What Happened to Saturday Night Live?

It happened again Saturday night. My wife was on the couch, I was in the recliner, and we were watching Saturday Night Live. Halfway through one of their skits, as regular as church bells, she asked, “Is this really the best they can do?”

This routine: her reaction, my response – all scripted. “Hard to believe,” I said.

“How many writers do they have working on the show?” Her face looked like I’d just asked her to eat dirt.

“I don’t know. A dozen?” They raid the ranks of the Harvard Lampoon, which specializes in evoking a boisterous titter of beguiled amusement throughout the halls of academia.

“And this is the best they can do?”

I let the question hang. I suppose the answer is, sadly enough, “yes”. That’s not the worst of it, although that’s bad enough. It’s not just that the show isn’t funny, it’s become mean-spirited and nasty.

The Skits

The skits make up the bulk of the show, and the bulk of the show is bad. My wife and I used to fast-forward through the musical acts we didn’t like (most of them), but now we even find ourselves fast-forwarding through the skits. That’s a bad sign.

What interesting skits do they do? Where’s the new “Wayne’s World”, “Coneheads”, or “Spartan Cheerleaders”? They don’t exist. What do we get instead? I’d tell you if I could remember. My only consolation is that with Wiig, Hader, and Armisen gone, we probably won’t have to suffer through “the Californians” again. Probably.

Recurring Characters

Hand in hand with the skits, go the characters. Outside of Bobby Moynihan’s Drunk Uncle, what are the memorable characters, or more appropriately, the memorably funny characters? There are a number of memorably bad characters: Kate MacKinnon’s babushka, Bayer and Strong’s porn stars, and Kenan Thompson’s neighborhood guy, Willie, but funny? Nah.

Admittedly, they’re not as bad as any of Kristen Wiig’s characters; they were beyond excruciating to watch. She and Fred Armisen’s “Garth and Kat” caused more people to slit their wrists than any skit in SNL history. A spike in Emergency Room visits followed every episode. When was the last memorable character besides Drunk Uncle?

How many episodes do we have to watch Pete Davis phone it in? How did this guy last one season, let alone three?

How long are they going to let Leslie Jones yell and scream and call it comedy?

And what about…? No, never mind.   There isn’t anyone.

Drunk Uncle, come back, please!

Impersonations

Does anyone remember when Saturday Night Live used to have people doing impersonations? Good impersonations? Not just changing hairstyles, but learning the tics, mannerisms, voice of a public figure? Not only does this cast not have any talent, they have no energy. They don’t take the time and effort to do decent impersonations.

Watch how bad these stiffs are when they try. They have to recruit people who aren’t even cast members to impersonate political figures: Darrell Hammond, Alec Baldwin, Larry David, and of course a season can’t pass without Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin. The impersonations are so bad that even after all the mock debates, you could barely recognize any candidate.

Weekend Update

At some point during the average episode’s dispirited exercise in humor, it’s time for the weekly lecture. Oops, I mean “Weekend Update”. Since the days of Chevy Chase, followed by Dan Akroyd and Jane Curtin, through Dennis Miller, Norm MacDonald, Colin Quinn, Tina Fey, and Jimmy Fallon, the update was at least funny.

Not any longer. SNL’s Weekend Lecture has become the most mean-spirited, humorless ten minutes on television. Who are these two punks to lecture me? Or anyone? Michael Che would probably be all right on his own, but Colin Jost wraps an anchor chain around his neck and drags him out past the Comedy Shelf and down, down, down into mirthless depths of futility.

Make us laugh, clowns. Stop lecturing!

The Music

Abysmal. The music is beyond bad, in most instances not even qualifying as music. I can’t blame the writers and cast members for the musical guests, but what about Lorne Michaels?

He’s probably not to blame either. It’s not his fault that 99% of music today is terrible, so I’ll cut him and the show some slack on this one. This is more a sad reflection on popular culture than anything else. Press the mute button and move on.

Saturday Night Live: Is There Any Hope Left?

Has there ever been a worse time at Saturday Night Live? Have the skits ever been lamer? The impersonations weaker? The Weekend Update more excruciating? If it’s not the worst of times, it’s close.

What could improve the show? Barring firing all the writers and the cast, except Thompson, Moynihan, and Che, maybe MacKinnon, I don’t see much hope left. Hiring talented people, some decent improvisers and impersonators, would help. I’m not sure if that’s in the cards though.

Maybe Lorne Michaels should fire himself? It could be time for another hiatus. What do you think?