Gasping For Airtime: Two Years In the Trenches of Saturday Night Live [Hardcover]

Jay Mohr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2004

hen 21-year-old Jay Mohr moved from New Jersey to New York City to pursue his dream of stand-up stardom, he never thought the first real job he'd land would be on Saturday Night Live. But, surprisingly, that's just what he did. What followed were two unbelievable, grueling, and exciting years of feverishly keeping pace with his talented cohorts, outmaneuvering the notorious vices that claimed the lives of other cast members, and struggling at all costs for the holy grail of late-night show business: airtime. In Gasping for Airtime, Jay offers an intimate account of the inner workings of Saturday Night Live. He also dishes on the guest hosts (John Travolta, Shannen Doherty, Charles Barkley), the musical guests (Kurt Cobain, Steven Tyler, Eric Clapton), and of course his SNL castmates (Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, and David Spade). Refreshingly honest and laugh-out-loud funny, this book will appeal both to fans of Jay Mohr and to devotees of Saturday Night Live.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Twenty-three-year-old actor and stand-up comic Mohr was playing college campuses after a brief stint hosting an MTV game show when he landed every comic's dream job: featured performer and writer on Saturday Night Live. In this stilted but honest memoir, he chronicles his frustrating two seasons on the show, from 1993 to 1995. Few of his sketches aired, and aside from his impressions of Ricki Lake, Christopher Walken and Dick Vitale, he was rarely on camera. (When he was on air, he admits, he often couldn't keep a straight face.) Mohr treats readers to some affectionate, entertaining tales of the late Chris Farley, but his book is less a juicy inside story of the comedy institution than a tale of an immature young man's struggle with a high-stress, erratic workplace: "The schedule for putting together Saturday Night Live was made back in the seventies when everyone was on coke.... Problem was, no one did coke [anymore] and we were expected to keep the same hours." Floundering in the unstructured work environment, Mohr suffered crippling panic attacks, which he treated with alcohol and pot until he finally found real relief with a prescription for Klonopin. Even panic-free, Mohr still felt like the odd man out and chafes at his less than meteoric rise. He serves up mostly superficial dish (watching Nirvana rehearse, shooting hoops with various celebrities) and offers unflattering self-revelations (desperate competitiveness, jealousy and sulking)-resulting in a memoir that will appeal only to die-hard Mohr fans.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Most know Mohr from his role in Jerry Maguire or from his stand-up comedy. Most will not remember him from his time on Saturday Night Live, a two-year stint during which the 21-year-old served as a writer and secondary cast member. Mohr chronicles those years with the sly wit he's become known for, as well as nostalgia for both the time he had and the kid he was. That's not to say things went well. He barely got any sketches on air, his dressing room was once an elevator shaft, and he suffered panic attacks so severe he thought he would die on camera. But he also met some encouraging people (Mike McKeon) and was able to spend a little time hanging out with various luminaries (Eric Clapton), so even though he moans and whines about what he endured on the show, he ends up describing the experience as glorious. Fans of the show will especially like the snippets about such SNL figures as Chris Farley, Lorne Michaels, and Mike Myers. Good insider dish. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition edition (June 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401300065
• ISBN-13: 978-1401300067
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Saturday Night Live Fans Will Eat This Up, November 28, 2005

By 

Brian Markowski (Cedar Rapids, IA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gasping For Airtime: Two Years In the Trenches of Saturday Night Live (Hardcover)

It's amazing, for how long Saturday Night Live has been on the air, that there have been so few books written on the subject. And as far as I know, Jay Mohr's "Gasping for Airtime" is the only book from an ex-cast member who focuses solely on his own SNL experience.

Causal watchers of Saturday Night Live may not even know that Mohr was a regular on the show for two years. Though never a feature performer, Mohr was responsible for such timely skits as Charles Barkley versus Barney the Dinosaur and Christopher Walken's Psychic Hotline. Unwilling to wait his turn or play the political games that have become associated with the show, Mohr turned to other ventures. His rocky two season at SNL however provide a telling first hand account of how the show operated in the early 90's as Phil Hartman and Mike Meyers moved on and Chris Farley and Adam Sandler moved in. The fact that Mohr never became a big celebrity on the show grounds his tale in honesty, and makes his story even more compelling.

Mohr speaks of run ins with Rob Schneider and Chris Farley, his often chilly meetings with Lorne Michaels, clueless and vain guest hosts as well as his own frustration with his inability to become a star.

There are better tell alls out there and there are better Saturday Night Live book as well, but Mohr brings a relatable underdog tale to these pages. Anybody who's ever had to work under the shadows of others can sympathize with this book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent book, June 18, 2006

By 

Sevile (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gasping for Airtime : Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live (Hardcover)

The review from Publishers Weekly, while being somewhat on the mark, doesn't give this book enough credit. I enjoyed this book, although I had never heard of Mohr. While few of the author's skits aired, he was having better ideas his second year, and one gets the feeling that if he hadn't been so impatient he would have met success.
What I really liked about the book is its feeling of authenticity. You feel as if you are there, getting the job, suffering the anxiety and witness to the SNL creative process. Also authentic is the portrait the author draws of himself, which is the main thread in the book. With all the defects that the author exhibits, he still comes off as quite likeable.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really interesting and funny!, March 25, 2006

By 

K. Kraus "mskraus2u" (Pleasant Prairie, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gasping for Airtime: Two Years In the Trenches of Saturday Night Live (Paperback)

I know Jay Mohr mostly from Last Comic Standing and his bit parts in movies. I think he's really funny and talented, so I thought I'd enjoy his story about his days on SNL. I found the book to be a quick, fun read. I really like that Jay tells the honest story of how SNL operates, warts and all, but doesn't place blame. He acknowledges that he had his own problems (panic attacks) going on during his stint, and that made SNL's wacky schedule and style particularly hard for him. He sometimes sounds bitter about his lack of airtime, but he repeatedly says how grateful he is to have had the job, and he's still in awe over ever getting picked to be there.
I assume Jay had an editor, and maybe he even had a ghostwriter, but I think the book is mostly written in Jay's own words. I get this impression because he sometimes jumps around a lot in terms of time. He'll be telling one story and refer back to a story that happened in a completely different time, so sometimes it can get a little confusing, but it feels like a real person telling a story. Sometimes you get sidetracked when you tell a good story!
This book would be great for any Jay Mohr fans. And Saturday Night Live fans will like the insight into how the show takes shape. Plus, there are funny stories of some SNL greats, like Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, and David Spade.