“I remember a summer Sunday walking along the beach in Sagaponack. Lorne was, again, telling me something about himself as we approached a group of Hamptonites standing in a semicircle. In their midst was a beached and apparently deceased shark. ‘Is it dead?,’ Lorne inquired. No one seemed to know or be willing to find out. To my surprise, Lorne broke the circle and, placing his mouth inches from the beady eyes, said to the shark, ‘A rabbi, a minister, and a priest walk into a bar … ‘ There was a moment of tense silence as Lorne finished the joke and waited for a reaction. Getting none, he stood and announced to the crowd, ‘Yep, he’s dead. Anyone doesn’t laugh at that’s gotta be dead.’â€
— Paul Simon on when he realized how important comedy was to Lorne Michaels, from his fun, bizarre, exactly 400-word Vanity Fair profile of the famed producer.