When you bring up Saturday Night Live to anybody these days many of them will tell you the show is no longer funny. I have to admit that I've been one to utter a sentence revolving around that over the years. Like lots of people who are now in their 30's, I watched regularly during the Wayne's World era and continued through the Adam Sandler and Chris Farley era. It's those fond memories that may have drawn me to read Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told by its Stars, Writers, and Guests.
Published in 2003 and authored by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller (who more recently wrote a book with a similar theme about ESPN), the book does what the title says it's going to do, which is let everybody else tell the story. Shales and Miller interviewed what feels like at least 100 people about what took place behind the scenes since the shows inception in 1975 through the end of the 2001 season.
There are several reviews of this book out there who can certainly articulate their words better than me so I won't go into the great detail about the actual book itself. But I will throw out a few observations that stuck out while reading what was a pretty lengthy history.
1) Chevy Chase comes across as, well, a bit of a jerk
I don't want to hate the man who brought us Clark Griswold., but the book paints him as quite egotistical, somebody who felt as if he was the star of the show (the "I'm Chevy Chase and you're not" line he used to open Weekend Update didn't help matters). Chase shot to stardom within weeks after the show started, appearing on magazine covers and writing himself into many of the skits where the other actors felt they could have done as good of a job, if not better. Chase left the show after only one season and there was a glass half-empty/half-full thing going on where the actors (and Lorne Michaels) were bitter towards him for bailing so early, yet getting more screen time now that he was out. Will Ferrell called him the worst host he ever dealt with, saying he came across as "a little snobbish".
"He'd yell at someone down the hallway--scream and yell--and you would look at him, and he's see you were looking at him and he would smile like "I'm just joking." We'd be like, "No, I don't think you are."
2) Next to Eddie Murphy, Phil Hartman is the best SNL castmember all time
Not a bad word was spoke about Phil Hartman throughout the book, which I was happy to read. A workhorse who would get laughs just showing up in a sketch, he was loved by all who worked with him. Jan Hooks called him her rock. Mike Myers said he was the glue to the show. His Bill Clinton and Frank Sinatra impressions were about as good as they got. But for me my favorite of his characters was "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer", where, as the intro to each skit told us, scientists in 1988 discovered a man who fell into a crevasse. He then went to law school and became...Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. This guy could work a jury.
3) Lorne Michaels is the Godfather
I'll be honest. There is a chapter at the end of the book where just about everybody the authors interview give their thoughts on Lorne Michaels and I couldn't get through it. It's not that I don't like the guy, it's just that everybody said almost the same thing: That he was looked upon as a father figure of the show. This probably isn't news to most people. Maybe it's an actor thing, but most everybody said he was a nice guy, but you would never really know where you stood with him.
4) Ben Stiller looks like an a$$hole (if what was said about him was indeed true)
In what was one of the more interesting sections of the book, cast and writers spoke about the shows in the immediate weeks after 9/11. Paul Simon playing "The Boxer" to start the first show, Rudy Giuliani coming speaking while being surrounded by NYC's finest, and Reese Witherspoon being a total pro a host that week. However, the second show after 9/11 Ben Stiller was scheduled to host. but he dropped out. Why? Who really knows. He still managed to make several media appearances promoting his upcoming movie that week. But the scathing comment came from producer Marci Klien, who said Ben Stiller thought his appearance should have been moved up a week because "the world needed comedy".
There many more I can list but I won't spoil things. What's amazing that, good or bad, SNL has managed to remain relevant to pop culture for several generations. It's been close to being cancelled on a few different occasions, yet somehow finds it's way back from the dead and into discussions during Monday morning coffee. These days I'm the guy who hears about a funny or controversial clip then looks it up online. I suspect many do the same. I this era that's probably a good enough reason for it to continue.
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