Saturday Night Live and American TV

by Ron Becker (Contributor), Nick Marx (Editor), Matt Sienkiewicz (Editor)

For over 35 years, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" has greeted late night–TV viewers looking for the best in sketch comedy and popular music. SNL is the variety show that launched the careers of a mass of comedians including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Adam Sandler, among others. Week after week, SNL has produced unforgettable sketches and provocative political satire, adapting to changing times while staying true to its original vision of performing timely topical humor. With essays that address issues ranging from race and gender to authorship and comedic performance, "Saturday Night Live" and American TV follows the history of this 36-time Emmy-winning show and its place in the shifting social and media landscape of American television.

Genres: Nonfiction, Tv, Comedy

294 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Shant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it. Obviously, with a subject like SNL, you can pitch fourteen different chapter subjects and none could be covered in an academic book like this one, but I wasn't disappointed by the topics they covered. I liked the chapter about the show's relation to New York City, and really enjoyed the part II chapters (The campaign season humor one, the 9/11 one, and the musical performances ones). I could have read two books' worth of content on the Social Politics and Comedy Representation chapters. The last stretch was a little boring to me, but that's about it.

[Genevieve Graessle]

so much fun that this is my textbook for the week lol

[Jen McGovern · Rating 3 out of 5]

More academic-y than I had realized when I got it. I was just hoping for some laughs, memories, a little info. With that said, some entries in this edited volume were much better than others. Loved the bits about the role of race, gender, and political campaigns. The other stuff was just okay and I skimmed a chapter or two. Valuable book but Definitely more of a reference/resource than a fun and interesting read.

[Dan Junis · Rating 4 out of 5]

My previous knowledge of Saturday Night Live was reminiscent of a Chris Farley Show interview ("remember that one sketch....and that one thing happened...? Yeah, that was awesome") and I was in search for a more intimate and academic knowledge of the show. This collection of intellectual essays not only opened the door to countless fascinating discussions with my people, but it also deepened my cultural IQ in that I am now able to draw connections between major milestones in American culture and comedy. As mentioned in others' reviews there is very little history of the show itself, which is apparently something get a hard on about when boning up (pun intended) on SNL. No, this is more of an intellectual look at the social commentary and influence SNL has and had over the years. As is the case with any collection of essays not all of them are going to hit that high note, but most of them did for me. Gender and race were both written about eloquently is separate articles as was the advent of SNL going digital.

For those who were disappointed in the lack of SNL history in this collection, I say to you, check out "Live From New York" due to it's purely firsthand approach in retelling the story of Saturday Night Live. It is told nearly exclusively through interview quotes of writers, cast members, producers, directors, etc. Sounds tedious but the format comes off as genuine and intimate.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want all of these articles to be 2 pages, and that is probably all they need to be.

[Petty Lisbon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a deep and meta look at SNL. It looks at the sketches but also the cast style, the format and limitations of the show, and the relationship the show has with outside media as well as itself. I thought the chapters on topics like politics or 9/11 and humor were interesting. I think the Michael O'Donoghue chapter was an interesting look on a big figure in media who I think was too behind the scenes for people to fully be aware of (and that banned sketch sounded horrifying). I liked the chapters on SNL and 30 Rock/3rd Rock from the Sun, the random quote from Lorraine Newman about certain cast members who play supporting roles flying under the radar compared to the bigger cast members, and the Social Politics unit as a whole. I didn't know about the Eddie Murphy White Like Me prerecorded sketch. I liked the Tina Fey chapter because it highlights how she was so popular at the time (whereas now we all can look at random scripts she wrote and be rightfully horrified) and what made that era of the show click. The music chapter was also really good.
My biggest issue was perhaps the last 2 chapters being about online/digital sketches with a heavy focus on Andy Samberg. I think they were okay but it just kind of went on and on and then stopped talking about SNL which was annoying.

[Jen from Quebec :0) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of this read like a university course/lecture collection of literary essays, but I loved it for that reason, so it might not be for everyone. If you're looking for the human stories, and not so much analysis, there are far better SNL books for that purpose. 'The Chris Farley Show' is a MUST READ if you are looking for an overall 'feel of SNL'-type book. This one has essays that could be used in a Media Studies class...but I teach Media Studies, so I liked it a lot. :0)

[Troy Blackford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an academic work, more analytical than historical. Very interesting, and the only book-length work on SNL that covers three time period up through its recent years, it nevertheless fails to fill the void of 21st century SNL histories.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, a bunch of essays about SNL - some were quite good, some were pretty shite, hit/miss rate similar to the show, basically.

[Len or Len · Rating 3 out of 5]

An academic look at Saturday Night Live. Most of the pieces are interesting, not too dry, but one writers falls into the tired claim that you can't turn an SNL sketch into a movie.