The Last Book I Read

Much of the research I've done in the last couple of years has focused on the subject of topical humor and its place in shaping the contours of broader discussions (and perceptions) about politics and the like in this country. As I've gotten deeper into that topic, I've found myself drawn to any books that promise to shed some light how we've arrived at the current state of American comedy where the likes of Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, Jay Leno and David Letterman seem to have as much impact on who or what we choose to support as more traditional party leaders or serious journalists. Anyway, one of the undeniable landmarks in scoping out this development over the past fifty or so years was the NBC television show Saturday Night* in the mid-seventies. It represented a sensibility that was grew from the counter-cultures of the sixties, but also demonstrated a show business and media savvy that was also evident in the early days of National Lampoon magazine (which preceded Saturday Night by a couple of years, and from which some of the major contributors to Saturday Night were drawn). Because of its prominence in shaping contemporary comedy (both political and otherwise), I'm interested in reading any accounts that promise to delve into those aspects of the show's history. When I saw that one of Saturday Night's original writers (and one that I associated with their political material) had written a memoir, I snapped it up. The book, by Tom Davis is entitled Thirty Nine Years of Short Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There. Davis was Al Franken's partner, both as a writer and as a performer, and of course Franken has recently dived into the political arena as a radio commentator and more recently as a candidate for the Senate (I'd like to be able to say he is a Senator, but you probably know that his victory in Minnesota continues to be contested more than five months after the election). Anyway, I assumed that Davis' book would be pretty interesting, but it really isn't. It's primarily an account of all the places where, and celebrities with whom, Davis got high. He's a funny guy, and some of the anecdotes are kind of humorous, but there's very little in the way of a cohesive narrative or even any sense of perception about what he was doing especially in relation to his actual work. I'd hate to think that that is somehow representative of why comedians wield so much political influence: because their audience is mostly stoned, or incapable of following a coherent explanation of the issues, but maybe it is. So I was looking for something a little more in-depth; there's no reason to fault Davis for having different priorities in writing this, although I admit I'm at a loss to know what they were, except maybe to cash in on his connection to a show that remains pretty popular. That's disappointing, but to be honest it's more representative of the bulk of stuff written about comedy than what I'm looking for. If anyone reading this is interested in something more substantial about Saturday Night, especially the early days, let me recommend Doug Hill and Jeff Weingard's Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live which was originally published in the late 80s; and for a broader introduction of the style of humor represented by Saturday Night, check out Tony Hendra's Going Too Far.

*The "Live" was added to the name a couple years after the show began, since there was another program called Saturday Night Live (hosted by, of all people, Howard Cosell) on ABC at the time the NBC show debuted