Has SNL Lost the Plot?
Image via Wikimedia Commons
What’s the deal with “Saturday Night Live”? What was once a treasured and towering American institution has somewhere, across its over 50-year existence, seemed to lose its way.
The idea that “SNL” isn’t what it used to be is a somewhat trite observation, moreover one that can be applied to practically any American institution. So where does “SNL” really lie and is it turning things around?
New cast members like Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie represent to some a chance for revitalization and heading in the right direction. Both have received positive reviews on their recent debuts.
Reiter is the latest cast member to be recruited due to a large internet following, putting her alongside Jane Wickline and Veronika Slowikowska. Social media seems to be where most people are going these days to get their laughs, so this may bring some eyes back to TV.
This novel method of discovering talent has been met with some derision by traditionalists as opposed to the traditional method of rising through showbusiness. The truth is that the internet allows for a much freer and equitable path to prominence, any aberrations or iniquities resulting from algorithms offset by the aberrations caused by individual talent scouts and casting managers. That being said, I can’t imagine any two people in the current “SNL” roster I’d go and see in a “Tommy Boy”-esque romp.
“SNL” is forced to maintain a difficult balance. On one hand, it’s a coalition of artists dedicated to their craft, an opportunity for young comics to walk in the footsteps of Andy Kaufman, Eddie Murphy and Phil Hartman.
It’s just about the highest peak of mainstream success any young comic could dream to achieve — but mainstream it is. Creator Lorne Michaels has an estimated net worth of $500 million and the show airs on one of the ‘Big Three’ American television networks.
Michaels is a living comedy legend and a pillar of the industry, but it’s not controversial to say that he’s far from the fresh-faced and ambitious 30-year-old who put it all on the line for his dream.
As Sinbad, another living comedy legend, famously said, “Comedians are funnier when they’re riding the bus.”
I don’t believe it’s a mark against Michaels at all that he would at all lose his grasp on what’s funny after 50 culturally tumultuous years (especially in the world of comedy) and, furthermore, $500 million.
Whether the show is as good as it’s ever been is a matter of debate.
“I did go through the usual late middle school, early high school phase,” said Jasper Caruso ‘27. “I think that it just comes down to the people that are on it and writing on it.”
The most recent news item related to “SNL” has been Shane Gillis’ third time hosting, his controversial monologue and accidental f-bomb.
“I think dropping the f-bomb was completely fine and the FCC needs to chill out,” said Caruso. “I do think the monologue was in bad taste and I totally get why people are offended.”
Gillis’ jokes seem to have split the audience, showing how split our current culture is. The shock comedy provocateurism he displayed is somewhat of a relic of a more shifting and dialectic time, where it served mostly to catch and cancel the trendists too slow on the uptick to hop to the other side of the fence. In our standstill present, with two warring factions in cold deadlock, it just comes off as odd, anachronistic and uncomfortable.
Gillis’ complicated relationship with “SNL” has been very publicized and argued about for the past few years. He was hired to be a cast member in 2019 but was fired before ever appearing on an episode due to racial jokes made on his podcast.
Since then, he’s achieved independent success through associations with figures such as Joe Rogan and has returned to host “SNL” three times, which reflects, if nothing else, a lack of principles.
Norm MacDonald, a hero of Gillis’, was also fired from the “SNL” cast and later returned to host. However, MacDonald’s firing was reportedly due to jokes about the O.J. Simpson trial, taking Simpson’s guilt as a given, combined with the fact Simpson was close friends with NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer. So not really the same at all as Asian hate.
I believe that hiring from social media, and from Gen Z in general, is a good sign for “SNL”’s future. Soon, the young will be old and gears will have to turn if “SNL” wants to maintain its hold on the 18-49 demographic.
“SNL” has served as the forging crucible for some of the greatest American comic minds in recent memory, as well as the premier platform for them to get work out there. With the help of those alumni, I’m sure it will uplift the Feys, Sandlers, Chases and MacDonalds of future generations.