> Michaels compares the show to a Snickers bar: people expect a certain amount of peanuts, a certain amount of caramel, and a certain amount of chocolate.

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.