biography

Between the clock ticking down to air and a clattering jazz score, recorded live on set, this barely sits still. The casting is excellent. Gabriel LaBelle is very good as Lorne Michaels, but the standout is Cory Michael Smith, whose Chevy Chase manages to be charming and insufferable at once.

I can see why some found it self-indulgent, but for a supposed hagiography it spends a lot of time on the mess: Belushi won’t sign his contract, Chevy needles anyone within reach and Lorne is out of his depth for most of the night. Naturally it’s Chevy who gets to say ‘Live from New York’.

The book has three layers: the 1978 original, a brief 1985 update, and a more substantial 2022 one. The accretion does something historiographical. Each pass lets Leaf revisit his earlier claims, correct what time has disproved, adjust what had previously been legally neutered, and register how public perception of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys has shifted across four decades. You can watch the consensus reorganise itself around the man, edition by edition. For a fully paid-up Brian Wilson acolyte like me, it’s about as comprehensive as the literature gets. Forty-four years is a long time to keep returning to one man. Leaf makes a good case for why it was worth it.

Watched on Tuesday February 3, 2026.