Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests
by James A. Miller, Tom Shales
List Price:
Our Price: $6.38
You Save: $9.57 (60%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $4.18 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: James A. Miller, Tom ShalesEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2003-10-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 656
Book Reviews of Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests
Book Review: Not a Pretty Place to Work
Summary: 2 Stars
My problems with this "Live From New York" book is that the authors Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller seem to favor certain actors over others, as in a previous backstage "Saturday Night Live" book written in the late 1980s by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad. Both books tell the same story. For instance, Gilda Radner was most favored. She seemed like a demure, healthy, innocent, nice girl in an environment infested with drug addicts, drunks, egomaniacs, and assertive people. Then, as expected, someone like Chevy Chase gets all the heat as a mean man bringing everyone down. However, Rena Fruchter's recent biography of Chevy portrays him as a nice man with a harrowing upbringing, and if you believe Ms. Fruchter, then most things written about Chevy in both books are a pack of lies, and Chevy thinks they are, too. We see Bill Murray as a rough-and-tough fighter, Jane Curtin as an assertive woman who takes no nonsense from anyone and let's you have it if you mess with her, John Belushi, as of course, that wild and crazy, self-destructive drug addict, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris as aliented drug abusers, and Dan Aykroyd as a Hell's Angel getting into fights. And that's the original cast depicted in both books. Cocaine was heavily used. Only Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner were smart enough never to touch that dangerous drug. I've learned over the years that Bill Murray is more of a marijuana person than a cocaine person, so he hasn't always been as innocent as Curtin and Radner.
After the original cast departed in 1980, a new cast and a new producer came along with disastrous results and near cancellation. We should definitely put a shrine on Eddie Murphy for saving the show, and what could have been a comedy/variety show that went of the air with new cast members trying, like "Laugh-In" (which is often compared to SNL), is a legendary staple that goes on and on like the Second City of Chicago, always boasting new cast members searching for stardom. Also, as the years went on, drugs have diminished (with the exception of Chris Farley, who died a death eerily similar to John Belushi's), but there are temper tantrums around. I am very lucky to have a nine-to-five job in an agency with compassionate people, although I, like anyone else, can have a bad day here and there. But if you are looking for a place to work with nice, innocent people and a friendly atmosphere, "Saturday Night Live" is not the place. All in all, both "Live From New York" and the previous SNL book, written by two authors for each book, depicted the casts mostly in an unfavorable light, stressing more on the negatives than the positives of cast members.
More Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Summary of Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests
The New York Times bestselling oral history of Saturday Night Live that finally reveals what really went on backstage, on the set, in the writers' offices, and on the town, is now in paperback!In their own words, a galaxy of stars--including Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin, Dana Carvey, Tina Fey, Molly Shannon, Al Franken, and other members of Saturday Night Live's extended family--recall a quarter-century's worth of great backstage stories, behind-the-scenes gossip, feuds, foibles, drugs, sex, struggles, and calamities. The result: a page-turner that reveals how and why SNL has become the longest-running television comedy of all time.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Reading List 2007
Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)by Jeffrey Eugenides
Picador; Published: 2002-06-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.25
Price in other shops:
Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Lifeby John Sellers
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2007-03-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.48
Price in other shops:
How Soon Is Never?: A Novelby Marc Spitz
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2003-09-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Brave New Worldby Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 1998-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guestsby James A. Miller, Tom Shales
Published: 2003-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.18
Price in other shops:
The Fortress of Solitudeby Jonathan Lethem
Vintage; Published: 2004-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Timeby Rob Sheffield
Crown; Published: 2007-01-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops:
No One Belongs Here More Than You: Storiesby Miranda July
Scribner; Published: 2007-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.97
Price in other shops:
Radiohead's OK Computer (Thirty Three and a Third series)by Dai Griffiths
Continuum; Published: 2004-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.56
Price in other shops:
The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique (33 1/ 3)by Dan Leroy
Continuum; Published: 2006-03-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.08
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Too Fat to Fishby Artie Lange, Anthony Bozza
Spiegel & Grau; Published: 2008-11-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.98
Price in other shops:
Saturday Night Live - 25th AnniversaryLION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2004-02-24; DVD
Best price: $7.09
Price in other shops:
Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Liveby Doug Hill, Jeff Weingrad
William Morrow & Co; Published: 1989-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $48.74
Saturday Night Live - The Complete Second SeasonUniversal; Release date: 2007-12-04; DVD
Best price: $23.77
Price in other shops:
Saturday Night Live - The Complete Third SeasonUniversal; Release date: 2008-05-13; DVD
Best price: $46.95
Price in other shops:
Belushiby Judy Belushi Pisano, Tanner Colby
Rugged Land; Published: 2005-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.48
Price in other shops:
The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Actsby Tom Farley, Tanner Colby
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.20
Price in other shops:
Saturday Night Live - The Complete First SeasonUniversal; Release date: 2006-12-05; DVD
Best price: $29.94
Price in other shops:
Gasping for Airtime: Two Years In the Trenches of Saturday Night Liveby Jay Mohr
Hyperion; Published: 2005-07-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops:
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Lifeby Steve Martin
Scribner; Published: 2008-09-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops: