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Saturday Night Live FAQ: Everything Left to Know About Television's Longest Running Comedy
Television history was made on Saturday, October 11, 1975, at 11:30pm (ET), when Chevy Chase welcomed America to the first episode of a new late-night comedy series. With its cutting edge satire and cast of young, talented performers, Saturday Night Live set a new standard for television comedy while launching the careers of such comedy greats as John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey.
Saturday Night Live FAQ is the first book to offer the show's generations of fans everything they ever wanted to know (and may have forgotten) about SNL . Beginning with the show's creation in the mid-1970s by Lorne Michaels and the Not Ready for Prime Time Players, SNL FAQ takes you through the show's history with an in-depth look at all thirty-eight seasons.
It's all here – the comedic highlights and low points, memorable hosts and musical guests, controversial moments, and, of course, the recurring characters and sketches, catch phrases, and film shorts that have made SNL the epicenter of American comedy for nearly four decades. SNL FAQ also examines the show's influence on American culture and includes profiles of over 100 SNL cast members, along with a comprehensive guide detailing every episode.
Saturday Night Live FAQ is the first book to offer the show's generations of fans everything they ever wanted to know (and may have forgotten) about SNL . Beginning with the show's creation in the mid-1970s by Lorne Michaels and the Not Ready for Prime Time Players, SNL FAQ takes you through the show's history with an in-depth look at all thirty-eight seasons.
It's all here – the comedic highlights and low points, memorable hosts and musical guests, controversial moments, and, of course, the recurring characters and sketches, catch phrases, and film shorts that have made SNL the epicenter of American comedy for nearly four decades. SNL FAQ also examines the show's influence on American culture and includes profiles of over 100 SNL cast members, along with a comprehensive guide detailing every episode.
496 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2013
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41 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 17, 2018
Not an FAQ, but still written pretty plainly. I imagine it's less of an investment in time than Live From New York if you're an ex-fan or casual one.
August 3, 2018
Live. From Chicago. It’s Saturday Night!
Saturday Night Live: The Experience recently attracted me to its museum exhibit in Chicago. It took an hour and a half to see the ten galleries, following the flow from the sketch-pitch meeting on Monday through writing, sets, costumes, and culminating in a replica of Studio 8H. Great fun. An hour and a half experience behind the scenes of the ninety-minute show. http://snltheexhibition.com On State at Kinzie, inside the Museum of Broadcast Communication.
After going back stage, I wanted to read the back story of Saturday Night.
The author writes as a critical fan of the show, the longest-running comedy program in television.
The exhibition and one of the chapters takes us through a week of SNL. Monday, everyone pitches sketches. Tuesday, the writers write with rewrites continuing through the week. Wednesday, the read-through of three dozen sketches takes four hours. After cutting to a dozen pieces, the props, wigs and costumes begin. Thursday, rehearsals and blocking. Fridays, tech blocking. Saturday, items submitted for Weekend Update, the last piece written. Dress rehearsal, a one-hour break then the live show. While this sounds like a well-oiled machine, it serves as a time-tested plan for accommodating the chaos of creating the comedy.
Lorne Michaels, the producer came from Toronto, put together a cast with an irreverent and subversive style of comedy, compared to the prime-time family-friendly fare of the mid-seventies. The cast came from sketch, improv and the National Lampoon.
Most of the original team arrived funny but without experience in television. Although other cast members played their own personas, Dan Ackroyd arrived as a chameleon who disappeared into his characters fully realized and made up on the spot.
Gilda Radner, the first person hired for the show, also immersed herself in her characters. She portrayed happy women comfortable with themselves. Love, Gilda, a documentary, opens Sep 21. https://www.lovegilda.com
Chevy Chase played President Ford while making no attempt to look or sound like him. Bill Murray joined the second season, replacing Chevy Chase. Murray, a live wire, gives his cheeky comedy a feel of improv. Laraine Newman appeared as the hippest in attitude and appearance.
SNL brought a fresh show to television in the mid-seventies, building on roots and precedents of an earlier generation, including The Colgate Comedy Hour as well as Your Show of Shows, a ninety-minute sketch comedy live from 30 Rock with a repertory company. SNL uses cue cards, but Your Show of Shows did not. In the late sixties, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour became the first network television show to express left-of-center views. Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In introduced the country to rapid-fire jokes and sight gags, creating a short-attention span theater. Monty Python’s Flying Circus generated silly and absurdist sketches written and performed by two Oxford grads and three Cambridge grads.
Lorne Michaels the producer, did not like his actors breaking character, but these moments created iconic memories: Baba Wawa, created by Gilda, cracks up Marlene Dietrich, as played by Madeline Kahn; Gilda and Candace Bergen break during The Extreme Stupidity League. Other funny favorites from the original players included Dan Akroyd's Bass-O-Matic, his portrayal of Julia Childs as well as his refrigerator repairman, where only he keeps in character while everyone else howls. .
Chris Farley arrived in the early nineties. His character, Matt Foley, motivational speaker, took his name from a classmate at Marquette. In his first appearance, Chris as Matt speaks to kids after their parents found a big bag of pot in the family room. Foley, after spending four hours in the basement drinking coffee, goes off on the kids, played by Christina Applegate and David Spade, who totally lost it.
Celebrity Jeopardy began in ninety-one. In these sketches, the host musters enough patience to handle the stupid guests, including Sean Connery who always mispronounces the category names. A couple of the Jeopardy guest lecterns appear as props at the SNL Experience in Chicago. Go with friends to take pictures of yourself fake-playing the game.
And so it goes, page after page. Although I read the book cover to cover, it is designed as a quick grab for skipping around. It is not really a FAQ. As a reference book, this includes an appendix of a hundred and fifty pages. Unfortunately, the index includes only the names of actors and musicians, not names of characters or sketches.
Published five years ago by Applause, an imprint of Hal Leonard, Milwaukee.
With the SNL Experience now in Chicago and a Gilda film opening in a few weeks, this makes a good time to learn about the background of this show.
This book, which covers thirty-eight years of SNL, pairs well with Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, a five-hundred pager that studies the first ten years of the show. It goes deep into the origins and genesis.
Saturday Night Live: The Experience recently attracted me to its museum exhibit in Chicago. It took an hour and a half to see the ten galleries, following the flow from the sketch-pitch meeting on Monday through writing, sets, costumes, and culminating in a replica of Studio 8H. Great fun. An hour and a half experience behind the scenes of the ninety-minute show. http://snltheexhibition.com On State at Kinzie, inside the Museum of Broadcast Communication.
After going back stage, I wanted to read the back story of Saturday Night.
The author writes as a critical fan of the show, the longest-running comedy program in television.
The exhibition and one of the chapters takes us through a week of SNL. Monday, everyone pitches sketches. Tuesday, the writers write with rewrites continuing through the week. Wednesday, the read-through of three dozen sketches takes four hours. After cutting to a dozen pieces, the props, wigs and costumes begin. Thursday, rehearsals and blocking. Fridays, tech blocking. Saturday, items submitted for Weekend Update, the last piece written. Dress rehearsal, a one-hour break then the live show. While this sounds like a well-oiled machine, it serves as a time-tested plan for accommodating the chaos of creating the comedy.
Lorne Michaels, the producer came from Toronto, put together a cast with an irreverent and subversive style of comedy, compared to the prime-time family-friendly fare of the mid-seventies. The cast came from sketch, improv and the National Lampoon.
Most of the original team arrived funny but without experience in television. Although other cast members played their own personas, Dan Ackroyd arrived as a chameleon who disappeared into his characters fully realized and made up on the spot.
Gilda Radner, the first person hired for the show, also immersed herself in her characters. She portrayed happy women comfortable with themselves. Love, Gilda, a documentary, opens Sep 21. https://www.lovegilda.com
Chevy Chase played President Ford while making no attempt to look or sound like him. Bill Murray joined the second season, replacing Chevy Chase. Murray, a live wire, gives his cheeky comedy a feel of improv. Laraine Newman appeared as the hippest in attitude and appearance.
SNL brought a fresh show to television in the mid-seventies, building on roots and precedents of an earlier generation, including The Colgate Comedy Hour as well as Your Show of Shows, a ninety-minute sketch comedy live from 30 Rock with a repertory company. SNL uses cue cards, but Your Show of Shows did not. In the late sixties, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour became the first network television show to express left-of-center views. Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In introduced the country to rapid-fire jokes and sight gags, creating a short-attention span theater. Monty Python’s Flying Circus generated silly and absurdist sketches written and performed by two Oxford grads and three Cambridge grads.
Lorne Michaels the producer, did not like his actors breaking character, but these moments created iconic memories: Baba Wawa, created by Gilda, cracks up Marlene Dietrich, as played by Madeline Kahn; Gilda and Candace Bergen break during The Extreme Stupidity League. Other funny favorites from the original players included Dan Akroyd's Bass-O-Matic, his portrayal of Julia Childs as well as his refrigerator repairman, where only he keeps in character while everyone else howls. .
Chris Farley arrived in the early nineties. His character, Matt Foley, motivational speaker, took his name from a classmate at Marquette. In his first appearance, Chris as Matt speaks to kids after their parents found a big bag of pot in the family room. Foley, after spending four hours in the basement drinking coffee, goes off on the kids, played by Christina Applegate and David Spade, who totally lost it.
Celebrity Jeopardy began in ninety-one. In these sketches, the host musters enough patience to handle the stupid guests, including Sean Connery who always mispronounces the category names. A couple of the Jeopardy guest lecterns appear as props at the SNL Experience in Chicago. Go with friends to take pictures of yourself fake-playing the game.
And so it goes, page after page. Although I read the book cover to cover, it is designed as a quick grab for skipping around. It is not really a FAQ. As a reference book, this includes an appendix of a hundred and fifty pages. Unfortunately, the index includes only the names of actors and musicians, not names of characters or sketches.
Published five years ago by Applause, an imprint of Hal Leonard, Milwaukee.
With the SNL Experience now in Chicago and a Gilda film opening in a few weeks, this makes a good time to learn about the background of this show.
This book, which covers thirty-eight years of SNL, pairs well with Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, a five-hundred pager that studies the first ten years of the show. It goes deep into the origins and genesis.
May 8, 2015
If you are a fan of any period of SNL , this is one you will truly enjoy . Back of book also has detailed episode guide !
December 25, 2024
Lots of interesting facts but too many typos.
January 21, 2016
Saturday Night Live FAQ: Everything Left to Know about Television's Longest Running Comedy by Stephen Tropiano (Applause Theater and Cinema Book Publishers 2013)(791.4572). Finally someone has written the definitive guide to SNL; this is it. Stephen Tropiano has come closest to capturing the excitement and insanity of the first four seasons of Saturday Night Live, but the book covers the show through the date of publication. This includes an episode guide with the skits, the hosts, and the musical guests to assist in locating or remembering that one sublime skit you vaguely recall...My rating: 7.5/10, finished 8/12/14.
July 20, 2015
3 1/2. There were some errors in the book and certain sections would be more detailed than others, not a lot of consistency on that front. On the other hand, the book is chock full of informative anecdotes and it's a pretty fast read.
Read
September 11, 2015a great resource, but something best to own and have around when you feel the urge to look something up. not great as a straight read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews