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)

snl

exceptional

inside Saturday Night Live baseball

very informative but a little boring too much inside baseball. would have been nice to hear clips from the show hearing old Eddie Murphy John Belushi Gilda Radner might not work in book form but it sure would work in audio form

One of the worst books ever written.

Would you try another book from Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller and/or Christopher Burns and Eric Conger ?

No way.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Meh.

Would you be willing to try another one of Christopher Burns and Eric Conger ???s performances?

Possibly.

You didn???t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not really.

Any additional comments?

This really can't be considered a book, per se. All it is, really, is a collection of quotes which have been copy and pasted into a text document. Period. I could have done that.

Maybe Better to Read the Book

Has Live from New York turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Christopher Burns and Eric Conger ?

Maybe it gets to an actual story part that would have been okay listening to narration but the huge chunk in the beginning with different narrators reading celebrity quotes was weird. Wasn't necessarily expecting all the famous people quoted but it was distracting to hear regular people doing vague, more exciting sounding impressions of those being quoted (SNL players, Lorne Michaels, and other celebrities).

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Stopped listening after about 30 minutes.

Any additional comments?

Bought this for a long road trip with my boyfriend. We're both interested in comedy and show biz type insider stories (listening to comedy podcasts, screenwriting, etc) and based solely on the description we decided to give it a go. I'd heard of the book and that it was good. But I wasn't expecting it to just be quotes from famous people read by various voice actors. It was cheesy and irritating and we stopped after about 30 minutes. I was very new to audible at the time and wish I'd known you can return a book. Still think the story may be worth reading one day because I'm interested in the genre but I didn't enjoy the audiobook.

Nothing New

We've heard it all before. This book is a big disappointment because we learn nothing we haven't been subjected to for years by gossip scribes. I mean, Jane Curtain doesn't like John Belushi! Janeanne Garafalo feels women got the short end of the stick on SNL! Chevy Chase is an arrogant wannabe! Wow, who would have guessed?

Wake me up when it's over

Well, it's slightly more exciting than watching paint dry. The narrators didn't keep my attention...in fact I didn't even listen to the whole thing.

Maybe a good read - but a horrible listen

The narration in this book is just awful. "Readers" are used to portray real life actors, comedians, musicians, etc. and it's just horrible. The person who reads the Billy Crystal excerpts is particularly annoying. The effort put into immitating people is so distracting and off-putting, that at some point, I almost just threw in the towel and gave up the book.