Live from New York

An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live

By: Tom Shales, James Andrew Miller

Narrated by: Christopher Burns, Eric Conger

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Saturday Night Live changed the face of television: it introduced brash new stars, trashed TV taboos, and had an impact on American life, laughter, and politics.

Dozens of stars, writers, guest hosts, contributors, and craftsmen recall the backstage stories, behind-the-scenes gossip, feuds, foibles, drugs, sex, struggles, and calamities, including personal details never before revealed.

Stars interviewed include Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler, Chevy Chase, Will Ferrell, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin, Jon Lovitz, Jane Curtin, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Dana Carvey, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Garrett Morris, Molly Shannon, Damon Wayans, Chris Elliott, Julia Sweeney, Norm Macdonald, and Paul Simon - plus writers like Al Franken, Conan O'Brien, Larry David, Rosie Shuster, Jack Handey, Robert Smigel, Don Novello, and others who got their big breaks as part of the SNL team.

Live from New York does what no other book about the show has ever done: It lets the people who were there tell the story in their own words, blunt and loving and uncensored.

©2002 Thomas W. Shales and Jimmy the Writer Inc., (P)2002 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"The juiciest treasure trove of backstage gossip, sex and drugs since The Andy Warhol Diaries." (Publishers Weekly)

Great book

Great book although I wish there was an unabridged version. Very entertaining with great stories from behind the scenes of SNL.

The more you know

I love learning more about this amazing show. I've been a fan since the '90 when it was 'bad' but I thought it was amazing! I'm so happy it's on hulu so I can watch it whenever!

Very good listen, but left me wishing it had more.

Probably more like 3.5 stars instead of 4 but still really good and if you're a fan big of SNL it really hits.
The book details the ins and outs and minor details of SNL from it's inception till present day. But I kept wanting more of a focused story from the years I grew up on, which will most likely be the same for anyone listening. The first cast gets the most page time, but even that could be it's own incredible book.

The book spends a lot of time on the early years which is great, but that attention to detail for the later years is glossed over through the rest of the book which is too bad. I wish the same amount of detail that went into the first cast and SNL's opening years showed up in the later years as well. That of course would have made the book four times the size it is now though.

The dynamics of how the cast works, writers write, and how the show comes together is fascinating, but I still wanted more about the show I love so much and the book never seems dive as deep as you want into any given set of cast members, besides the first for obvious reasons.

The reading of the book is very well done. There are numerous people doing all of the different quotes throughout the book from cast members and writers, to studio execs. It sounds like they try to match the person they're imitating every once in a while which is kind of weak, but nothing that throws you out of the book. Very easy to listen to and sounded great.

This is a must read/listen for any SNL fan.

Ok read but not great..

This book starts out very interesting but gets a little long winded and when it finally winds up I was glad it did. The early days of SNL was the most interesting. The first cast were the ones I grew up with and there was actually very little revealed in this book that hasn't been common knowledge for many years. I was surprised at a few things and especially all the negative comments about Chevy Chase even from some of the more recent cast members.

Great stories.........

Great stories but the voices used to portray the quotes were horrible and distracting. I learned a lot about SNL but wish they should have had someone actually portray the voices more authentically.

Great listen for any SNL fan

I've been a SNL fan since I was a kid. This is a great listen for any SNL fan.

Live from New York

Great book for anyone who loves or ever loved Saturday Night Live. Found it very interesting to find how it was created and why at times the show seemed to falter! Great listining. :)

Interesting but so many narrators

I love SNL. The stories are great but with so many voices for all the guest writers it's a little hard to keep track of who is talking. I'd still recommend it though.

Worth getting used to

It was very hard for me to get used to the different narrators "playing" different interviewees, but once I did, I thought it was excellent.

Funny and informative.

It was enjoyable to relive some of my favorite SNL moments and to get a behind-the-scenes view of one of my favorite shows. It was not completely objective and certain characters did not participate. But, you get a much more complete view of the people that have made SNL such a successful show (and those who haven't).