I read this one back when I was in high school in Germany.

The bits and multiple pieces that created and disassembled and recreated SNL

This is a great complement to the books dedicated to SNL, but it also stands on its own as a truly behind the scenes insight source. Other books report the influence and effects of SNL inside out. This book provides all the and drills inward to what makes the show, what the different human cogs big and small
had to do with a weekly creation. Within that is an expansion of the people who made it and how they worked and didn’t work, but still put something out together.

There is a great amount that is given to the original five years, yet the years of post Lorene which could be deemed as not worthy to recall, are given their time to be explored and appreciated for what they were left with. That being the biggest challenge of continuing success short of biblical publication. Though it was a small portion of the book, the beginning of the 1980’s for SNL was an onslaught of high expectations, that gives some much insight as well, with the second coming of comedy in the form of Eddie Murphy. Yet, beside this obvious and legitimate choice there were many new and returning players that did their part to wage onto the new TV landscape on the tattered and dilapidated vehicle that served the previous decade as a catalyst for new comedy, but now had turned into something recognizable and dated.

Still, there were historical pieces that may have fallen in obscurity because of time or other nefarious episodes taking their place. Still Live from New Orleans sounded as close to the full resurrection of all the mischief deities all live on TV.

Then there were moments away from the show, but that could not exist because of the show, Paul McCartney hiring Belushi for a birthday party.

Still, those that made it, actually survived, their stories are compelling. Lorraine Newman did just enough to stay on, but at a cost of her going against her subdued nature that lead to health issues.

Garrett Morris dealt with so much and him coming out the other side was miraculous. He did not have the magnitude that drew writers around him, he mainly played the straight man in sketches, but with that time that dealt with racist undertones and just by letting him fall by the wayside lead him to crazy drug abuse that had him detached from reality. This was, unfortunately, par for the course.

Still, this book put you there.

This is a far more engrossing and detailed read than the more recent Tom Shales book about SNL. It was written in 1986, just as the "second golden age" of SNL was beginning. It has very detailed chapters on the beginnings of SNL and particularly the Jean Doumanian season, which has been often derided and was barely given any depth at all in the Shales book. The interviews conducted in this book occurred when the feelings were still raw, and they preserve that power.

i am in a major original snl mood right now, so i loved this. even with all of the difficulties, arguing, madness, i still wish i could have been there during the first few seasons of snl. when it was fresh and brand new and exciting and nobody had any idea what exactly they were doing or what was going to happen. it's pretty amazing how lorne michaels pulled it all together.

lots of good stories in here and info about who was responsible for what sketches (i love knowing things like that). and, of course, tales about the cast. i actually liked reading about chevy chase's involvement in the beginning of the show... before the fame went to his head. and you kind of know john belushi could be a bit of a terror but i didn't know dan aykroyd was often punching or kicking holes in walls and had the capacity to completely destroy his dressing room when he was really pissed off. all the stories about belushi though really make me want to pick up one of his biographies.

It's been thirty years since this book came out and Live From New York has supplanted it as the definitive resource on SNL, but this is still a worthwhile read. For one thing, this book is nearly as long as LfNY and focuses entirely on the first ten years of the show, which allows the authors to go into much greater detail. Oft-repeated anecdotes are expanded upon here: for example, I knew that Belushi insisted his favorite band, Fear, play on the show; I had no idea this happened during the Ebersol years when Belushi had already left the show. This also goes into more depth about both the process of making the show, and the personalities behind it. LfNY's oral history is the perfect format for SNL, but Saturday Night paints a more flawed portrait of its many characters, perhaps thanks to the anonymous nature of the information gathered.

The best thing about this book is that it was written as an obituary. Lorne had not decided to come back and Eddie was leaving. The end. It gives the writing a certain humility that I am certain would not be present were it to be written today.

Unlike the recent Tom Shales version, this is a more journalistic account of the classic show, and in some ways is a more engaging read for benefiting from the authors' interpretations and observations. It also has a far, far more detailed account than the Shales book of the disastrous Jean Doumanian year, which Shales finesses to the extent of devoting only around two cursory pages to it. For that reason as well as others, I think this book is superior to the Shales one, at least for an account of the show's early years.

Engrossing history of the first 10 years of SNL (plus a short epilogue from 2011 about what happened to the careers of some of the main people involved.) To enjoy the book I think you need to be old enough to remember what TV was like back then. I was too young to watch the original 5 year run from 1975-79 (I was 9 in 1975), but was in high school and watching when Eddie Murphy became a superstar.

great read for fans of the show, especially the original cast

A great look at the early years of SNL, especially the many backstage tensions between the stars. If you became a fan during the Belushi/Ayckroyd/Gilda/Bill Murray years, then wondered how the show could so completely fall apart in the early '80s, it's explained here in great detail.

One disappointment is that the death of John Belushi, which happened after he left SNL, is treated almost as an afterthought. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would have thought his death would have had more of an effect on those still at SNL in 1982.

A nice read about the first 10 years of SNL, one of my favourite shows (even to this day, yes).

I learned a lot and enjoyed hearing all about the early days of SNL, its main players, its creators, and all the drama that surrounded (surrounds) it.

It's funny to read about the uncertainty of SNL in the final pages (written in 1985) as I currently watch episodes of the 50th season!

I read the SNL oral history Live From New York a little over 10 years ago. I figured that was all I would need to read regarding this show. I don't really follow SNL any more -- I'm not against it, I just never really tune in -- but when my friend Mike told me that this book, a biographical expose of the first 10 years of the show, was one of his favorite non-fiction books of all time, I had to give it a shot. I'm glad I did.

In contrast with Live From New York, Saturday Night synthesizes dozens of interviews and miles of research and writing about the show into a historically dense re-telling of the lead-up to the show, its initial struggles, early successes and failures, and the numerous near-catastrophic attempts to revive the old magic. At the time the book went to print, the final fate of SNL as an unkillable institution was not quite assured yet, which gives the book even more drama.

Not that it needs it. Every page of Saturday Night is compelling reading, especially if you, like me, are interested in the big-picture view of how the comedy sausage gets sheathed every week. I enjoyed reading all of the behind-the scenes interviews -- who was playing pranks on whom, who was snorting coke off whom's ass -- but I was surprised to find out that I was a lot more interested in knowing how hard it was to keep the finance men at bay as set budgets skyrocketed, how many fevered meetings had to happen to get SNL off the ground (even when the only thing they were replacing were Carson Show re-runs), and all the attempts to move the franchise to the next level (Gilda's ill-fated one-woman show; Michael O'Donoghue's great but poorly-remembered Mr. Mike's Mondo Video; a catastrophic attempt to do the show live from New Orleans that I'd LOVE to see). Weingrad and Hill sift through an absurd amount of primary and secondary research material and first-hand accounts of all the eras -- even the hated Jean Doumanian era, which got short shrift in the oral history -- to provide a really thorough account of all the highs and lows of the show.

Whether you're a dedicated week-to-week viewer, someone who only tunes in when something weird's gonna happen (like Trump hosting), or someone who pines for the Glory Days Of the Show (as Lorne Michaels pointed out in his recent WTF with Marc Maron interview, "anytime someone says this or that is the best cast of the show, I know immediately what year they were 15 years old"), or if you're just curious about how a show with this many moving parts, this much revision up to the very last second, can be run live-to-air three weekends a month, year after year, decade after decade, you'll be absorbed in the cool, confident narration almost immediately.

Top-notch, and worth reading even if you've read the oral history. Check it out to see how much information can still be found beyond the remembrances of people who were there.