Lorne Michaels Is the Real Star of "Saturday Night Live"
newyorker.com
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It's one of those shows that's really never good, if you're lucky there's two decent skits a night. Once in a while you get a one that goes for a while, and spawns off a mediocre movie.
I know the thing to do is say "oh it was good when x and y were still on there", but going back and re-watching episodes with my favorites, they are still full of duds.
Sure, there are a handful of classic skits and characters but I just don't see how it lasted this long. Is it the timeslot? Is it incredibly cheap to produce? Is it just a tool for NBC to push whichever stars have a new movie or what not out?
I've watched for 20 years, every era is the same and it's exactly as you describe. A couple decent skits and many that don't hit. The one difference I've found lately is many of the sketches are for a terminally online generation - Bowen Yang in particular leading the charge. As someone with no social media, those sketches go over my head but I can't really hate on it, as I just recognize that I'm getting old haha.
Virtually the entire time you've watched it has been the bad era. You're making generalizations about a show whose cultural relevance ended when you started watching. That show used to generate hit movies (and awful movies.) Of course, one has to consider that SNL suffered a loss of cultural ubiquity partially because of the internet breaking up the audience for all traditional outlets, but that show generated once generated culture. I never hear a reference to anything on it any more.
Last thing I remember that had juice was the Lonely Island songs like 15-20 years ago.
I'm just gonna leave this here: At least there still are some quotable or good skits, if I compare this to anything on German TV the last 20 years.. there's still so much better stuff in it.
Granted, I didn't even start watching clips of it until after college a couple decades ago, but the show seems a lot more guest celebrity driven recently rather than driven by favorite actors.
Oddly tiktok seems to have the strongest sketch game these days. I'm sure youtube is ok too but it's a depressing place to stay for more than a few minutes.
SNL has all of these things.
"The product is never the product."
And almost always that golden period was when you were 15 years old
There is plenty of great sketch comedy being made (just look at the popularity and memes from Tim Robinson’s work), just not anywhere in Lorne Michaels’ orbit.
The 15 year olds of today are going to say the same thing in 10 years though. I don't think it really was that great when we were 15, we only think it was.
No 15 year old is enjoying that. I'd bet the average age is approaching the same average age as the cable news audience. Retirees might even be getting sick of it. The truth might be that Lorne Michaels is the real audience of Saturday Night Live.
90s: Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman, Robert Smigel, Sarah Silverman, Norm Macdonald, Will Ferrel
00s: Tina Fey, Kenan Thompson, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader
10s: Jay Pharoah, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, ...
20s: ?
OK, I was intending to point out that it has maintained its cast member quality, but I'm struggling to name more people from recent decades.
But then again, I haven't watched SNL in years, so I'm certainly out of the loop.
That said, I think Kate McKinnon is one of the funniest people alive, and her alone makes up for it. The Close Encounters sketches bring me to tears every time.
Sure, but the hits were massive. You had everybody doing Steve Martin or Billy Crystal catchphrases back in the day, for example.
SNL has the same problem as everything--there are simply way more options in entertainment. Consequently, a modern "hit" has nowhere near the ubiquity of a "hit" from days of yore.
Sketch comedy is broad by necessity. There isn't much time to set the scene, so characters have to be easily-digestible. The SNL formula is something like:
- a race sketch
- an office power dynamics sketch
- a "couple learning about each other" sketch
- and one off-the-wall absurd sketch
I think it lost its way a few years ago, best shown by Bowen Yang's haughty affectations. Comedy works when the performers are victims of fate, underdogs trying to flip the script. If you're above it all to begin with, there's no room for the funny.
That said, I also think the last season has been better about diversifying the cast, and has generally improved over what it was a few years back.
- sketch with some animals (usually dogs or cats, they're cute)
- sketch with some fluid sprayed over a cast member
-- the punch repeated three times
-- the pulled punch
-- the actors age inappropriate punch
Straight Male Friend is a dope sketch though
I'm not sure how intentional I was, but I didn't actually say it was one of the most popular sketches performed in the last 20 years. People love the Connery.
I'm sure he's quite a handful to deal with, but whatever that entails the end result of his presence on a project is that the project is often a good idea and well run. Don't get me wrong, he's had his money grabs and failed concepts, but the sheer number of hits he's involved with boggles the mind. He's willing to put money behind concepts few others even consider.