Whether you're an avid Saturday Night Live viewer or just feeling nostalgic after watching the 50th anniversary special last month, check out these materials in our collection for a deep dive on SNL lore, cast members, and writers!
Live from New York: The complete, uncensored history of Saturday Night Live as told by its stars, writers, and guests
In 1975, a young Canadian named Lorne Michaels created a television show called Saturday Night Live. Almost immediately, SNL revolutionized television and launched the careers of scores of comedians, writers, and musicians. Even today, in an age of DVRs and downloads, it remains a cultural juggernaut. When, a decade ago, James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales published their bestselling oral history of the show, Live from New York, critics everywhere hailed it as the most entertaining and definitive account of SNL ever written. Much has happened since: new stars, new controversies, new classic sketches, new battles, new media. Now, drawing upon scores of fresh, candid, and funny interviews, Miller and Shales have expanded their classic book to include the last decade.
Find a copy of Live from New York here.
When I was your age: life lessons, funny stories & questionable parenting advice from a professional clown by Kenan Thompson
When I Was Your Age is a hilarious, heartwarming and surprising ode to growing up, getting older and wiser, and luck, life, and learning from the school of hard knocks, from SNL's longest-serving actor, Kenan Thompson.
Find a copy of When I Was Your Age here.
It's Always Something by Gilda Radner
Her characters on Saturday Night Live made America laugh. Her storybook marriage to actor Gene Wilder played like a match made in Hollywood heaven. But then Gilda Radner discovered she had cancer. This is the inspirational story of her struggle towards wellness—a private, personal battle in which the humor and humanity that touched millions became her most powerful weapon.
Find a copy of It's Always Something here.
Saturday Night Live–The Ultimate Fan Guide
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic show, Saturday Night Live & Lorne Michaels' 80th Birthday!
Find a copy of Saturday Night Live here.
Hello, Molly!: A Memoir by Molly Shannon
A candid, compulsively readable, hilarious, and heartbreaking memoir of resilience and redemption.
Find a copy of Hello, Molly! here.
Leslie F*cking Jones: A Memoir by Leslie Jones
A candid memoir filled with vivid anecdotes: Growing up in the South, navigating stand-up comedy's challenging early days, brushes with celebrities like Chris Rock and Whoopi Goldberg, and insights on Ghostbusters, Supermarket Sweep, and The Daily Show.
Find a copy of Leslie F*cking Jones here.
Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live by Susan Morrison
The definitive biography of Lorne Michaels, the man behind America's most beloved comedy show.
Find a copy of Lorne here.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin"—Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately half-hearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon— from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence. Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy. (Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)
Find a copy of Bossypants here.
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama: A Memoir by Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk's career is inexplicable. And yet he will try like hell to explain it here, because that is what memoirs are for. Charting a "Homeric" decades-long "odyssey" from his origins in the seedy comedy clubs of Chicago all the way to a dramatic career that is baffling to his friends, it's almost like there are two or three Bob Odenkirks... but there is just one and one is enough, frankly. Bob embraced a life in comedy after a chance meeting with Second City's legendary Del Close, which eventually led to a job as a writer at SNL. As he weathered the beast that is live comedy, he stashed away the secrets of sketch writing—employing them in the immortal "Motivational Speaker" sketch for his friend Chris Farley, honing them on The Ben Stiller Show, and perfecting them on Mr. Show With Bob and David, which inspired an entire generation of comedy writers and stars. Then his career met the hope-dashing machine that is Hollywood development. But when all hope was lost for the umpteenth time, Bob was more astonished than anyone to find himself on Breaking Bad. His embrace of this strange new world of dramatic acting led him to working with Steven Spielberg, Alexander Payne, and Greta Gerwig, until finally re-re-inventing himself as a bona-fide worldwide action star for reasons that even he does not fully grasp! Read this and do your own psychoanalysis—it's fun!
Find a copy of Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama here.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter on Saturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, and They Came Together? Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last two Golden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy's one-liners?
If your answer to these questions is "Yes Please!" then you are in luck. In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend," "Plain Girl Versus the Demon" and "The Robots Will Kill Us All" Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous, Yes Please is full of words to live by.
Find a copy of Yes Please here.
All summaries are provided by the publisher.