizarre
Inuit
Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
,
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
,
Chinese foot fetishists,
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
assassins and other characters. ''
Doonesbury
''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, ...
'' comic-strip creator
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist best known for creating the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip.
Trudeau won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1975, making him the first comic strip artist to win a ...
cited the strip as an early inspiration, saying, "
very heavy influence was a serial in the Sixties called 'Phoebe Zeitgeist'. . . . It was an absolutely brilliant, deadpan send-up of adventure comics, but with a very edgy modernist kind of approach. To this day, I hold virtually every panel in my brain. It's very hard not to steal from it."
In 1968, O'Donoghue worked with illustrator and fellow ''Evergreen Review'' veteran Phil Wende to create the illustrated book ''The Incredible, Thrilling Adventures of the Rock''. Biographer Dennis Perrin described it as having "no plot. The same rock sits in the same spot in the same forest for thousands of years. Nothing much happens. Then, while two boys roam the wood in search of a Christmas tree, one sees the rock and is inspired."
Taking the idea to the publisher
Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
, the pair sold the book to the young editor
Christopher Cerf. Cerf was a former member of the ''
Harvard Lampoon
''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Overview
The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduate ...
'', and O'Donoghue's first acquaintance from that group. Through Cerf, O'Donoghue would meet
George W. S. Trow and other former ''Lampoon'' writers looking to start a national comedy magazine.
In 1969, O'Donoghue and Trow co-wrote the script for the
James Ivory /
Ismail Merchant film ''
Savages''. This film tells the story of a tribe of prehistoric "Mud People" who happen upon a deserted
Gatsby-esque 1930s manor house. The Mud People evolve into contemporary high-society types who enjoy a decadent weekend party at the manor before ultimately devolving back into Mud People. ''Savages'' was eventually released in 1972.
''National Lampoon'' magazine
O'Donoghue was, along with
Henry Beard and
Doug Kenney, a founding writer and later an editor for the
satiric ''National Lampoon'' magazine. As one of many outstanding ''National Lampoon'' contributors, O'Donoghue created some of the distinctive
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
which characterized the magazine's flavor for most of its first decade. His most famous contributions include "The Vietnamese Baby Book", in which a baby's war wounds are cataloged in a keepsake; the "Ezra Taft Benson High School Yearbook", a precursor to the ''Lampoon''s ''High School Yearbook Parody''; the comic "Tarzan of the Cows"; and the continuing feature "Underwear for the Deaf". Two of his parodies were reprinted in the anthology ''National Lampoon: This Side of Parodies'' (Warner Paperback Library, 1974).
He was also the editor and main contributor to the ''Lampoons ''Encyclopedia of Humor.'' He co-wrote the album ''
Radio Dinner'' with
Tony Hendra, and because of the album's success, he was assigned to direct and act on ''
The National Lampoon Radio Hour''. After 13 episodes, publisher
Matty Simmons asked O'Donoghue to return to the magazine. A week later, O'Donoghue and Simmons argued over what was later revealed to be a simple misunderstanding, and O'Donoghue left.
It was at the ''Lampoon'' that O'Donoghue met
Anne Beatts, with whom he became romantically involved.
The two later moved on to work at ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' together.
''Saturday Night Live''
On the pioneering late-night
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...
program ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' (originally called ''NBC's Saturday Night''), creator and executive producer
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian and American television writer and film producer. He created and produced ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and produced the ''Late Night (franchise) ...
hired him as a writer. O'Donoghue appeared in the first show's opening sketch as an English-language teacher, instructing
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi ( ; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, singer and musician. He was one of seven ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members of the first season. He was arguably the most popular member of the ''Satur ...
to repeat the phrases, "I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines,", "We are out of badgers. Would you accept a wolverine in its place?" and "'Hey!' Ned exclaimed. 'Let's boil the wolverines.'" before suddenly dropping dead of a heart attack. He later made appearances in the persona of a
Vegas-style "impressionist" who would pay great praise to showbiz mainstays such as
talk show
A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
host
Mike Douglas
Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. (August 11, 1920Cook County Birth Certificates, file number 6053268, borAugust 11, 1920/ref>Social Security Death Index, Michael D. Dowd Jr., Birth: 11 Aug 1920, death: 11 Aug 2006 residing in North Palm Beach, FL, acce ...
and singers
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn (also known simply as Dawn) is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s, composed of singer Tony Orlando and the backing vocal group Dawn (Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson). Their signature hits inclu ...
—and then speculate how they would react if steel needles with real sharp points were plunged into their eyes. The shrieking fits that followed are believed to be inspired by O'Donoghue's real-life agonies from chronic
migraine
Migraine (, ) is a complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Other characterizing symptoms may includ ...
headaches.
O'Donoghue, in reference to his refusal to write for
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...
's ''
Land of Gorch'' sketches which appeared in the early years of SNL, quipped, "I won't write for felt."
Later, O'Donoghue cultivated the persona of the grim "Mr. Mike", a coldly decadent figure who favored viewers with comically dark "Least-Loved Bedtime Stories" such as "The Little Engine that Died". One of his most notable ''SNL'' sketches is the ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' spoof "
The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" that was a tour-de-force for Belushi.
In 1979, he produced a television special for NBC, featuring most of the ''SNL'' cast, called ''
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video.'' Because of its raunchy content, the network rejected the program, which was then released as a theatrical film.
O'Donoghue returned to ''SNL'' in 1981 when new executive producer
Dick Ebersol needed an old hand to help revive the faltering series. O'Donoghue's volatile personality and mood swings made this difficult: his first day on the show he screamed at all the cast members, forcing everyone to write on the walls with magic markers.
Catherine O'Hara
Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian and American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She started her career in sketch comedy, sketch and improvisational comedy in film and television before expanding her career taking dra ...
was rumored to have quit ''SNL'' after a week and before appearing on-air due to O'Donoghue's volatility. O'Hara denied this account, saying she didn't feel comfortable in New York City and left to return to ''
Second City Television
''Second City Television'', commonly shortened to ''SCTV'' and later known as ''SCTV Network'' and ''SCTV Channel'', is a Canadian television sketch comedy show about a fictional television station that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984 ...
''. The only cast member O'Donoghue liked was
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...
, reportedly because Murphy was not afraid of him. According to the book ''Live from New York'', O'Donoghue tried to shake things up on that first day by saying "this is what the show lacks" and spray-painting the word "DANGER" on the wall of his office.
O'Donoghue was released from the show after writing the never-aired sketch "The Last Days in Silverman's Bunker", which compared NBC network president
Fred Silverman
Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...
's problems at the network to
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
's final days.
It was planned that John Belushi would return to play Silverman, and a great deal of work had been done on creating sets for the sketch (which would have run for about twenty minutes), including the construction of a large
Nazi eagle clutching an NBC corporate logo instead of a
swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...
. Another unaired O'Donoghue sketch from around the same period, "The Good Excuse", also involved Nazi jokes. In the sketch, a captured German officer berated by his captors for Nazi war crimes explains that he had a good excuse, which he whispers into their ears, inaudible to the viewers. His captors are quickly persuaded that the unheard excuse was, in fact, an acceptable reason for the crimes of the Third Reich.
On October 26, 1986, O'Donoghue was further connected to ''SNL'' by virtue of his marriage to the show's musical director, Cheryl Hardwick.
The union was fodder for a "Weekend Update" joke in which
Dennis Miller noted that the couple was registered at
Black+Decker.
O'Donoghue was one of several original writers rehired by Lorne Michaels upon his return to produce the show in 1985. O'Donoghue's intention was to write and direct short films for the show; however, none were completed and he wrote little else, apart from a monologue seemingly designed to humiliate
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...
when he hosted the second show of the season. (The monologue began, "Right after I stopped doing cocaine, I turned into a giant garden slug, and, for the life of me, I don't know why.") The monologue never aired, and O'Donoghue was fired a month later after telling ''The New York Times'' that ''SNL'' had become "an embarrassment. It's like watching old men die." His final contribution to the show was a song, "Boulevard of Broken Balls", co-written with his wife Hardwick and performed by Christopher Walken on the October 24, 1992 episode.
Other work
O'Donoghue acted in a supporting role in the 1985 comedy ''
Head Office''. He had small parts in the 1979 movie ''
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
'' (which poked fun at ''SNL''), the 1987 movie ''
Wall Street
Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
'', and the 1988 movie he co-wrote, ''
Scrooged''. O'Donoghue said he loathed the theatrical release of ''Scrooged'', insisting until his death that he and co-writer and best friend
Mitch Glazer had written a much better film. He also wrote or co-wrote a number of unproduced screenplays, of which the Chevy Chase collaboration ''Saturday Matinee'' (a.k.a. ''Planet of the Cheap Special Effects'') remains legendary in Hollywood screenwriter circles.
O'Donoghue also found some success as a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
songwriter, his most notable credit being
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...
's "
Single Women" (1982). The song, originally composed for a 1981 ''SNL'' skit, later inspired the 1984
ABC TV movie ''Single Bars, Single Women'' starring
Tony Danza
Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza; April 21, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional boxer. He is known for co-starring in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983) and ''Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992 ...
and
Jean Smart
Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. Jean Smart filmography, Her work includes both comedy and drama, and List of awards and nominations received by Jean Smart, her accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards a ...
, which was produced by O'Donoghue.
In 1992, O'Donoghue created a sketch show pilot titled ''TV'' for
FOX directed by
Walter Williams, creator of ''
Mr. Bill'', and featuring
Kelly Lynch
Kelly Ann Lynch (born January 31, 1959) is an American film and television actress. She had her breakthrough role in the 1988 film ''Cocktail,'' before playing a romantic lead opposite Patrick Swayze in the cult film '' Road House'' (1989). She w ...
. The pilot was ultimately passed on by the network.
Death
On November 8, 1994, he died of a
cerebral hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...
at age 54.
Legacy
He is portrayed by
Tommy Dewey in the 2024 film ''
Saturday Night''.
Biography
Dennis Perrin's biography ''Mr. Mike: The Life and Work of Michael O'Donoghue'' was published in 1998 by Avon Books. The Barnes and Noble overview reads, "This is the unvarnished story of a towering figure in American popular culture, the prime artistic force behind an entire generation of humorists and satirists."
Writing credits
*''
Evergreen Review'' (1966, 1969) (Periodical)
*''
The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist'' (with
Frank Springer) (1966) (Comic)
*''
National Lampoon'' (1970–1974) (Periodical)
*''
National Lampoon Radio Dinner
''Radio Dinner'' is the debut album by the creators of the American satirical magazine '' National Lampoon''. It was released on Blue Thumb Records in 1972 after RCA Records had declined to issue the record. The humor on the album is steeped in t ...
'' (with
Tony Hendra and
Bob Tischler) (1972) (LP)
*''
The National Lampoon Encyclopedia of Humor'' (1973) (Editor)
*''
Savages'' (with
George W.S. Trow) (1972)
*''
National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) (Radio)
*''
Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle'' (with
Anne Beatts) (1975) (Adaptation)
*''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' (1975–1978, 1981; 1985) (TV)
*''
Gilda Live'' (with
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian. She was one of the seven Saturday Night Live cast members, original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series ...
,
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian and American television writer and film producer. He created and produced ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and produced the ''Late Night (franchise) ...
,
Anne Beatts,
Rosie Shuster,
Alan Zweibel,
Marilyn Suzanne Miller,
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian musician, actor, and comedian who served as David Letterman's musical director, bandleader, and sidekick on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (1982–1993) and ''Late Show with D ...
and
Don Novello) (1980) (Stage/Film)
*''
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video'' (with
Mitch Glazer,
Emily Prager and
Dirk Wittenborn) (1979)
*''
Single Women'' (1982) (Song)
*''
Scrooged'' (with
Mitch Glazer) (1988)
*''
Spin Magazine
''Spin'' (stylized in all caps as ''SPIN'') is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. ...
'' ("NOT MY FAULT" Column) (1993–1994) (Periodical)
Unproduced screenplays
*''
Arrive Alive'' (with
Mitch Glazer)
*''Biker Heaven'' (with
Terry Southern and
Nelson Lyon)
*''Saturday Matinee'' (with
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...
)
*''War of the Insect Gods'' (with
Mitch Glazer,
Emily Prager and
Dirk Wittenborn)
Filmography
See also
*"
The Last Voyage of the Starship ''Enterprise''"
References
Works cited
*
*
*
*
Mark's Very Large ''National Lampoon'' Site: Michael O'Donoghue
External links
*
*
*
(four "Not My Fault!" columns by O'Donoghue, from ''
Spin'' magazine)
O'Donoghue at Mark's Very Large National Lampoon Site*
Bloch, Mark.
The First Saturday Night Live Movie: Robert Delford Brown is “Jo Jo, The Human Hot Plate” in Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video. '(from
'' Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina, 2008. , .
Mr. Mike's America: A Comic's Trek with SNL's First Head Writerby Paul Slansky, ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'', March 1983
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonoghue, Michael
1940 births
1994 deaths
American male comedians
American male film actors
American humorists
American parodists
American male journalists
American magazine editors
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American comedy writers
National Lampoon people
20th-century American male actors
People from Sauquoit, New York
American male television writers
American television writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
Screenwriters from New York (state)
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American screenwriters
Comedians from New York (state)
American satirists
American comics writers
American satirical comics writers