On Thursday evening, New Yorker editor Susan Morrison sent out a mass email invitation to an event for her forthcoming biography of Lorne Michaels. She will be chatting with her colleague, the writer Emily Nussbaum, at McNally Jackson’s Seaport location next week. She asked: Would they like to reserve just a seat ($5) or a book along with it ($36)?
People began hitting reply all, saying they were sorry to miss the event. Then writer Eric Alterman chimed in, at first wondering whether Morrison had made a mistake in inviting him — “I wonder if I was supposed to get this …” — before expressing his frustration that he’d never received a copy of the book despite asking Random House “for a galley or a pdf (twice)” and speculating whether Morrison was mad at a mutual friend for something they’d written. Writer Paul Goldberger said he couldn’t make it because he was speaking at the Met about Paul Rudolph that night.
At 7:11 p.m., Morrison sent another email, subject line “A note about my recent LORNE email,” to say that “a lot of people are inadvertently hitting REPLY ALL to the McNally Jackson email I just sent.” She reminded people to email her personally if they’d like to send a note.
It was to no avail. At 7:19, Renata Adler wrote, “It’s perfect, you, Lorne, a legacy for Lillian,” a cryptic reference possibly to longtime New Yorker writer Lillian Ross who died in 2017. At 8:03 p.m., Win McCormack, the 79-year-old owner of The New Republic, last seen being fleeced for $34 million by his beloved chauffeur, wrote, “I have no idea what this is all about. Why am I included in this correspondence?”
An hour later, Graydon Carter said he’d try to make the two parties he’d been invited to for this book, along with Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary celebration on Sunday night. “Honestly, I have my own life. I cannot devote any more time to Lorne …” he wrote, before inadvertently plugging his own forthcoming memoir, When the Going Was Good, a photo of which is currently in his email signature.
“Dear Boomers,” Tina Fey wrote in the thread at 9:38, with a link to an instructional YouTube video for senior citizens on how to read, reply, and forward emails when using a Gmail account.
“Ahahahahahahah!! Thanks Tina,” wrote SNL hanger-on Jon Hamm. “Also thanks Susan! I’ll see you there! BUMP!!”
Colin Jost joined the thread at 10:04 p.m. “Guys, the video Tina sent is malware. Make sure to keep hitting Reply All or the virus can infect your computers.”
Jon Hamm jumped in again. “Oh my goodness. Thank you young man.”
Then came Aaron Sorkin, economical, for once, with his words: “How did I get involved in this?”
Morrison, reached for comment, said, “Clearly my nearest and dearest are booklovers more than they are digital natives. Fine by me!”
The thread is still going as of this writing, with most people making jokes. Rosanne Cash: “I only have so much time left on the planet and I had to choose between reading this email chain and Heather Cox Richardson.” Jesse Eisenberg: “Can I play win mccormack when we read this at symphony space?” Kurt Andersen: “Signing up for the Random House platinum premium content level was worth it after all.” Cora Frazier of “Shouts & Murmurs” said she’d take a book and a ticket and offered a presumably fake debit-card number, expiration date, and PIN, to which composer and frequent Coen brothers collaborator Carter Burwell wrote, “I’ll take one seat and one ticket, on Cora’s Visa card.”
But others continued to sincerely express regret that they couldn’t make the event. “If I weren’t actually going to be abroad Thursday for work,” said Andrew Solomon, “I would be pretending to be so for pleasure, as being otherwise engaged seems to be as close as I can come to casting a mark of glamour in the crowd.”
