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‘SNL’ god hails ‘creative’ network

Predicting that Conan O’Brien will prevail on TV again, Lorne Michaels said the “mess of late night” and NBC’s “chaos and look of disorganization” was actually a testament to the network’s “creative freedom,” reports The Post’s Mandy Stadtmiller. “You can’t imagine Conan being able to say what he said [on NBC] at Fox or Disney or wherever,” the “Saturday Night Live” creator told a New Yorker panel with Ken Auletta and “SNL” head writer Seth Meyers Tuesday night. “And that chaos and that look of disorganization comes from a better place, in my opinion. It’s not a button-down-enough culture to shut things down. Whereas at CBS, when it happened with the Smothers Brothers, they were just gone.” Of Jay Leno, Michaels said, “I think he’s doing fine.” And of Betty White hosting “SNL” thanks to the Internet campaign to get her on? “I’m crazy about Betty White, so something good will come of it, yeah.”

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