Opinion Editor
The beloved late night show Saturday Night Live (SNL) is no longer tickling the funny bones of many of its viewers. Tragic, I know. Fans are coming to terms with the fact that SNL is just not that funny anymore. The reason? The writers and performers are trying too hard to understand the humor of their future generations of audience members.
It seems to me that the SNL team has developed some sort of imposter syndrome which has, in turn, caused them to “lose their funny.” The jokes and sketches are just not hitting the same anymore. Not to say SNL not being as funny is any of the comedian’s individual problems. I am a big fan of most (if not all) of the cast members on the show. However, it’s almost as if the audience can sense the wannabe humor in the newer sketches. Step aside, Lorne Michaels. We aren’t the Spice Girls.
The writers of the show are trying too hard to keep up with popular trends (eg: TikTok) in attempts to get more viewers by appealing to different audiences, namely Generation Z. This seems self-destructive in all sorts of ways. Not everyone needs to understand why Gen Z praises a company that was invented to host sports gambling (Barstool Sports), an Instagram account that’s favorite day of the week is Thursday (@friday.beers), or an app that takes a picture with both the front and back facing camera at the same time (BeReal). Stay in your lane. Youthful comedy will come naturally as newer generations of cast members make their way to you.
Currently, the only promising comedic relief on the show is Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che. This seems to be the only time that newer cast members show their humor, and often, they are some of the most underrated and funniest people on the show. This freshness, of course, is due to the fact that they have not yet burnt out their funny and still have fresh ideas for comedy.
It has also come to my attention that the most successful and humorous episodes are hosted by previous SNL cast members. Bring John Mulaney back for his sixth hosting episode. Bring back The Lonely Island featuring Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake. Anything. Please.
The imposter syndrome will go away if you stop trying so hard to appeal to younger generations. The funny will once again be yours if you just go back to your roots. Get your tight pants back on, SNL. I beg of you.
Categories: Opinion
This article is dancing around the reason but not saying it directly. The writing is dog sht. I hate the words “woke” or or whatever other word we’re using to describe annoying, hyper PC police, and I’m a life long progressive/liberal or whatever you wanna call me, but comedy needs to have an edge. Snl is terrified of offending people. It’s almost like they’re going for cheap applause over belly aching laughter.
I’ll try and watch an episode and I don’t know when we’re supposed to be laughing. The writing room needs to be cleaned out. Players refusing to participate in episodes because Dave Chappelle is hosting? Revoking the job offer to that guy who said the stuff about china town. Jfc people. Judging the words of others doesn’t make you a good person. It does however make our comedy god awful.
I agree completely and feel Lorne Michaels judgement is now seriously defective. The show is now massively stupid very poorly written and it would seem that Lorne Just doesn’t care about the quality of it at all. I consider myself an expert on this shows history but after what is 40 or 50+ years now and the last ten years at least of it being just G-D Awfull I am completely turned off by Lorne Michaels COMPLETE lack of any proper judgement at all and the stupidity of his choices for cast members and his overall Attempt at “McDonald’s -a- sizing” his servings of complete weekly S*** and clearly this show is total s*** now.