2013 Book 5: Live From New York (An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live)

I have been an on and off fan of Saturday Night Live for years. (As I think most Americans are, even if they don't realize it.) I remember my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles talking about different sketches over the years (far before I was allowed to watch it). I remember catching episodes here and there from the mid- to late-90s. I very specifically remember going to prom my junior year of high school (on a Saturday night), staying for maybe 3 songs [I don't even remember if we danced to any of those songs] and then leaving to go to my date's house where we watched SNL with his dad. 

In the last two years or so, Zach and I have been watching SNL on a pretty regular basis. (Actually, I'm sure we haven't really missed any episodes. Thank you, Hulu.) Since Zach and I have been together, I've gotten into the comedy world a lot more (Thank you, Zach.) and I've been getting a lot more interested in some of the history of comedy, and I think SNL is a really interesting cross-section of the comedy world. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book because it is very anecdotal. The book is written (or rather compiled) by Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller, but it is "told by it's stars, writers, and guests." Basically, they interviewed a bunch of people and organized all kinds of direct quotes into a chronological history of the show. As I said, I really liked the stories - I liked hearing about all the personalities, the struggles, and the highs and the lows of all the cast members. 

I had two complaints (sort of) about the book: 1) I wished it was a little more current. I don't know if there'd ever be a revision that includes later casts, but I'd really like to see a lot more from people like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrall etc, especially to see how their thoughts about the show evolved and how they look back on it after having left. 2) There's just something that didn't quite work with the format. It's not that I don't like the format, because I read Please Kill Me: An Oral History of Punk Rock 5 or 6 years ago, which is done in the same exact way and I loved it. I think the subject matter fits a little better. I think the topic of music lends itself better to this format. Mostly, I just wanted to see this book as a documentary - because I really would have liked to see some of the sketches that they addressed, and I think the people they interviewed would have been really fun to watch on video, to actually see the animation and the emotion as they recall their time at SNL. 

Anyways, overall, interesting book. In closing, one of my favorite lines from the book was:

"Alan Zweibel: I remember Gilda used to say that she would search through Lorne's desk hoping that she'd find a note in there that said, 'I really like Gilda.'" 

I laughed when I first read that, but there's so many other emotions tied into that statement, and I think it sums up the feelings of most cast members (and not even necessarily tied directly with Lorne Michael's, but the show itself, too,)