...
Show More
Very entretaining.
Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book
Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live
...
Show More
Based on interviews with more than 250 people associated with the show--stars, producers, hosts, and others--this book provides an intimate backstage portrait of the comedy program, from its beginnings through its rise to the peak of popularity
510 pages, Hardcover
First published February 27,1986
This edition
- Format
-
510 pages, Hardcover
- Published
-
January 1, 1986 by Beech Tree Books
- ISBN
-
9780688050993
- ASIN
-
0688050999
- Language
-
English
Readers also enjoyed
Community Reviews
Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 72 votes)
5 stars
29(40%)
4 stars
24(33%)
3 stars
19(26%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
72 reviews All reviews
...
Show More
This historical flashback to the early days of SNL gives us a background for watching the evolution of each generation. SNL has given us characters who have permeated our culture - many of those characters define a generation. I found this historically and culturally fascinating!
...
Show More
Very In-depth story of SNL.
...
Show More
Good. Interesting, o.k.
...
Show More
I am still looking for the Saturday Night Live episode that contained the following jokes, terrible though they are:
Diana Ross, the famous Mexican chef, created her first dish immediately after she quit her former music group. The name of the dish? Nacho Supreme.
The board of directors at American Greetings didn't like my idea of marketing and distributing a Strawberry Shortcake home pregnancy test.
As the son of a wedding caterer I can tell you that my favorite family driving game was "Which Peanuts characters are probably uncircumcised?"
I submitted my resume for Pope yesterday. I’ve always wanted to know what Mr. Mister sings in that one song with the Biblical Greek in it.
Percussionist saves the world with great ease. Headline reads "It was cymbal."
Dwarf walks into a 7-11, places his purchasable items along with handfuls upon handfuls of change on the counter, takes a tiny step back, crosses his hands across his chest, and forces the cashier to count all of the loose change. "Well?" says the dwarf as the cashier finally completes the painful task of counting all of his change. "Do I have enough money?" "I’m sorry," the put-out cashier responds, "You're still a little short."
Diana Ross, the famous Mexican chef, created her first dish immediately after she quit her former music group. The name of the dish? Nacho Supreme.
The board of directors at American Greetings didn't like my idea of marketing and distributing a Strawberry Shortcake home pregnancy test.
As the son of a wedding caterer I can tell you that my favorite family driving game was "Which Peanuts characters are probably uncircumcised?"
I submitted my resume for Pope yesterday. I’ve always wanted to know what Mr. Mister sings in that one song with the Biblical Greek in it.
Percussionist saves the world with great ease. Headline reads "It was cymbal."
Dwarf walks into a 7-11, places his purchasable items along with handfuls upon handfuls of change on the counter, takes a tiny step back, crosses his hands across his chest, and forces the cashier to count all of the loose change. "Well?" says the dwarf as the cashier finally completes the painful task of counting all of his change. "Do I have enough money?" "I’m sorry," the put-out cashier responds, "You're still a little short."
...
Show More
A good read but disappointed to learn that once the show became a hit and almost everyone became popular there was lots of inflated egos, arguements, back-stage fights, animosity, mysogyny, racism, and other things that destroyed my illusions of the show.
...
Show More
Great read!
If, like me, you love SNL and especially if you were part of the generation the show was initially aimed it, you will love this book. I thought I knew everything about the show, especially the early cast. I did not. Who knew that Dan Ackroyd , e. g., got really pissed and spray painted (and chiseled) obscenities on an NBC wall? Or that the pot and cocaine usage was even more prevalent than was reported?
This is not only a terrific SNL history, it is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at some of the vicious wars that go on in show biz and how sudden fame affects people. (Not well). It's also very much about the generational and culture clash between the counterculture and the "establishment." Lorne Michaels in particular deserves credit for having a vision of what the show could be and for having the stones to fight (and wear down) the censors. Having read about the Letterman/Leno fiasco extensively, this seemed to fit neatly into that genre. Note - this book ends in 1985. So I think there may be other books if you're interested in what transpired since then.
If, like me, you love SNL and especially if you were part of the generation the show was initially aimed it, you will love this book. I thought I knew everything about the show, especially the early cast. I did not. Who knew that Dan Ackroyd , e. g., got really pissed and spray painted (and chiseled) obscenities on an NBC wall? Or that the pot and cocaine usage was even more prevalent than was reported?
This is not only a terrific SNL history, it is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at some of the vicious wars that go on in show biz and how sudden fame affects people. (Not well). It's also very much about the generational and culture clash between the counterculture and the "establishment." Lorne Michaels in particular deserves credit for having a vision of what the show could be and for having the stones to fight (and wear down) the censors. Having read about the Letterman/Leno fiasco extensively, this seemed to fit neatly into that genre. Note - this book ends in 1985. So I think there may be other books if you're interested in what transpired since then.
...
Show More
I was lucky enough to have this book recommended to me by one of the authors (Jeff Weingrad) whom I met in New Jersey. I found Jeff extremely entertaining in the short time we talked and happy to say this book is an accurate reflection of his entertaining manner. I won't pretend I started watching SNL when it began (I was 9) but did start watching it around 1980 so happily the second half of the book had more performers I was familiar with. That being said, the first half detailing 1975 - 1980 is hugely informative on how the show came about. If you are a fan of SNL in any era, I recommend you read this book if only to compare the era you like with the early days.
Leave a Review