Saturday Night Live: Shaping TV Comedy and American Culture

Reviewed by: Kara Reiman - Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: August 25, 2015

Review

Humor and nonfiction writer Kaplan has combined both here to create a brief history of Saturday Night Live and its effect on comedy and American culture. The book discusses the effect SNL has had on presidential elections (Palin and Ford, significantly) and how it has handled culture issues such as diversity and women. Kaplan also discusses the show's biggest stars and how they affected the show. The book jumps around in time and subject, making it hard to follow. It's also not clear who exactly the intended audience is. A student doing a study on the show would need much more in-depth information, and someone reading out of pure interest would likely not be interested in these specific topics. Back matter includes an index, photo acknowledgements, a quiz, a list of Second City performers, a list of comedy writers, sources notes, a bibliography, and further info. This is not a first purchase for most libraries.

Overall Book Score: fair