Long description
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 original SNL writer and comedy partner of Al Franken, Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss is the story of coming of age in the 60s, and a spellbinding account of the birth and rise of one of television's most celebrated shows, Saturday Night Live. Al Franken and Tom Davis were a stand-up comedy team that got their start in high school in 1968, performing their first material at Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis. They worked in comedy clubs and colleges from New York to Los Angeles, sharing stages with contemporaries including Jay Leno, Don Novello, Gabe Kaplan, and Andy Kaufman. When they were rejected by The Tonight Show and blacklisted by The Comedy Store, Franken and Davis embraced their counter-cultural bent all the more, pushing the envelope of their unique sense of humor. However, success seemed less than likely until Lorne Michaels read some of their material in July 1975, and hired the team, sight unseen, as writers for an as yet unnamed comedy show to be broadcast live from New York--the show that would become Saturday Night Live. Tom Davis's memoir is filled with wry, candid anecdotes about his days at Saturday Night Live and his friendships with its stars. But this memoir is also a coming-of-age tale of his generation and a graphic description of the cannon he was shot out of: suburbanchildhood, high school in the '60s, the discovery of sex, overcoming the stumbling blocks of fear through the use of LSD, and reveling in the hippie culture from San Francisco to Katmandu. Hysterical, lucid, and wise, Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss is an unforgettable romp in an era of sex, drugs, and comedy.
Review
Finally a book by someone who actually worked at the original Saturday Night Live. Tom Davis writes in a heartfelt and hilarious style telling great stories from the world of show business and entertainment. -- Dan Aykroyd