Five Complaints I'm Tired of Hearing About 'Saturday Night Live'
Someone asked me recently what’s my favorite TV show of ALL. TIME. And given that I’ve watched it literally every week since I was eight years old, I had to pick Saturday Night Live.
But my fondness for SNL goes far beyond simple longevity. Even as a kid, I had a sense the show was special. I knew it was different from anything else on TV. And, probably most influentially, I saw that it made my parents laugh.
My fandom was solidified with the 15th anniversary special in 1990. I had seen bits and pieces of the original SNL cast through replays on Nick at Nite, but here was where I got up to speed on all the classics: Bass-o-Matic, King Tut, Blues Brothers, Festrunk Brothers, Land Shark, “Jane, you ignorant slut.” The timing coincided with my discovery of SCTV, so that was basically the year my comedy brain grew three sizes.
In the years and decades since, I’ve often said Saturday Night Live is my sports. I talk about cast changes the way Yankees fans discuss the arrival of a new rookie outfielder. I study sketches the same way Monday-morning quarterbacks analyze a winning touchdown drive. I’m always eager to see my team play, regardless of who’s on the field, simply because they’re my team.
And, like many die-hard sports fans, I get told all the time how much my team sucks. SUCKS. Suh-hucks. Omg, just the worst. Now, with the season premiere two weeks away and the addition of five new cast members just shy of official, we’re getting a renewed outpouring of the same tired, outraged complaints about SNL suckitude, and after a good 30 years of hearing them, I’m pretty ready for them to stop.
1) “Ugh, SNL sucks.”
You know what? Sometimes it does. And you know why? Because they’re producing a 90-minute show from scratch in six days. It’s physically impossible for them to be funny, incisive and groundbreaking 100% of the time. But, considering the deadline they’re up against, I’d say their batting average is pretty darn good.
What strikes me most when I hear this complaint, and the mouth-foaming contempt with which it’s usually uttered, is how people seem to feel entitled to a nonstop hilarious episode of Saturday Night Live every week. At no point during the show’s nearly 40-year run has Lorne Michaels ever come out before the cold open to announce, “Folks, what you’re about to see is the absolute pinnacle of comedic art. You should probably be ready to seek medical attention, because we’re about to blow your fucking mind with unprecedented levels of comic genius and televised hilarity.”
No, the whole point of the show is that it will suck sometimes. The entire format is built around trying a bunch of stuff to see what hits. And when they do hit the sweet spot, it’s worth the wait. If you don’t have the patience to slog through the misses, stop watching every week and someone will tell you when there’s something good to look up on Hulu. In the meantime, those of us who do enjoy watching the sausage get made are going to tune in either way, so your dismissive blanket judgments are just a waste of everyone’s time.
2) “Why doesn’t NBC just put it out of its misery?”
Every season, people say SNL is in a downward spiral towards inevitable cancellation. The fact is, the ratings are great. It makes a ton of money for NBC. Music acts, movie studios and politicians still consider it a powerful promotional platform. No matter what level of fame its cast members eventually reach, they’re forever identified as SNL alums. The show is as relevant as ever. As long as Lorne Michaels is alive, SNL will be on the air.
3) “More like Saturday Night DEAD.”
Oh, I see what you did there. And it wasn’t original the first time someone said it.
4) “Just what SNL needs: more white guys.”
OK, this one is a little tougher to refute, because it would be nice to see a more diverse cast on SNL. BUT. There’s always an implication that SNL leans toward white male performers because Lorne Michaels is an out-of-touch fuddy duddy who hates women and people of color (and especially women of color). The fact is, the world of sketch comedy and improv is RIDICULOUSLY overrun with white males. Go to almost any comedy theater and the group that runs on stage is a bunch of white guys named Josh and Brian and Steve and another Josh.
The reported new cast members (from left to right): Beck Bennett, Michael Patrick O'Brien, Kyle Mooney, Noel Wells, John Milhiser.
That’s not to say female, black, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander or any other type of performers could never be funny enough to be on SNL. Instead, it’s a matter of numbers. Of all the tens of thousands of white males at improv and sketch theaters right now, only eight are currently on SNL (if you count the reported new hires). If you apply that same minuscule percentage to a much smaller pool of female and/or non-white performers, it’s naturally going to be more difficult to find those who are exceptionally talented, have put in the years to be polished enough for national television, AND happen to be in the exact right place at the exact right time to be noticed by SNL’s scouts.
Again, I’m not letting SNL completely off the hook on this one. I agree SNL would benefit from more diverse points of view, but it’s unfair for critics to say Michaels’ decisions are motivated solely by obliviousness and exclusion.
5) “That show went downhill as soon as [X cast member] left.”
These new guys can never be as good as Jason Sudeikis and Bill Hader. Man, how will they ever replace Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon? The Adam Sandler and Chris Farley years can never be topped. Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey–those were the days. The ‘80s were the best, when you had Eddie Murphy and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Nobody will ever live up to the original cast.
I heard a theory once that the cast working during the years you discovered SNL, typically around your early teens, will always be the cast you love the most. Now, that’s probably not the case for the kids who were 13 when Don Pardo was shouting Denny Dillon’s name each week, but there’s truth in the idea that nostalgia breeds fondness. Go back and watch a full episode from the first season–or any “good” season–and it’s filled with duds. Dud hosts, dud characters, dud moments for even the most legendary of comedy icons.
My cast.
Just as the shows vary in quality from week to week, so does the cycle of cast members. In the book “Live from New York,” the show’s original music director, Howard Shore, notes how Saturday Night Live’s theme song was written to be improvisational, so it could evolve over the years. You instantly recognize the music, but nobody can hum the theme to SNL. The same principle applies to the cast: The format and foundation of Saturday Night Live are the constant, but the show’s going to adapt and grow with each new set of players.
Saturday Night Live is the show everyone takes for granted–even people who don’t watch it. When I was first asked the all-time-favorite question, I almost didn’t even consider Saturday Night Live a TV show. At this point, it’s become more of a utility, like heat or electricity, constantly humming in the background. It’s just always there, always has been, and I can’t even begin to imagine myself without it.