Entertainment

BRIAN ASKED BROKAW FOR ADVICE ON ‘SNL’

TOM Brokaw didn’t approve of his successor as NBC news anchor, Brian Williams, hosting “Saturday Night Live” earlier this month.

“He wrote to me beforehand,” Brokaw told the CNN show “Reliable Sources” yesterday. “And my instinct was to say, ‘Don’t do this.’ ”

Seems “SNL” had tried to get Brokaw too.

“When I was an anchorman 10, 15 years ago, Lorne would come by and say: ‘You know, would you ever think about it?’ And I would say: ‘No . . . I have got to stay on my side of the line, Lorne.’ ”

Brokaw ultimately gave his blessing on the advice of his wife.

“Meredith said to me: ‘You know, he should be able to do that,’ ” he said.

“So I wrote back to him and said: ‘Make sure that you maintain control.’ ”

Williams, meanwhile, won the news-ratings race in the week following his appearance on “SNL.”