Book Review: Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen

I am a HUGE fan of the original SNL cast, and this behind-the-scenes peek into their career development paths was a fascinating – as well as thoroughly entertaining – one. Martin, Murray, Chase, Belushi, Ackroyd, Murphy – these are THE men of comedy in my mind, given that I was born in 1973 and came of age as their careers did. The backstory on how they moved from stand up artists and sketch comics to media powerhouses was engaging, interesting, and of course full of the side notes and tidbits that make such “this is how it all began” books so fun to read…

I never knew about many of the interpersonal conflicts and only heard hints of many of the bad-boy antics, so it was cool to read about them – particularly since they were written factually and not melodramatically. This isn’t a tell-all in the classic sense; I got the impression de Semlyen respects these guys, warts and all, and wanted to share their stories for that reason, as opposed to out of a desire to lambaste or embarrass or tattle on them for their (occasional) bad behaviors. It made the book a pleasant read rather than a titillating or guilty one, and I enjoyed it WAY more than I would have if he’d gone the other way and focused on cheap thrills by (over)dramatizing everything… What he delivers instead is an informative look at a particular moment in time – that just happened to be populated by some of the funniest men in television/movies.

Thanks to Penguin First to Read for my review copy.