factotum's Full Review: Tom Davis - Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory...
Satirist Tom Davis's memoir Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss is a somewhat tricky book to review. It held my interest and was at times very funny. I enjoyed it for what it was. The only trouble is, it isn't entirely what it claims to be. While the main title is accurate enough--Davis describes personal drug use on an epic scale--its subtitle, The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There, seems somewhat deceptively tagged on to help sell books. Davis talks about his time at Saturday Night Live, but no more or less than any other part of his life.
While Tom Davis was an important part of the early Saturday Night Live as a writer and occasional performer--he's best known for the long partnership with Al Franken that predated, span, and shortly outlasted his tenure with show--the book is really about Davis's entire life--the decade or so he spent with SNL is certainly featured, but I would estimate that no more than a quarter of the book deals with SNL related anecdotes. Davis's world travels, early career and experiences as a fan/associate of the Grateful Dead are all discussed in equal or greater length, though some of this does pertain to the comedy show. Anyway, the net effect of this is that the entire book really hinges on how interesting and likable Davis makes himself to you over the course of it.
So that's the crux of the biscuit. Davis is not an altogether admirable individual. He comes across a bit arrogant at times, self-involved to the point of narcissistic, and freely admits to being a philanderer in his youth (which, to be fair, took place in the 1970s). He harbors some lingering bitterness toward some of the people he has been involved with during his years in show business. That said, his sense of humor has remained intact after all these years, and his ability to wield it--especially when directed at himself--mitigates these shortcomings to a significant degree.
Perhaps the most admirable thing, then, about Davis's book is how candid it is. Flippant as it may be, the phrase used for the title accurately summarizes the tale of debauchery that Davis describes. He unrepentantly describes a truly gonzo lifestyle and includes some pretty unflattering things about his personal life. There are some great anecdotes about Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Franken and other SNL cast members, as well as behind the scenes figures like Lorne Michaels and Michael O'Donahue. And the story of Davis's growing up in the Midwest and becoming a successful comedian is well told.
If he would have left it there, it would have been a much more entertaining read. And not that he shouldn't have brought us up to date; he seems to be doing well, and good for him--he deserves it. The problem is that he focuses at least as much on the flops of the '80's--things I and everyone else had forgotten about such as "The New Show" and the film One More Saturday Night--as he does on the heyday of the 1970s. It sucked a lot of the joy out of the book to read such painstaking accounts of things that are basically uninteresting, unpleasant and uninstructive.
Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss was a worthwhile read, even if it wasn't exactly the insider account of Saturday Night Live it promised to be. It was occasionally maddening, but on balance more often it was slyly humorous. Anyone who is turned off by accounts of drug use should avoid it at all costs. But fans of early SNL, Hunter Thompson and, especially, the Grateful Dead, should find something to enjoy.
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