Iconoclasts - Season2 - Paul Simon + Lorne Michaels

Paul Simon

Musician

Paul Simon has written, recorded, and performed some of the most enduring songs of our time, and has been a powerful cultural force from his 1960's folk origins through a series of acclaimed releases in every decade since, including his most recent masterpiece, Surprise. Debuting in 1964 with Simon & Garfunkel, by the end of the decade Mr. Simon was an era-defining star, with Bridge Over Troubled Water winning a Grammy for best album of the year in 1970. Throughout the 1970's Simon wrote and recorded a string of timeless hits, and won a second album of the year Grammy for 1975's Still Crazy After All These Years. Mr. Simon's music often explored different rhythms from around the world, a process that reached a peak with Graceland, his 1986 landmark (and third album of the year Grammy winner), and the Brazilian influenced Rhythm Of The Saints in 1990. In 1998 Mr. Simon wrote and produced the Broadway musical The Capeman collaborating with the poet and Nobel laureate Derek Walcott. In December of 2002, he was the recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor, which recognizes the highest level of achievements in the arts. That same year, Mr. Simon wrote the touching ballad "Father and Daughter" for The Wild Thornberry's movie which was nominated for both a Golden Globe and Academy Award for "Best Song." Mr. Simon's contributions to charitable causes are widely heralded. He is co-founder of the Children's Health Fund, bringing medical care to homeless and indigent children. He has raised money for the Nature Conservancy, the Fund for Detained and Imprisoned Children in South Africa, and Amfar. In 1989, in recognition for his efforts, the United Negro College Fund bestowed upon Mr. Simon its highest honor, the Frederick D. Patterson Award. Mr. Simon has been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as part of Simon and Garfunkel and a solo artist. He has received honorary degrees from Yale University and Berklee College of Music and won twelve Grammy awards as well as the Icon Award from BMI and the Person of the Year Award from MusiCares. Mr. Simon's newest album Surprise was released last May to widespread praise.

Lorne Michaels

Producer

Lorne Michaels is the creator and executive producer of NBC's "Saturday Night Live," the longest-running and highest-rated weekly, late-night television program in history. Over the last 30 years, "SNL" has won numerous Emmy Awards and was honored with the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and cited as "truly a national institution." Most recently, Michaels and the show were honored with a 2002 Emmy for Best Writing in a Variety/Comedy Series. Michaels has personally won ten Emmys as a writer and producer in television, one of those being for "The Paul Simon Special" in 1977. Michaels' film credits include THREE AMIGOS, WAYNE'S WORLD, TOMMY BOY, and the World War II drama ENGIMA, which he produced with Mick Jagger. Most recently, he produced the hit comedy MEAN GIRLS, starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. In addition to his weekly duties on "SNL," Michaels is executive producer of NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and the new NBC comedy "30 Rock". Michaels' past television credits also include the series "The Kids in the Hall" and "Night Music," as well as specials with Steve Martin, The Rutles, Flip Wilson, The Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, Randy Newman, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park, and Lily Tomlin which he won 2 Emmy's for. On Broadway, Michaels produced and directed Gilda Radner Live from New York and produced the subsequent motion picture GILDA LIVE. Michaels began his career in Toronto, where he attended the University of Toronto and worked as a writer and producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Company and starred in the comedy series "The Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour." In 1968, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a writer for NBC's "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" and other television series until he left in 1975 to begin "SNL" in New York. In 1979, Michaels founded the New York-based production company, Broadway Video Inc. Highlights: 1975: Lorne Michaels creates Saturday Night Live for NBC and history is made. 1979: Michaels forms the production company, Broadway Video Inc. 1999: Michaels is inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. 2004: Lorne Michaels receives the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts. Learn more about Lorne Michaels and his work at: lornemichaels.com Saturday Night Live

Photos from this episode:

Image from the Paul Simon + Lorne Michaels episode of Iconoclasts Season 2.