Rating: 
Summary: Multiple perspectives is a huge strength of this book
Review: Despite the length of this book (565 pages not counting the cast lists and index), I read it in just a few sittings over a few days. The format is excerpts from interviews with the key participants, chopped up and arranged in chronological order, in most cases with the same events described from different perspectives placed next to each other. This style allows the distortion of memory (or flat out dissembling) to become blatantly obvious (e.g., Fred Silverman's account of his response to Al Franken's "Limo for a Lame-O" sketch on p. 182 contrasted with Lorne Michaels' account immediately preceding it and Warren Littlefield's account immediately following it). The personal filters are obvious as well in the accounts of Harry Shearer and Janeane Garofalo versus those of the others who were on the show with them.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of SNL or its writers or stars. Seinfeld fans will want to check out the stories about Larry David's season as a writer on the show.
Rating: 
Summary: Delicious Dish from the People Who Lived It.
Review: This book is chockful of juicy gossip and backstage dish with interviews from cover-to-cover of SNL cast, writers, producers, and hosts. Interviews with SNL insiders are offered in a linear fashion from surviving "Not Ready for Prime Time Players", writers, producers, and hosts to current cast members and staff.
This isn't the authors' take on SNL, but the history of Saturday Night Live from people who lived through it.
Tom Shales and James Miller in a smart, smart move chose to have everyone speak for themselves. And how telling it is. : ) The editors keep introductions and explanations to a minimum.
I was surprised about how candid many of the SNL stars and hosts were about themselves and the show.
If you have ever watched Saturday Night Live, you'll enjoy this book. With its insider stories,
you'll find this book hard to tear yourself out of. It's apparent that many stories of SNL players' behavior outside of 30 Rockefeller Center are not in this book, but what's there is more than enough.
So get your hands on this book-- you'll find it definitely lives up to the hype.
Rating: 
Summary: Look before you leap
Review: I should have glanced at this book's format before I wasted my hard-earned dollars on this junk. It's simply a huge heap of quotes, regurgitated in some order known only to the authors. The "story" (simply interviews ad infinitum) unfolds by seasons of the show, without any sort of context, without any stab at putting the times in any perspective, without a clue, often, how the lesser-known characters contributed.
It quickly became a very frustrating read, and then became one that left me shaking my head in disbelief.
It would have been a good story if the outside world had been permitted to enter into it. But it doesn't. I know the writers aren't lazy, look at all this verbiage!, but it doesn't add up to a hill of beans. Dang, the ratings system doesn't allow one to enter NO stars at all. Save your money. Terrible.
Rating:
Summary: Often More Entertaining Than the Show Itself
Review: You could probably write entire books on each individual cast member of Saturday Night Live, so trying to cram the show's entire history into just one book (even at over 500 pages) is a challenge to say the least. But the authors of Live from New York are smart enough not to try. It's constructed as a rough chronology of the show in quotable form. Credit Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller for getting stories from virtually every important living person associated with the show. There are exceptions: talented people from the show who wouldn't have anything to do with the book, like Eddie Murphy (clearly the show's greatest cast member ever), Dennis Miller, Jim Breuer, or the immortal Denny Dillon. But otherwise, you'll find a great story on virtually every page. There's enough here to keep you occupied for a good long time: Chevy Chase living up to his reputation as a complete scumbag, a staff writer's "encounter" with Milton Berle, Chris Farley doing something very naughty out the window of 30 Rock, Joe Piscopo taking his Sinatra impression a little too far. It's all presented here in the rawest form possible, with attitudes about the show ranging from reverential (Chris Rock) to contemptuous (Jane Curtin, Janeane Garofalo). Stories seemingly repeat themselves with new casts, or they contradict other stories from different people. It's all wildly entertaining. Having the voice of Lorne Michaels as a consistent presence throughout the book helps keep it all cohesive, with his own love-hate relationships rightly taking over as the dominant theme. You'll have an opinion of your own on Michaels once you've finished. There are some flaws here. The tone from the authors (one of whom, Shales, is a TV critic) is too reverential. Okay, SNL changed TV. We get it already. We quickly learn that fact is almost more atrributable to the show's indestructible format than a product of the show's humor. SNL, after all, is usually only sporadically funny. What the authors and subjects illustrate well is that when the show has moments that ARE funny, they become immortal in the world of comedy. And that is absolutely incredible. There is no other show like SNL, for better or for worse, this book says. It's right. No show lives off its own legend of both comedy and excess like SNL. If the show seems a little staid these days, it still has the ability to make you watch, if only in the hope that you'll see something that will become the stuff of legend. SNL is a show that lives off the hope of laughter, and every subject in Live from New York points that out either directly or indirectly. It's amazing to think that one show, with so many people involved, can have the same effect on everyone. Now, if they could just stop putting Maya Rudolph in every sketch...
Rating:
Summary: A Teenage Perspective of Live From New York
Review: Live From New York was one the best books I have ever read. Although an obscure format, (The story is mainly through the quotes of ex-stars and writers) I couldn't put the book down. Through the sex, drugs, and scandals, I was enthralled in the lifestyle they lived. It was scary. It was true. It was live. Although the beginning was confusing and long, it really set up the end and turned out to be an amazing piece of literature. Because I am only 14, I was not alive in 1975 when the "Magnificent Seven" were around. With this book I could relive those times through the best authors; Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Garret Morris, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtain, and Lauraine Newman. I do feel however, that there should be an updated version of the book. Each year the cast changes, and this book ended in 2001. I think it's about time for a revised edition. Other reviewers believed this book to be too long, but for me it was quite the contrary. I couldn't put the book down, and at the end I was yearning for more. For about a week and a half my life was Saturday Night Live. Never before had I been part of such a book; when I read it I felt like I was on the show. I couldn't give anything but praise for this book. So, "Live From New York, It's Time You Buy This Book!"
Rating: 
Summary: way too long
Review: I agree with whoever wrote that this book was way too long and unorganized. I was hoping to learn more about the behind the scenes works, and boy, did I. Drugs, partying, sexism, racism, it's all here and more. There are some great gems among all the trivia people already know. But it's all quotes from the different actors, writers and producers. There are some photos to break things up, but nothing else. No cute little sidebars or anything. Heck, if it's good enough for my school textbooks, why not put some in here. I don't have ADD, but it got tedious after awhile. The format makes for an odd read. You get things like someone rapsodizing about what a "beautiful person" John Belushi was a couple paragraphs after someone reminiscing about the time he set stuff on fire and passed out in a drunken stupor. Oh well.
Rating:
Summary: History of SNL as told by cast members,writers,producers,etc
Review: Live from New York is a hefty volume collecting the experiences of the numerous cast members, guest hosts, writers, producers, and others involved with the show since 1975. This book helped me understand how hard it is and has been to keep SNL on the air. Although cocaine and other stimulants are largely absent in the SNL offices today, as we're told to believe anyway, the show still mandates at least one-nighter and four days of incomparable stress to produce one and half hours of TV on Saturday night. This work regimen has produced some of the funniest moments in TV history and has established SNL as a cultural icon. Almost every important person involved with show throughout its history except Eddie Murphy was interviewed for this book, and the entire book save maybe 10 pages consists of clips of these interviews. We get to read about Lorne Michaels' and Dick Ebersol's early struggles to put the show on in 1975. We learn about the greatness of the original cast and its drug-induced wildness and internecine warfare. The book then does a great job in describing the lows of the show during the Jean Doumanian and Dick Ebersol years and SNL's subsequent resurrection during the years of Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Jon Lovitz, Mike Myers, etc. The new cast surprisingly gets quite a bit of space in the latter part of the book considering its competition in the previous pages. The authors also spend a number of pages presenting various people's reactions to the deaths of John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Chris Farley. Live from New York does a great job of letting us know about the unseen drama that has occurred behind one of the greatest shows in TV history. Using the interviews as the actual text was a great idea because the interviewees' words came through unadulterated. My only criticism of the book is that at almost 600 pages, it's a bit long, but that's it.
Rating:
Summary: An In - Depth Look At A Groundbreaking Television Series
Review: Since it first premiered in 1975, "Saturday Night Live" has been immortalized with tv specials, rip - offs, movies and dvds. But not one person involved with the show has come forward to tell the stories that emerged from behind the stage. Until now. "Live From New York: An Uncensored history of "Saturday Night Live", as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests" is as engaging as it is informative and witty. With commentary from hosts, writers, cast members and even Lorne Michaels himself. The cast commentary is especially compelling. The stories that influenced were the ones concerning the infamous and controversial moments surrounding "SNL", like when Nora Dunn refused to appear on the show because Andrew Dice Clay was hosting, and when Sinead O'Connor tore up the picture of the Pope. And Victoria Jackson's commentaries on Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks is acid - tinged intrigue at its best. There are also touching tributes to John Belushi, Chris Farley, and Phil Hartman. It is not without flaws. The newer cast members could've gotten more of a say, and Eddie Murphy contributed to it as well. But I still think this is an enjoyable book. It;'s perfect for anyone who ever dreamed of saying, "Live From New York, It's Saturday Night!"
Rating:
Summary: Saturday Night Live - gets a "Bee Plus"!
Review: (Actually, I give it an "A" ! - but reading this book & remembering the "bee" sketches of 1975 was just so great, I had to have a little fun.) I was a fan of this show from its start, watching it religiously when I lived in New York from the mid 70's to the late 80's, and so I found this book to be, in the first part, a highly enjoyable trip down Memory Lane. It evokes the feeling of the show so vividly! The style of the book, with the various players, writers, producers and hosts all talking in turns, is perfect for getting a sense of what was going on with the show, both behind the scenes and in front of the cameras, as the years progressed. This style is also very conducive to the "night-table reading" I did - reading a few pages of it every night. The scenes and people described all felt so familiar to me as the narratives and reminiscences journeyed through those years when I watched the show weekly, and I'd find myself saying "oh yeah, I remember that!" as sketches and sayings I'd not thought about in ages were mentioned. It was also a fascinating eye-opener on the behind-the-scenes machinations, personality clashes, and lifestyles, as well as a vividly brought-to-life catch-up on what I missed from the late 80's on when I moved overseas and so lost touch with SNL. For someone like me, who had never even realised Adam Sandler and David Spade had been SNL alumni, nor ever got to see Chris Farley, the book gave a great sense of what the show was like in "their time". I was also very moved by the description of the first SNL broadcast after September 11. Therefore, whether you watched SNL ever, always, or never, I highly recommend this book - pure and intelligent entertainment!
Rating:
Summary: Look before you leap
Review: I should have glanced at this book's format before I wasted my hard-earned dollars on this junk. It's simply a huge heap of quotes, regurgitated in some order known only to the authors. The "story" (simply interviews ad infinitum) unfolds by seasons of the show, without any sort of context, without any stab at putting the times in any perspective, without a clue, often, how the lesser-known characters contributed.
It quickly became a very frustrating read, and then became one that left me shaking my head in disbelief.
It would have been a good story if the outside world had been permitted to enter into it. But it doesn't. I know the writers aren't lazy, look at all this verbiage!, but it doesn't add up to a hill of beans. Dang, the ratings system doesn't allow one to enter NO stars at all. Save your money. Terrible.
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