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Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests |
Author: James A. Miller
Published: 2003-10-01 |
List price: $15.95
Our price: $5.69
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As of: November 20th, 2008 04:44:42 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Do You Like The Behind-The-Scenes Low Down?
I usually write reviews of books that deal with theology and Christian apologetics and other really side-splitting kinds of subjects that, I suspect, provide endless amusement and delight to both of the people who have read them.
But I'm wandering outside my usual field because I found this history of a culturally influential television institution to be quite interesting. It is, at times, funny and-reflecting the reality of what happened-at times, sad.
"Live From New York" basically tells the story of how Saturday Night Live started and it takes the reader through the various eras of the show.
It seems that I'm in the minority among many of the people I know, but I think some of the more recent eras of the show and some of the more recent mixes of cast members are just as funny-and perhaps even funnier-than the early days with Belushi, Akroyd, Chase, and the gang. My friends who disagree with this assessment will, no doubt, snort and wave their hands dismissively. Sometimes I say things that these people disagree with just to watch the snorting and hand waving. When you lead a slow-paced life, little things go a long way.
In telling SNL's history, the book relies heavily on quotes from numerous cast members and writers, past and present. The behind-the-scenes stories of various people who have been involved with the show over the years are captivating for someone like myself who has enjoyed watching SNL in its various permutations over the past several decades.
 Saturday Night Live
Book is a great source of commentarys from the people who worked on the shows over the years. It does not deal in a narrative form, only blocks of comments by people. Little detail on specific sketches or true history, more like a collection of things remembered by people involved with the show. It made a great addition to my other books, and is enjoyable on its own.
A dense history of SNL
Virtually everything that has ever happened on SNL is contained within this book. A brilliant narrative assembled almost entirely of interview fragments from people involved with the show, the book is a crash course in SNL history from it's inception to the modern era.
Particularly interesting is the exposure of cast conflict bubbling over onto the show into hilarious sketches, such as Chevy Chase's rise to stardom and Belushi's jealousy becoming a cold open for the show.
Although it's almost 600 pages long, it reads like a much shorter book, and I couldn't put the thing down. I found myself waking up early before work to put a dent in it, and was genuinely aggravated when nine o'clock rolled around and I had to go to my desk.
The book is also incredibly instructive to those interested in sketch comedy. SNL being the pinnacle of the medium, being given the opportunity to get into the heads of such an array of writers and actors is really revealing.
Live from New York: An Interesting behind the scenes look
Background:
The authors interview most of the living cast and crew from SNL and gather/mold the various responses into a kind of oral history of what went on behind the scenes of the show from day one. The book also takes a look at what was happening at the network level and the encounters that Michaels and the other producers of the show had when corporate sensibilites clashed with comic creativity. The version I read also has an extra 30 pages or so of what various people think about Lorne Michaels.
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This was a pretty interesting book if your like me and werent even born when the first show came and only really became aware of it in the mid 90's. It does a pretty good job of showing how the show changed (it seems in the casts eye's first) from a show were you did envelope pushing comedy to a place that was more of a spring board to a movie career. The book also does go into detail on most of the famous feuds, deaths, bad hosts/good hosts, and other incidents that have popped up over the years. A great majority of the book deals with how the show comes together, which I think is the most interesting part, and how all the people somehow manage to work together depiste massive pressure and somtimes conflicting personalites. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes SNL and wants some background info on how the show came to be in its current form and perhaps those who might want an idea of what happens on the road to stardom.
m.a.c
Live from New York
This is a big sprawling nonfiction book told in highly readable "sound-bites" more than 25 years after the heyday of the ground-breaking television show Saturday Night Live. The author rounds up everyone involved (with the exception of the poor dead people like John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Chris Farley). So you get an interesting then-and-now view. The participants put their work into perspective with the passing of time. One thing that impressed me was how much this show has influenced American pop culture. Also noteworthy: how incredibly pressured the job was. These people (notably Chevy Chase) ran roughshod over each other, and then had to put up with each other. This is what happens when you get a lot of creative types, big egos, and (yes) recreational drugs at the same table, and then put yourself on a killer schedule. Fans of the show will find this especially fascinating to read.
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