Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There

by Tom Davis

Book Overview

39 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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802118801
• ISBN13: 9780802118806
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

interesting, unlikely success story of funny "everyman" druggie you knew in H.S.

I ended up liking Davis so I want to help his average by giving him 5 star review...though it wasn't best book I've ever read, still it kept pulling me back to learn more. and was WAY better than "Living and Dying in LA" (couldn't get through) or another "fiction" book "Story of My Life" (based on John Edwards' mistress's true, but throughly depressing bio set in NYC) unlike those other druggie books Davis seems well aware of his own excess/idiocy/missed opportunities, etc. It was an interesting book to read and you could pick it up anywhere ... it should give safe comfort to every wanna be comedy writer that that coveted life is not what it's cracked up to be...reading about his adventures trying to make it in comedy, succeeding, then losing it gave me a chance to live vicariously from the comfort of my nice suburban home...not wondering where my next meal was coming from and living off rent provided by Franken's parents. Yes, he's got a poor memory, but he managed to tell his interesting stories in a funny and even "deep" way thanks to validation from offering up unedited emails from Al Franken... (Can't we all relate to lost friends/ family like Franken & Davis today, who we love but who we also don't see often.) It was Laugh out loud funny in spots --"the comedy team that weighs the same", Chevey Chase "sneezing" on Lorne Michaels in first meeting of SNL writers and ironic Franken's posed question to candidate Ronald Regan on Press Bus (thanks to press pass provided by successful brother Owen Franken), depressing in others (he cheated on girls he loved), but he gives us fly on wall view of what it was like not just in beggining of SNL, but on road to SNL in your typical comedian's life working comedy clubs and relying on kindness of friends and strangers. Not a life I'd live, but the kind of life lived by guys I used to like to date and be entertained by...now I see why they liked Grateful Dead so much. One question: where did you find money for all the drugs when you had no $$ for food/rent yet didn't (appear to) turn to life of crime ? Kindness of friends I guess. (Surely there's a joke in that, "we were poor but never knew it (being that we were so stoned all the time.)" Congrats on telling your story Tom, nice trip down memory lane... hope you've given up the drugs by now and you didn't write this just to be able to buy more? As Franken and Jon Stewart prove, "funny is the new serious" ... perhaps you should apply to be one of franken's caseworkers... or perhaps help him work on fixing healthcare in america ... i sense you have unique insight on how we can finally win war on drugs :)

Great Memoir from an Exciting Time

People who are looking exclusively for SNL stories might be disappointed because this is a Tom Davis memoir not a history of SNL book. Franken and Davis were funny guys and I was surprised he panned their movie "One More Saturday Night" because that and their affiliation with the Dead was all I was familiar with. The movie was hilarious but it makes sense after reading the book. Using a Simpsons analogy Al seemed to be the James Brooks guy who had more mainstream tastes and Tom was more the Matt Groening guy who liked it as twisted and real as possible. "One More Saturday Night" was going for a young, mainstream audience and it was funny in a very inclsive way but was at the same time full of sublte, subersive commentary and depictions of people. The writing style is a little confunsing chronologically at times but the jumping around makes for an exciting read and I could hardly put it down. He seems like a guy with a generous heart, and a sharp wit whose career and life is worthy of a book because of his amazing experiences in an interesting time culturally in America. His "gonzo" style of living has probaly turned off some reviewers with its unrepentant and thorough description of drug use. I am too young to remember him well but I always thought his friend Timothy Leary was a douche and Davis didn't convince me otherwise. He seems like a guy who was not above sometimes suffering fools but those side roads are what makes this tale such and interesting and fun read.

HISTORICAL WORK OF A TIME AND ITS PEOPLE

I liked THIRTY-NINE YEARS OF SHORT-TERM MEMORY LOSS for many reasons: Tom Davis uncovered new stories of old legends. The book was an excellent read. I forgot the rest. THIRTY-NINE YEARS OF SHORT-TERM MEMORY LOSS is an important primary historical work of a time and its people that will not be soon forgotten. THIRTY-NINE YEARS OF SHORT-TERM MEMORY will be footnoted be researchers in many generations to come.

Excellent Memoir, Great Memories

Tom Davis shares his intimate moments as an SNL writer. The audio book read by him was fabulous. The details were hilarious and poignant, Grateful Dead, Paul McCartney, The Stones, the Belushi Bros. Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner, Lorne Michaels there's a vignette for everyone. I loved every minute. Thanks for sharing Tom.

Terrific Memories, Many Long-Term

Growing up in the 70s, Saturday Night Live was a big part of my television-viewing experience...and I have to admit it remained so through the 80s and 90s (the Difficult Years). I NEVER liked Franken and really didn't pay much attention to Tom Davis, but now I wish I had. What an interesting and complex personality, mature beyond his years in his teens, adventurous to a fault. With his low-key style, it makes a lot of sense that he was largely a behind-the-scenes player at SNL, but this book really digs down into what that involved, and that was enormous. Tom tends to ruminate about missed opportunities, which makes him seem like a regular guy, but this book will demonstrate for the reader exactly how many fantastic opportunities he was handed and ran with, leading to a very full if not very conventional (except maybe for show-busines types) life. Also good insider stuff on personalities long-associated with SNL about whom one could not really bear to read in any other context but which fits right in here.