Tom ShalesReseñas

753 pages long.....and about half of it was the business end of ESPN. Ok, that was not what I was looking for. I did get some inside dirt, but all the deals and figures and counter offers and buyouts really bored me. Worth picking up for the other stuff....stories are told by the tv personalities own words, and it's interesting to see (for example) how Kornheiser says "A" and then Tirico says "B", one paragraph right after another. Too bad we won't know which story is true.

Reading this a couple of weeks before the 40th anniversary show was completely worth the time.

Mandatory for any fan of the show.
But also for anyone wondering what it feels like to be part of an innovative team.
I can’t grasp the fact that this show ran for so long, with so many technical and human challenges every week.

This is the second oral history I've read, the first being the Daily Show: An Oral History which came out in 2016, so quite a bit after 'Live From New York'. Different authors, similar format - are these oral history books people are putting out connecting in any way or are people just aping style? I think the Daily Show was put together a bit better, but since it's all interviews they probably just had better material to work with.

This book is prime time fluff, a diet soda of interviews and anecdotes. It was great. I do wish they had cut it off at 1995 (published in 2002) because the perspectives of performers (successful after their run or not) differed greatly from the perspective of performers currently on the show during their interview. It would also allow a second book to be published (in 2022?) covering 1995-2015 which would be really neat since that is more of my SNL history. (yes, I know they updated this book in 2015ish to cover new years, but that's not the copy I have and it will still suffer from the 'currently on the show' atmosphere that dulls reflection).

The book is a series of interviews with cast members, writers, producers, hosts and anyone who had anything to do with the show. It’s written chronologically so you get a good idea how the show progresses over time. The interviews are interspersed with commentary from the authors who provide some good hindsight and fill in some blanks. The best part about the book was reading the different perspectives and experiences from everyone interviewed which paint a pretty honest story of SNL.

I like this show, and thought this book could be interesting. Specially to learn more about the phenomenon and people involved in this, with me being non-American.

But the book didn't grab me. It was a messy read, with interviews instead of clear writing and presentation. I tried to read from the very beginning and jump to the era I'm most familiar with but nah. I gave it up.

Paul Schaefer is a scamp, Harry Shearer is a raging ego-maniac and an all-around asshole (& that's on his good days), Bill Murray (who I love as an actor) is almost sociopathically anti-social and often just plain mean, Chevy Chase is a bad man, John Belushi was a lovable but very messed up lush, Joe P. (who's actorly and comedic talents seemed to decrease in direct proportion to his increasing muscle mass) resented Eddie Murphy's success, and not one single soul has a bad thing to say about Will Ferrell. That's all in the book -- and I haven't even told you the good stuff!

(Teaser in the form of True or False Quiz: Paul Schaeffer is a legal midget; i.e., as tall or shorter than 4'11". TorF?)

Bit on the long side, but not sure what could have been cut

This is a wonderfully updated and expanded edition of a book previously published in 2002. While there have been a number of other books written about Saturday Night Live over the years, and I admittedly haven't read any of them, it's hard to imagine that any gives a greater glimpse into just what makes SNL tick than this 781-page tome by James A. Miller. The chronological narrative (if you could call it that) from idea conception to the present is told via bite-sized quotes, a format which works surprisingly well for the subject. The sheer number of past and present cast, crew, hosts and executives he must have interviewed is astounding. There were many instances in which I wished this could be a multi-media experience -- for example, when reading about a particularly awkward sketch or awful episode, I of course wanted to view the footage in question right then and there. Much of the content focuses on the fascinating interpersonal relationships, an aspect of which the viewer is rarely aware. Whatever you conclude about producer Lorne Michaels' personality, he is unarguably a TV god. Oh, and I'm pretty stoked that Al Franken is now my US Senator.

This is a fascinating history of ESPN - and it takes the reader thru a fun journey of the past 3 years for the network. The personalities get proper attention, but so do the seminal business moments facing the network at each turn. It is part gossip, part-business case study, part-biographical and part-history.

It is HORRIBLY edited and the book has no logic other than being roughly chronological. Reading on a Kindle, you lose some of the flow and sometimes find yourselves horribly confused on transitions from one topic to the next. It is also way way too long and could benefit from a serious cut and edit.

I'm a huge Saturday Night Live fan, not quite yet a "buff" in the history of the show but I'm well on my way. This book is a good companion to the hardcore fan but maybe not to the casual viewer. I certainly enjoyed it from start to finish. One thing became clear after watching it - everyone hates Chevy Chase.

This wasn't as definitive as a 750-page oral history should have been. I would have enjoyed more background on many of the narratives, as well as more regarding ESPN's baseball coverage (which fed my addiction growing up as a Dodgers fan in Southern California). But it was an interesting read overall.

So much better than I thought it would be. Really this is a book about business and media, or the business of media and not about sports. It helped that I listened to it. It is group oral history so it flowed very smooth. It probably would help if you did watch a little ESPN and know who the on air personalities are. Non-sports fans might be surprised to learn that mainstream media personalities Craig Kilborn, Keith Olbermann, Hannah Storm, Michelle Beadle, and Robin Roberts all got their start at ESPN.

Big takeaways: with the exception of the NFL, ESPN is so wealthy and powerful it often dictates terms to sports leagues as opposed to the other way around. But it wasn't always that way. Once it was a tiny struggling family business. This is a great general interest nonfiction read.

So far I'm not all that impressed by this. Their transitions between quotes leaves a lot to be desired, and if they actually had the people reading their quotes it would be much interesting. So far I've learned that the 1st five years was a big stoned, cracked out, drunken slumber party...


UPDATE: I wasn't impressed with this. I found somethings were interesting, there were people who were on the show or who were writers (conan o'brien!) that I didn't know were involved.

I gave up about halfway through the last cd. If you need something to listen to as you are driving, it's not so bad.

Fun.

I appreciate the fact that the authors put in a lot of work in collecting all of their interviews and in organizing them into a cohesive narrative. At times, I was a little disappointed in what they chose to emphasize and what not to emphasize. For instance, I thought the discussion over the politics of the Monday Night Football announcer booth dragged on for too long. The book also mentions ESPN's reality show "Dream Job" from a few years back and notes that it received an extraordinarily high rating as far as cable programming goes. I'm not even sure "Dream Job" got a full page's worth of discussion. They didn't interview (or, at least none made the final cut) any of the former contestants, let alone one of the winners.
Also, when an interviewee was first introduced, his or her highest-ranking position within ESPN was denoted. However, when that person came up later, his position was left out, making it hard to remember who exactly this guy was. A simple key at the beginning or the end of the book would have been extremely useful.

Very interesting. A history of SNL told from the viewpoint of many involved. Not everyone, as some have passed, and some (Eddie Murphy) must not have wanted to be involved. Neat to peak behind the scenes of an iconic show.

Decent review of SNL from the beginning through 2002 -- pleasure book and a quick read.½

Those Guys Have All the Fun is an interesting and in-depth story about ESPN. The book chronicles the chaotic beginnings, the gambling addictions, the alcohol, and the present day, where ESPN is the most well-known sports channel and hosts the biggest names in sports journalism. It's a powerful rags-to-riches story that leaves readers in breathtaking awe of ESPN's products.

The definitive story of the rise and fall and rise of Saturday Night Live, as told by the people involved. Made up of soundbites from producers, writers, assistants, featured actors and each living member of the cast (except for Eddie Murphy), the book heavily involves Lorne Michaels. Perhaps this is to be expected, given how instrumental Michaels was to the entire show. A fascinating glimpse behind the curtain, this book made me wish I had actually watched the show -- that would have given me context for many of the anecdotes.

25 + plus seasons of the groundbreaking comedy-variety show are revisited through the words of the cast, hosts, writers, and production crew. This oral history approach has its downside as the authors provide little context to go with the interview quotes. I was also interested in learning more about the creative process of making the show and its most famous sketches and less interested in the tell-all tales of sex, drugs, and backstabbing. At least, on the latter note there is just as much mutual admiration among the participants of the show. Some of the greatest accolades go to performers whose voices are missing from the text due to their early deaths - John Belush, Gilda Radner, Chris Farley and Phil Hartman. It would have been nice if the authors could have culled some passages from old interviews so that these great performers' voices could be heard as well. It was interesting how in their own words that some people came off unpleasantly (Chevy Chase, Nora Dunn, Harry Shearer) and some people were more interesting than I ever imagined (Jane Curtin, Tim Kazurinsky, Victoria Jackson). Despite its bulk this book is a fun and interesting read, although I can't imagine anyone who isn't already a long time fan of the show finding it all too appealing. I watched the show regularly from about 1982-1994 but found the whole story intriguing and makes me want to go back and watch the old shows. Even those dreadful 10-minutes to 1 am sketches.½

Great inside stories from the earlier years of SNL. This is definitely a book a reader can pick up, read a few pages, and put down for a later time. Some of the best known people from the early years were not terribly nice human beings.

I'm a huge Saturday Night Live fan, not quite yet a "buff" in the history of the show but I'm well on my way. This book is a good companion to the hardcore fan but maybe not to the casual viewer. I certainly enjoyed it from start to finish. One thing became clear after watching it - everyone hates Chevy Chase.

Interesting.

I really enjoyed taking a backstage look at the operations and personalities involved in one of the nation's longest running comedy shows. It was interesting to see how all of the different personalities meshed to create a weekly live show and just as interested to see how some of today's biggest comedians got their start. Unfortunately, SNL losts its edge for me and I haven't been a fan of the show for several years now.½