Lorne Michaels reacts to the death of longtime SNL lighting director Phil Hymes

The New York Times

Hymes, 96, joined Saturday Night Live in its second season in 1976 and played a major role on the show as a lighting director until early 2018. Last year, Hymes won his first Emmy as SNL lighting director at age 95 -- 53 years after winning his first and only other Emmy for The Magnificent Yankee. “He was a force to be reckoned with, and his presence and strength were something I came to rely on,” Michaels said in a statement. “He will be missed, but if God has him now, despite all the arguing, heaven will be much better lit.” As The New York Times' obituary notes, Hymes was known for his brutal honesty, and for his willingness to stop a rehearsal to tell a performer that something didn't look right. “He said something to Lady Gaga — something nobody would ever say to her, probably about what she was wearing, or her makeup,” said SNL lighting director Rick McGuinness, who shared last year's Emmy with Hymes. “Whatever he said, I later overheard her say: ‘I love him. He tells me the truth.’” As The Times reports, "a dispute between Mr. Hymes and the rapper Kanye West’s representatives over scenery they had brought to a taping nearly led Mr. West to leave the show altogether after the dress rehearsal."