Recently SNL has gotten back into the limelight because of Elon Musk appearing on the show. I, like most people, do not watch this show and have not done so for quite some time for a number of reasons: For one thing, who the hell watches network television anymore? (I don't know anyone) and also the few bits I do bother to watch here and there aren't funny.
The PC takeover made a lot of things that could be funny "off limits" by the woke mob and a lot of people tuned out because for 4 years it was basically just an anti-Trump hour-long show (a full third of their already floundering numbers according to some polls.) I was not affected by this attribute and feel as though Alec Baldwin actually did a very good impersonation of him. It just didn't need to be done every single episode.
However, there was a time when SNL was considered "must watch TV" and this goes back to the 70's (too young to remember it) the 80's (wasn't allowed to stay up that late for the most part, and the early 90's. During these times I felt as though the show was funny and had an amazing cast for the most part. There were a few skits that were recurring and I really thought they were great and still think they are. Here are my favorites over the years.
The Church Lady
Dana Carvey was one of the best performers that show ever had on it and I even though he had plenty of roles and was terrific at impersonations, I think The Church Lady was one of his best. If you aren't familiar with this because you are too young for it to be part of your life I highly suggest that you go back and see it. Today this would likely still be allowed because it makes fun of Christianity but not in a way that suggests that the religion is bad. Plus the woke mob of today doesn't seem to be very opposed to bagging on Christianity anyway.
On another note, Carvey was so much more multi-faceted that in a mock presidential debate he was the only person on staff that could play both Ross Perot and George Bush Sr. His ability at both of these guys was spot on too.
Deep Thoughts
Deep Thoughts: By Jack Handey was voiced by Kevin Nealon and it was basically a piss take on inspirational quotes and making fun of people that think entirely too much of their inspirational words. They were very short, and normally happened right before a commercial break. Some of my favorites go like this
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.
If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He like enchiladas, because that's what He's getting! If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."
The Californians
This is one of the few skits that I found funny post 2000. They, for once, made fun of Californian culture and the prevailing accent of people that live there and even though the skits were silly it just kind of worked
This one is particularly good because the main character, whose name I can not recall, apparently changed the way that his character says his lines without informing his co-stars and Bill Hader has a difficult time keeping it together and breaks character multiple times. Every episode ends with the characters checking themselves out in the mirror, suggesting the vanity that I guess a lot of Californians possess.
Matt Foley: Van Down By The River
Chris Farley was a talent the likes of which SNL never had before or after (except for maybe Belushi.) His intense energy combined with his willingness to poke fun at his own physical appearance made him a unique talent. He had a ton of skits that were great but I think inspirational speaker Matt Foley is probably the best known.
In the above skit, David Spade experienced great difficulty staying in character and was noticeably laughing for a lot of it. Spade and Farley were good friends in real life and Spade knew that Chris had terrible substance abuse problems. I suppose it didn't really surprise that many people when Farley died of a drug overdose of cocaine and morphine at the ripe young age of merely 33.
Weekend update
Weekend Update has been a part of the show for many years, perhaps even all the way back to the start of the show. I can't be certain of this. The ones I remember the most are Dennis Miller, Kevin Nealon, and of course Norm MacDonald. It wasn't real news but it kind of was and the concept ended up influencing Comedy Central's The Daily Show which in my opinion was amazing when Jon Stewart was at the helm. After Jon's departure I didn't really enjoy it as much but this isn't Trevor Noah's fault, Jon's shoes were just a little too big for anyone to fill.
Norm MacDonald was my favorite of the bunch and this is mostly because of his deadpan delivery that was a big part of his stand-up comedy work as well.
When the show transitioned to Colin Quinn and later to having 2 hosts from the year 2000 onward, things got a bit too political and one-sided as far as that went and once this emerged I think the show lost a lot of its appeal. Norm MacDonald was actually fired from Saturday Night Live for his comment about O.J. Simpson the week after O.J. was acquitted in his murder trial when he said this
“Well, it’s official: Murder is now legal in the state of California.”
I don't think many people really pay that much attention to SNL anymore but there was a time when it was one of the most popular shows on television. Recently, they saw and uptick in viewership when Musk was on the show but even then it only garnered about 1/3 as many viewers as it did 20 years ago. A lot of this has to do with the fact that people don't generally watch network TV anymore, this much is for sure but I think most people can agree that the show used to be a lot funnier when it wasn't playing politics. For me, I try to look in every now and then to see if they have achieved brilliance that likes of which they had in the 80's and 90's but for the most part am let down.
Did you have a favorite SNL skit? If so, let's talk about it!