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Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There
by
Tom Davis,
Al Franken
Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss is a seriously funny and irreverent memoir that gives an insider's view of the birth and rise of Saturday Night Live, and features laugh-out-loud stories about some of its greatest personalities--Al Franken, Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Michael O'Donoghue, and Chris Farley. Written by Tom Davis, an orig...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
March 3rd 2009
by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
(first published March 2009)
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Katy
added it
I've read all the SNL memoirs, and of course they're all juicy and entertaining, but Tom Davis writes with a "fuck it" sense of truth that makes you really believe SNL was as he says it was. S
teve Martin, Alan Zweibel, Anne Beatts and many others have attempted this type of memoir regarding the early days of the show. I loved all these books, and respect their authors as honest, but not totally unbiased. Tom Davis has somehow managed to write a book about his part in the...more
teve Martin, Alan Zweibel, Anne Beatts and many others have attempted this type of memoir regarding the early days of the show. I loved all these books, and respect their authors as honest, but not totally unbiased. Tom Davis has somehow managed to write a book about his part in the...more
Alan
rated it
Recommends it for:
Those who remember the past, perhaps more clearly than Davis
Recommended to Alan by:
Fond memories of staying up too late
True story: I was in the midst of reading Tom Davis' memoir when our phone rang... and it was a campaigner from the Midwest PAC trying to raise support for his former partner in comedy, U.S. Senator from Minnesota Al Franken, of all things. I couldn't resist telling her that I was reading this book, though I turned her down anyway, this time. I hope she didn't think those things were related.
I did find this book rambling and choppy, though, more a series of flashbacks told out of ord...more
I did find this book rambling and choppy, though, more a series of flashbacks told out of ord...more
It's tough because this was written by a guy who was THERE at SNL alongside Al Franken and the original "Not Ready For Primetime Players." And yet it's kind of a sluggish, stream of consciousness read for the most part. It jumps back and forth, making it kind of confusing. Regardless, it's a great account.
For a book that promises to talk about "the early days of SNL," it skips a LOT of details. Most of the book details the weird and wacky days of Franken & Davis try...more
For a book that promises to talk about "the early days of SNL," it skips a LOT of details. Most of the book details the weird and wacky days of Franken & Davis try...more
An absolute mess of a book. I imagine Tom David getting stoned and dictating most of this into a microcassette recorder and then having someone transcribe it all onto a typed page. The stories/memories are all in a jumble, with no linear timeline in place anywhere in the book. Some events are mentioned twice, lots and lots of names are dropped (most of whom I've never heard of) and some chapters devolve into one-line remembrances that read more like trivia than insights.
It may have b...more
It may have b...more
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yet another insanely uneven book about/by one of the original SNLers. this baby is all over the board, jumping through time more than scott bakula. each chapter seems to have a theme, but there is very little apparent in the way of rhyme or reason. the tone is very odd, the author employing a style nearly devoid of any emotional attachment to the subject's life, which an exceptionally odd effect given that this is a memoir. Davis seems to be relating the many (often very interesting) tales of hi...more
An interesting but ultimately unsatisfying memoir. There really isn't any narrative, it is all a series of anecdotes. Each chapter is essentially stand-alone. By itself that wouldn't be too much if a problem, but I found the character introductions to be tedious after a while. For instance, I got real tired of reading "Susan Forristal, Lorne's supermodel girlfriend." I wanted to yell back "yes, I remember her from all the previous introductions!". That, and fact that the cha...more
39 Years of Short-Term Memory Loss is a scatter-shot memoir from Davis (of Franken and Davis semi-fame) of his life and days as a writer for Saturday Night Live. There are a few anecdotes of the people who were around SNL at the time (Belushi, Aykroyd and Michaels), but he has surprisingly little to say about the rest of the cast.
You might expect that the autobiography of a comedy writer would be replete with humor, but you'd be wrong. Of course, this is the same guy that wrote Conehe...more
You might expect that the autobiography of a comedy writer would be replete with humor, but you'd be wrong. Of course, this is the same guy that wrote Conehe...more
I read this thing straight through for a couple of days after I received it from the library. This is a memoir by a former writer for Saturday Night Live, who was a writing partner of now-Senator Al Franken. Though this guy is a huge Grateful Dead fan, he's fun to read nonetheless, and seems to have stumbled upon every interesting person on the planet of the last few decades. It gives interesting insight into the early and not-so-early days of SNL and the people behind them. Recommended for memo...more
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Writing for Saturday Night Live during the sketch show's legendary early seasons may be Davis's claim to fame, but this captivating memoir is about much more, including his suburban Minneapolis childhood, couch-surfing through his hometown, San Francisco, and New York City during the 1970s, and a life-long friendship with comedian-turned-political commentator-turned (probable) Senator Al Franken. Of course, that doesn't stop Davis from hooking readers ...more
Starred Review. Writing for Saturday Night Live during the sketch show's legendary early seasons may be Davis's claim to fame, but this captivating memoir is about much more, including his suburban Minneapolis childhood, couch-surfing through his hometown, San Francisco, and New York City during the 1970s, and a life-long friendship with comedian-turned-political commentator-turned (probable) Senator Al Franken. Of course, that doesn't stop Davis from hooking readers ...more
As a longtime fan of SNL, I enjoy reading about the early days. While this book claims to cover these, and we get some interesting tidbits and backstage scoop, it also meanders thru time and place pretty randomly. The drug use was pretty well chronicled prior to this book, but with the amounts documented here, it's amazing that the writer could recall this many details. I like a good backstory, but this effort could have used a better writer -- but wait, that's what Tom Davis is.... huh. Somebo...more
This book just goes to show that it may be easier to win an Emmy than write a good book. Not to say "39 Years" didn't have its moments. It clearly did and that's why I waded through the jumbled editing, second-hand recollections, acid trips, and constant praises to the Grateful Dead. There will still enough behind the scenes stories to hold my attention. Tom Davis is not someone I clearly remember from the early SNL days but, based on this memoir, he doesn't clearly remember mos...more
Quite uneven, but perhaps that was his intent. This dude sure knew a lot of crazy and interesting famous folks, including Jerry Garcia and Timothy Leary. The book is not so much about SNL but about all of his crazy, mainly drug-induced, adventures. It's interesting what has happened now with Al Franken in light of these early years.
I lost interest in it pretty early on but something kept me reading. I guess I wanted to see who else he knew or had worked with. He didn't really im...more
I lost interest in it pretty early on but something kept me reading. I guess I wanted to see who else he knew or had worked with. He didn't really im...more
The sloppy but entertaining story of a drug fueled funny man. Gratuitous name dropping competes with detailed descriptions of acid trips to the point where you'd think one or the other would have to give. But if it were in fact fictionalized you'd have to wonder why he didn't portray himself a little better... overlooking all that, there are some genuinely hilarious moments here, mostly sober and involving Franken.
Well, with a title like that, I guess I shouldn't quibble over the repetitions, confusing timelines, and pointless stories. I did enjoy some of the anecdotes, and it gave the overall flavor of his life to date. The net effect though, was mostly to make me love Al Franken all the more. Sorry Tom, but you truly are the Art Garfunkel of Franken & Davis. The bits about Jerry made me sad...
Anything about when SNL was written and performed by a bunch of hippies high off their asses (aka the first five years) is a-okay in my book. I was hoping for more showbiz stuff and less Grateful Dead worship, but it's evocative and insanely funny. Can all SNL writers from the 70s write drug-fueled autobiographies?
If you watched the original SNL, you will enjoy this. It is at times hard to follow since it most definitely is not written in chronological order. I guess this is due to the drugs (and there were so many more than I ever thought.)And it is nice to know that Al Franken is friends with Tom Davis again.
Davis' book is like a window into the world of vintage Saturday Night Live...and his circle of friends is fascinating, ranging from fellow writers and cast members on SNL to pop culture icons like Timothy Leary, Jerry Garcia, G. Gordon Liddy, and the guys from Monty Python.
Listened to about 2/3 of this tale of doing drugs and writing and acting comedy with celebrities. A sort of wannabe Hunter Thompson-esque Fear and Loathing in SNL. It's interesting how much Al Franken is part of the story, also drug-addled, since he's now a senator.
I really wanted to love this book, but it was in desperate need of a good editor. Too much jumping around without a coherent timeline of the stories. Given the number of drugs this guy did, I guess I should be impressed that he remember any of it.
I would recommend this as the Tantor Audio Book read by the author. This is a series of little stories which he provides the voices and tells with humor. I found this more interesting than I thought I would. As a book I don't think I would enjoy it as much, it is too disjointed.
I thought this was a good book. Lots of good stories about Saturday Night Live, Al Franken, the Grateful Dead, Dan Akroyd, etc. I will say it was hard to get into a groove with this book. Tom Davis admittedly does not have the best memory so a lot of the stories are very disjointed. I would recommend this book, especially, if you grew up watching SNL, as I did.
It's like the book wasn't edited at all.
Tom Davis rambles on about his life, SNL, and his drug problem. Chapters are also divided into people he knows (or knew). It's a terrible mess.
I wanted this book to be much better than it is.
Tom Davis rambles on about his life, SNL, and his drug problem. Chapters are also divided into people he knows (or knew). It's a terrible mess.
I wanted this book to be much better than it is.
What a mess! I had...er.... well, I had mediocre hopes for this book. Davis spent time with a lot of funny people, but unfortunately they don't appear in this book very often. Most of the book is about his girlfriends or his drug use, and even the parts that aren't are frequently interrupted by a memory of a girl or a drug experience. I couldn't finish this one, and I'll stick to Franken's books in the future!
Often interesting, especially when the author describes adventures with buddies Al Franken and Dan Ackroyd and the other characters and many, many women in his life. Lots of boring paragraphs describing myriad drug experiences.
Do you want to read a book about the early days of SNL? Great! So do I. However, this is not that book. However, if you are looking to read a jumbled, all over the place memoir that mentions SNL in passing, but basically boils down to "I did drugs. I did drugs with famous people" then this is the book you want to read.
I read half and couldn't take it any longer.
I read half and couldn't take it any longer.
Very honest and very funny, but it needs some hard core editing. There are times when he repeats himself nearly verbatim. Also I think it's a good read as a memoir but should not be billed as "The Early Days of SNL."
I’m sure half of my frustration with this book is that I didn’t know all the characters discussed. Clearly my knowledge base is a later SNL.
Overall it sounds like Tom Davis was always in the right place at the right time, so that was interesting. If you don’t want to read something that sounds like he wrote it while he was high, don’t bother with this book. The amount of ‘funny’ did not outweigh the amount of inner monologue, ‘why am I trying to finish this thing?’
Overall it sounds like Tom Davis was always in the right place at the right time, so that was interesting. If you don’t want to read something that sounds like he wrote it while he was high, don’t bother with this book. The amount of ‘funny’ did not outweigh the amount of inner monologue, ‘why am I trying to finish this thing?’
Read this book if you want to know the real Al Franken.
He spent so many years drugging and partying that I'm not sure what part of his brain is intact.
He spent so many years drugging and partying that I'm not sure what part of his brain is intact.
Not as good as the other books I've read...lots of drug experiences and I had no idea this guy was such a huge fan of Timothy Leary...but I guess that makes sense with all the drugs. some funny anecdotes with the SNL cast. Lots of skipping around, kind of a weird read.
Lots of real life stories were used for SNL skits. They sometimes were skewed a little. Interesting read.
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