In its 50-year history, Saturday Night Live has produced some of the most talented, celebrated, and downright hilarious comedy stars of all time. Name a beloved comedy performer and they most likely have some ties to the NBC late-night sketch series, whether it's as a cast member, a writer, or a frequent host in a league all their own.
After departing SNL and leaving behind a lasting legacy on the show, a lot of the alums and icons go on to star in successful scripted comedy series, like Tina Fey creating and starring in 30 Rock and Amy Poehler heading to Pawnee, Indiana, for Parks and Recreation. The big screen also beckons, and eventually, the biggest SNL stars compile their life stories into humorous tomes.
While there are so many great books about Saturday Night Live and even more written by its endless list of alumni, I'm sharing a collection of four of the funniest memoirs written by four undeniably, irreplaceably iconic SNL legends. From their beginnings in comedy to their highest career heights and all the SNL secrets in between, these books are must-reads for all fans!
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Published in 2014 just before Parks and Recreation ended the following year, Amy Poehler's memoir Yes Please captured a complete snapshot of the performer's life and career in that moment. Honestly, the book is one big love letter to improv comedy as Poehler offers the timeline of her life based on the cities that inspired her passion for the art form and all the lessons learned along the way.
Poehler recounts stories from her childhood and adolescence with vulnerability and humor, writing each chapter as if she's merely sitting down for coffee with the reader or chatting on her popular Good Hang podcast. I just reread Yes Please after 10 years and was taken aback by her honesty and giddy over the backstage anecdotes. For fellow SNL and Parks fans, the stories about both shows will be exactly what you sat down to read the book for, and you won't be disappointed.
There's nothing salacious about either show. This isn't a juicy tell-all. Again, it's a love story. She writes about her time with the cast and crews on both series with such adoration. Between joining the cast after 9/11 and appearing on-air while nine months pregnant (and giving birth the day after a show!), Poehler shares all of the funny stories she hasn't before, along with some sisterly wisdom.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
If I had my way, Bossypants by Tina Fey would be mandatory summer reading in schools, but that's pretty difficult to implement and probably not the biggest concern in the education system. However, the point stands that Fey's memoir is one of the most insightful and actually hilarious books I have ever read. I read it for the first time in 2011 when it was released, after having graduated high school and at the height of my SNL obsession. Like Yes Please, I just finished a necessary reread.
Bossypants showcases Fey personal sense of humor and comedic style like it hasn't be displayed before. Sure, she was a writer on SNL and Weekend Update and was the star, head writer, and showrunner of 30 Rock. But her book is all her, fearless jokes and all. Seriously, if you think books can't make you laugh out loud, pick up a copy of Fey's book and try not to laugh.
Thematically, Bossypants focuses on the concept of Fey being the boss of 30 Rock, being published two years before the Emmy-winning comedy's series finale. She touches on childhood, motherhood, and her sisterhood with Amy Poehler. She shares hard-learned lessons and devotes a full chapter to playing Sarah Palin on SNL during the 2008 presidential campaign. Fey reveals all with wit, honesty, and a command on the page like no one's business (but no one should be surprised).
Girl Walks into a Bar... by Rachel Dratch
When it comes to SNL icons, you can't leave Rachel Dratch's name out of the conversation. Debbie Downer alone grants Dratch access into the exclusive Saturday Night Live hall of fame. Like, hello? In case you weren't aware, the show's longtime secret weapon published her memoir Girl Walks into a Bar: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle in 2012 about half a decade after she left SNL following an eight-year tenure.
Obviously, Dratch writes about her life with expected humor, but she also shares stories that most people probably don't know. The hook of the book has to do with Dratch's adventures in her love life, including the unexpected story about how she became pregnant with her son in 2010 at 44 years old. She writes candidly and, of course, hilariously about her experiences.
Girl Walks into a Bar... also delves into Dratch's various wins and challenges in her comedy career, including her time at Saturday Night Live. It's not always sunshine and rainbows and breaking during sketches as we might think. She writes about how she was typecast as a certain character and her desire to break out of that mold. Overall, I highly recommended spending more time with Rachel Dratch and picking up her unmissable memoir. It's definitely not a Debbie Downer!
Hello, Molly! by Molly Shannon
Last but not certainly least on this list or any others (I did say there are a lot more books by SNL alums to read!), Saturday Night Live icon Molly Shannon published her memoir Hello, Molly! in 2022. Compared to the other three books, Shannon's memoir features a bit more of a heartbreaking origin story, as Shannon writes about losing her mother, little sister, and cousin in a car accident at a young age and being raised by her grief-stricken father. But it's an inspirational story.
As we know, Molly Shannon grew up to be one of the funniest people on the planet, making us laugh in countless television shows and movies. Hello, Molly! follows the comedy star from the tragic event in her childhood through her slow rise through show business. She writes about her life and career with the sense of humor we all know and love but the candor and honesty we maybe didn't.
Shannon starred on SNL during one of the golden ages for the show, appearing from 1995-2001 alongside the likes of Will Ferrell (who she will soon reunite with on Netflix), Tracy Morgan, Cheri Oteri, and more and creating the beloved character Mary Katherine Gallagher. She has a unique insight and perspective on the series, especially being one of its earliest stars, and spills quite a few celebrity stories. If you're looking for laughs, inspiration, and SNL lore, Hello, Molly! is a one-stop shop.
Bonus! Other great reads from SNL alums include, A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost, Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones, When I Was Your Age by Kenan Thompson, The Wreckage of My Presence by Casey Wilson, and Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. But again, there are many more!