Live from New York is an oral history of SNL from it's beginning up to about 2002 as recounted by those who were there. In essence, the authors interviewed nearly everyone involved with the show, provided some narration to help with the flow, and then got the heck out of the way of the story. I wish more books were written this way as it was very refreshing to see the history of the show told almost exclusively in the words of the people who lived it.
As with any large group of people, there are differences in opinion as to how certain things happened and people with obvious axes to grind. It's all out in the open though so that you can judge for yourself.
I'm not a huge fan of the show although I do watch occasionally. I learned a lot of history from this book. I did learn that the show was an even bigger incubator for talent than I had previously realized. I knew the big names of the early cast as well as some of the newer people but I had no idea that Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Robert Downey Jr., and Anthony Michael Hall were cast members. Also Garrett Morris, who plays Earl on Two Broke Girls was an original cast member. I've seen very little of the early stuff so I may have to check him out on DVD. The first five season are currently available on DVD.
Shales and Miller also wrote an oral history of ESPN, Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN. I haven't yet read that one but if it's half as informative as Live from New York then it will be great.
As always, feel free to drop me a line at jeffsemonis at yahoo.com or on twitter @jeffsbookcase.
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