Revealed: Why Lorne Michaels told Jack Black he thought Desi Arnaz was going to die during 1976 SNL episode

We love hearing stories from the vault.On Wednesday, Jack Black appeared on David Spade and Dana Carvey’s “Fly on the Wall” podcast where he reflected on what “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels told him when he hosted the show last month.“Lorne said the funniest thing.

I don’t think he was trying to be funny,” the actor, 55, explained.“After the rehearsal, when he saw me do the tiger roll and he saw me doing that rockin’ number, and he saw me sweating and wheezing, he said, ‘I just want to tell you a story.’ ” “In the ‘70s, this is the beginning, we had Desi Arnaz on the show,” Michaels, 80, told Black.

“And he was getting up there, he was in his 70s.And I wanted him on, because I just thought, yes he’s older, but he’s an icon.”Arnaz hosted season one episode 14 on February 21, 1976, but Black recounted that the creator told him that “Desi was kind of struggling.”Arnaz, who was married to Lucille Ball from 1940 to 1960, wanted to perform his “Babalú” number, which was his signature performance for his character Ricky Ricardo from “I Love Lucy.” The Babalú saw Arnaz singing while playing the drums with a band behind him.

The piece originated on the sitcom — which ran for six seasons from 1951 to 1957 — but Arnaz continued to do it long after the series ended.“Lorne was a little worried about it.Can he still pull it off?” Black told Carvey, 69, and Spade, 60.

“And he was doing it, but he could see that he was starting to sweat and really struggle physically while he was ‘Babalú’-ing and he wouldn’t stop.”“Then he looked closer on the screen and he’s like, ‘Desi’s lips started to turn blue’ and he started to worry like, ‘Oh, he’s about to die,’ ” he continued.“And he just pulled the plug on it and said, ‘Just go to commercial, whatever.’ “Black didn’t know what to make of Michaels’ remarks, sharing, “I was like, ‘Wait a second, are you telling me this story bec...