Book Report: Live From New York

Live From New York: Torgo approves

This book is just a collection of interviews with nearly every cast member, producer, writer, host, etc. of Saturday Night Live from the beginning through about 2003. The editors (because, really, they're not authors, they didn't write anything) piece bits of interviews together to move chronologically through the years, so it becomes a history of the show as told by the people from the show.

If you love SNL, it's an engaging read. I loved growing up watching the Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Jon Lovitz years, stuck with it through the Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Chris Rock years, and sometimes watched the Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Darrell Hammond years. I haven't seen many of the original cast episodes (other than in highlight shows), but what I've seen is great.

Even though everyone acknowledges the show's failings, the years it was terrible (and how it's bad more than it's good), the book still comes off as excessively glorifying. I mean, it's a tv show. It's a legendary tv show, but they lay it on a bit thick at times. The book is 565 pages, and that may be too long. It's especially tough in the last chapter, which is just an ode to Lorne Michaels. People criticize him there, but mostly people fawn over him, saying he's terrible to work for, but gee, what a guy.

Still, it's interesting to hear the stories from the people involved. And it's interesting to hear particular casts commenting on other casts. The only voice missing is Eddie Murphy, who's the biggest star to come out of the show and has always avoided revisiting it. Chris Rock briefly addresses why, but not in a satisfying way. It would have been nice if the editors at least got more feedback on his story from other people.