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A review by emmareadstoomuch
Live from New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests by Tom Shales, James Andrew Miller
4.0
This. Book. Is. Amazing.
I have two great loves in my life and they are constantly dueling for my time. Granted, I have an excess of free time due to laziness and not making plans with friends as often as I should, but still, EVERY MOMENT of it is a battle between my two major interests.
They are comedy and books.
For the first time, I was given an option that was TRULY BOTH. (That’s this book.)
I made this book last me for a month plus because I so enjoyed not fighting that battle. (Picture me, trapped between reading an article on John Mulaney and writing a review. Now apply that to my entire human existence.) (Am I hinting that I have another, non-human existence? Dunno. You decide.)
SNL was the show that got me into comedy. The marijuana to the eventual heroin. (Just kidding, guys. Marijuana’s not a gateway drug. Also, don’t do heroin.)
I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m talking about drugs. (Although this book talks about them, duh, and if that made you uncomfortable Janet you may just want to stay away from this and the early days of Saturday Night Live ALTOGETHER.)
Anyway. I have distinct memories of proudly setting SNL to record as a series on my thirteenth birthday. (Just because I was granted permission to watch TV-14 shows did NOT mean I was allowed to stay up until 1 a.m.) It was a momentous occasion.
I don’t have the same devotion to SNL now as I did then (Bill Hader and Andy Samberg are gone, duh) but I’m super grateful for it. Without SNL, I wouldn’t have discovered some of my favorite podcasts, movies, and TV shows, all through following the immense web that is the cast members’ careers.
Plus, it’s still the most fascinating thing ever. A weekly sketch show that’s been on the air for over forty years? Comedy’s greats practically living in 30 Rock, pulling all-nighters to write jokes, the best of which will become part of the cultural canon for decades to come? I mean, come on. Who wouldn’t want to read about that?
Thus, unsurprisingly, THIS BOOK IS SO, SO FASCINATING.
I keep describing it as gossiping with the greats of comedy. Dan Aykroyd confiding in you about Belushi; Bill Murray dishing on a fistfight with Chevy Chase minutes before air; countless, countless wonderful anecdotes about Gilda Radnor. (My favorite is that she used to search the drawers of Lorne Michaels’ desk, hoping to find a note that said, I really like Gilda.)
This book talks to Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher, Jane Curtin and Kristen Wiig, Paul Simon and Chris Martin. The only people missing are the infamously-disproportionate number of dead and Eddie Murphy, still smarting from a blow to the ego this book could never quite diagnose.
If you get the fortieth-anniversary edition - which, obviously, you should - this book clocks in at exactly 800 pages. And it’s worth every single one. There are dry spells, sure, but if this book was encyclopedic and came in volumes I’d still read every page.
Most importantly, this is a book unlike any other. I wish every show and movie I like was lucky enough to have its history encapsulated like this, but if it had to be just one show, I’m glad it’s this one.
Bottom line: A must-read for every SNL fan.
(Note: I’m super sorry this review was so earnest. It seems crazy weird to try to joke about a book with a hundred contributors when every single one of them is way funnier than me.)
I have two great loves in my life and they are constantly dueling for my time. Granted, I have an excess of free time due to laziness and not making plans with friends as often as I should, but still, EVERY MOMENT of it is a battle between my two major interests.
They are comedy and books.
For the first time, I was given an option that was TRULY BOTH. (That’s this book.)
I made this book last me for a month plus because I so enjoyed not fighting that battle. (Picture me, trapped between reading an article on John Mulaney and writing a review. Now apply that to my entire human existence.) (Am I hinting that I have another, non-human existence? Dunno. You decide.)
SNL was the show that got me into comedy. The marijuana to the eventual heroin. (Just kidding, guys. Marijuana’s not a gateway drug. Also, don’t do heroin.)
I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m talking about drugs. (Although this book talks about them, duh, and if that made you uncomfortable Janet you may just want to stay away from this and the early days of Saturday Night Live ALTOGETHER.)
Anyway. I have distinct memories of proudly setting SNL to record as a series on my thirteenth birthday. (Just because I was granted permission to watch TV-14 shows did NOT mean I was allowed to stay up until 1 a.m.) It was a momentous occasion.
I don’t have the same devotion to SNL now as I did then (Bill Hader and Andy Samberg are gone, duh) but I’m super grateful for it. Without SNL, I wouldn’t have discovered some of my favorite podcasts, movies, and TV shows, all through following the immense web that is the cast members’ careers.
Plus, it’s still the most fascinating thing ever. A weekly sketch show that’s been on the air for over forty years? Comedy’s greats practically living in 30 Rock, pulling all-nighters to write jokes, the best of which will become part of the cultural canon for decades to come? I mean, come on. Who wouldn’t want to read about that?
Thus, unsurprisingly, THIS BOOK IS SO, SO FASCINATING.
I keep describing it as gossiping with the greats of comedy. Dan Aykroyd confiding in you about Belushi; Bill Murray dishing on a fistfight with Chevy Chase minutes before air; countless, countless wonderful anecdotes about Gilda Radnor. (My favorite is that she used to search the drawers of Lorne Michaels’ desk, hoping to find a note that said, I really like Gilda.)
This book talks to Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher, Jane Curtin and Kristen Wiig, Paul Simon and Chris Martin. The only people missing are the infamously-disproportionate number of dead and Eddie Murphy, still smarting from a blow to the ego this book could never quite diagnose.
If you get the fortieth-anniversary edition - which, obviously, you should - this book clocks in at exactly 800 pages. And it’s worth every single one. There are dry spells, sure, but if this book was encyclopedic and came in volumes I’d still read every page.
Most importantly, this is a book unlike any other. I wish every show and movie I like was lucky enough to have its history encapsulated like this, but if it had to be just one show, I’m glad it’s this one.
Bottom line: A must-read for every SNL fan.
(Note: I’m super sorry this review was so earnest. It seems crazy weird to try to joke about a book with a hundred contributors when every single one of them is way funnier than me.)