Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live

I felt like a housewife at her fence, excitedly listening to all the juicy neighborhood gossip. It's a great book, though dated.

Like many, I grew up watching Saturday Night Live, either new episodes or those rerun on various cable channels, marveling at the wonderful humor and originality. I had always heard urban legends surrounding the show, and its earliest moments, and when I discovered this book I knew I had to read it. The authors take you through the first several seasons of the show, showing the reader many aspects of the backstage history, from the dynamics between Lorne Michaels and the cast to the use of drugs in the early days. There are many anecdotes from tales involving the Hell's Angels to the trip Chevy Chase made to the White House to lampoon President Ford, and all of the early greats are covered from Belushi, Murphy, and Chase to O'Donoghue, Franken, and Davis. I laughed recalling many of the skits that are presented in this book, and I sit amazed as I read about many of the sorrowful topics including the decline of Garret Morris and Larraine Newman. This book is older and dated, and many of the actors that were predicted to go into obscurity have resurfaced since publication and have seemingly came into there on. It's very light hearted, even given some of the darker topics, and it is a fairly quick read as it is written in an anecdotal style. Read this book and enjoy.

You never see much of the behind the scenes going ons of SNL. It would probably make a great documentary "A week in the life of SNL" Until that video comes out (if ever) this is probably the next best thing. I havent finished it yet and already there is a wealth of things I learned. ...Come out with another edition guys! We want more.

If you are ever interested in Saturday Night Live, this is the book for you. Chronicling the years between 1974-1985, this gives an interesting insight on the lives and careers of Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Eddie Murphy and others. A must read for all SNL fans.

This is one of the best behind-the-scenes books I've ever read. Published in 1986, it detailed the first ten seasons of SNL. This isn't a sanitized, cast-only, everybody's-wonderful book, but it's not a gossipy tell-all, either. There's a lot of great stories about all the people on both sides of the camera who put the show on week after week. There are great chapters on how the show got on the air in the first place (they even needed an OK from Johnny Carson), and the battles the show fought with censors, critics, even the White House. And there are chapters devoted to the shows four breakout stars--Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Bill Murray, and Eddie Murphy. Hill and Weingrad are clearly fans of the show, but they're still merciless when discussing the show's low points, particularly the 1980-81 season. There are detailed examinations of many of the show's milestones, including a 1978 show with Steve Martin that's still considered one of the series' best. If you remember watching the show back when the Coneheads, the Blues Brothers, and the Nerds were the hottest thing on the tube, you'll want to track down this book. And I'd dearly love these authors to put out a volume II chronicling the last dozen years of the show.