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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.)
I know this is a long book, and it will continue to grow until SNL is over (if that ever happens) but it is a must read for any fan of the show! I loved it! I learned so much about what goes on behind the scenes. It is really interesting to see how opinions differ on the same subjects. Especially Lorne Michaels, that guy has a lot of people who love him and a lot of people who hate him. It was really neat to see the differences in the cast's attitudes throughout the decades. And I was really impressed with how well all the clipped together quotes from the cast member's interviews and books flow together so well.
I’m a big fan of oral history books, as well as being a big SNL fan, so this was like a perfect match for me. To learn about the entire show’s history, from when it was first conceptualized all the way through to it’s 40th season, it’s remarkable. I’m Gen Z, so I didn’t quite understand the importance it held in the 80s or 90s, I didn’t know the sheer number of actors, actresses, and writers that came through the SNL ranks. So to hear that through the lens of the people who were a part of it for so long, it was really insightful. A must-read for any SNL fan, or any fan of show-biz in general.
Learned some new things, heard a lot of things I knew. The narration was not the best, but not the worst. Overall enjoyable, but just LONG.
If you're a fan of Saturday Night Live, the SNL cast and/or comedy, this book is a MUST.
I've been a longtime fan of SNL and am a comedy geek, so this was everything to me. I had a smile plastered on my face while reading and it just genuinely enjoyed reading about the minutia of the behind-the-scenes of the famous late night world.
I truly don't know what my life would be like without SNL. It's introduced me to so many of my favorite comedians, comfort shows and movies, podcasts and more thanks to getting invested in comedy and the cast members of the show. So to me, this book was a piece of happiness. And I made it last me for a little over a month so I could take it all in.
It was such a fun read and had so much insight. If you're a fan of SNL, you must read this book.
I've been a longtime fan of SNL and am a comedy geek, so this was everything to me. I had a smile plastered on my face while reading and it just genuinely enjoyed reading about the minutia of the behind-the-scenes of the famous late night world.
I truly don't know what my life would be like without SNL. It's introduced me to so many of my favorite comedians, comfort shows and movies, podcasts and more thanks to getting invested in comedy and the cast members of the show. So to me, this book was a piece of happiness. And I made it last me for a little over a month so I could take it all in.
It was such a fun read and had so much insight. If you're a fan of SNL, you must read this book.
emotional
informative
reflective
Anyone even slightly interested in comedy should read this book.
It's basically quotes from everyone ever affiliated with SNL. There were some interesting stories that I hadn't heard before. I also liked hearing from the two sides of some controversy that happened. I skimmed the early generation section of the book and focused more on my generation (Adam Sandler, Chris Rock up to Tina Fey and Seth Myers).
I finally finished this beast! I've never spent seven weeks on a book before, but this was an easy one to stop and put away after a few pages or so. It's really good though. I was introduced to the show in 6th grade at a slumber party and haven't missed an episode since 1995. I've never read an oral history before, and some parts were repetitive and tedious, but loved this comprehensive look at the show's history with excerpts from cast members, hosts, writers, producers, and Lorne himself.
When I was a teenager, there was a channel that began replaying SNL from the first episode in 1975, and my dad would record it and we would watch it every night. I watched all of the material from the 1970s while also watching the current shows in the late 80s, and it was fascinating to watch how much had changed, and what had stayed the same. Because Lorne Michaels wasn't at the show from 1980-85, he never allows that era to be reshown, so that will always be a hole in my viewing knowledge of the show, but otherwise, it's been that one show that I'm always checking in with and watching every week.
This is a fantastic book about the life of SNL, told by the stars, writers, and producers who put it on the air. It was originally released in 2002, I believe, and then updated with the past 13 years added on so it would be ready for the show's 40th anniversary. The early years contain stories from all of the living Not Ready for Prime Time Players (even the loathed Chevy Chase), and they do NOT hold back on anything. It's juicy, exciting, and amazing to read. Then it moves to the 1980s and turns into a lot of vitriol and upset, and then the post-1985 stuff ranges from bitter — seriously, I love Jeanine Garofalo but all she does is bitch about how awful it was working there, and everyone else just bitches about having her around — to boring. Joe Piscopo comes off as a tool who believes his impression of Sinatra wasn't so much comedy as loving tribute, and he reviles Phil Hartman for not being as loving when he did it years later.
The most recent additions were clearly done quickly, and you can tell exactly where the book originally came to a close because of all of the "This is what SNL has meant to my life" stuff that's in there before it switches to the new tacked-on chapter. The final chapter, about Lorne Michaels, has incorporated new quotations with the older ones, but the newer material was rushed (it's the only time in the book where you'll see formatting typos or, in one case, an entire long quotation repeated three pages after it originally runs) and wasn't exactly revelatory. Just a bunch of people saying Lorne Michaels changed their lives (or didn't) and that yeah, those early guys did a ton of drugs and all had sex with each other but we do yoga and eat vegan food. The one exception is Andy Samberg, who is as interesting in the interviews as he was on the show. Though I will admit Rachel Dratch telling the story of breaking during the Debbie Downer sketch at Disney World had me giggling all over again as I remembered watching it.
I would still award this book five stars if it weren't for the oversight of the musical aspect of the show. With the exception of Paul Simon — who is one of Lorne Michaels' best friends — there's almost no mention whatsoever of any of the musical acts, nor did the authors of the book deign to interview any of them. There have been some LEGENDARY musical performances on SNL, but absolutely no mention of any of them in the book. Where was David Bowie? Or Elvis Costello's infamous performance where he got banned for life? Or the Beastie Boys? Or Kanye? So many bands have done iconic performances on SNL, and the authors just skip the music entirely like it's not part of the show at all. I almost want to remove another star for the oversight, but the first 300 pages of the book were so damn good I can't bring myself to do that.
Despite that glaring omission, I would highly recommend this book. The stories in it are amazing, and you'll come away with a completely new understanding of how this groundbreaking show works and has been running for over 40 years.
This is a fantastic book about the life of SNL, told by the stars, writers, and producers who put it on the air. It was originally released in 2002, I believe, and then updated with the past 13 years added on so it would be ready for the show's 40th anniversary. The early years contain stories from all of the living Not Ready for Prime Time Players (even the loathed Chevy Chase), and they do NOT hold back on anything. It's juicy, exciting, and amazing to read. Then it moves to the 1980s and turns into a lot of vitriol and upset, and then the post-1985 stuff ranges from bitter — seriously, I love Jeanine Garofalo but all she does is bitch about how awful it was working there, and everyone else just bitches about having her around — to boring. Joe Piscopo comes off as a tool who believes his impression of Sinatra wasn't so much comedy as loving tribute, and he reviles Phil Hartman for not being as loving when he did it years later.
The most recent additions were clearly done quickly, and you can tell exactly where the book originally came to a close because of all of the "This is what SNL has meant to my life" stuff that's in there before it switches to the new tacked-on chapter. The final chapter, about Lorne Michaels, has incorporated new quotations with the older ones, but the newer material was rushed (it's the only time in the book where you'll see formatting typos or, in one case, an entire long quotation repeated three pages after it originally runs) and wasn't exactly revelatory. Just a bunch of people saying Lorne Michaels changed their lives (or didn't) and that yeah, those early guys did a ton of drugs and all had sex with each other but we do yoga and eat vegan food. The one exception is Andy Samberg, who is as interesting in the interviews as he was on the show. Though I will admit Rachel Dratch telling the story of breaking during the Debbie Downer sketch at Disney World had me giggling all over again as I remembered watching it.
I would still award this book five stars if it weren't for the oversight of the musical aspect of the show. With the exception of Paul Simon — who is one of Lorne Michaels' best friends — there's almost no mention whatsoever of any of the musical acts, nor did the authors of the book deign to interview any of them. There have been some LEGENDARY musical performances on SNL, but absolutely no mention of any of them in the book. Where was David Bowie? Or Elvis Costello's infamous performance where he got banned for life? Or the Beastie Boys? Or Kanye? So many bands have done iconic performances on SNL, and the authors just skip the music entirely like it's not part of the show at all. I almost want to remove another star for the oversight, but the first 300 pages of the book were so damn good I can't bring myself to do that.
Despite that glaring omission, I would highly recommend this book. The stories in it are amazing, and you'll come away with a completely new understanding of how this groundbreaking show works and has been running for over 40 years.