SNL’s Past Has Flaws, But Its Future Looks Bright
The cast of SNL packs the stage during the 46th season’s finale. Photo: NBC
By EMILY LAW
As the clock strikes 11:30 pm on Saturday night in New York City, you might be tempted to turn in for the night. But if you do stay up, you should turn on NBC and catch the wildly nonsensical program known as Saturday Night Live.
SNL is one of New York’s oldest and longest-standing shows filmed in the city, starting all the way back in 1975. Every episode follows the same format: cold open, monologue, multiple sketches, and Weekend Update in the middle, with a couple of musical performances sprinkled throughout. Filmed alongside other late-night shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers at NBC’s 30 Rock studios in Midtown, Manhattan, SNL is by far the most popular show of the three; it boasts 5.8 million viewers for each episode whereas the other two average about 1-2 million. But does the show still hold up for Gen Z?
Back in the 1990s, SNL was in its prime. Stacked with a cast of comedy greats, it featured the likes of Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, and the recently trending name that is Chris Rock. Many of the head writers in the 90s were continuations of those from the 80s, having become more comfortable in their writing.
Many sketches featured the big three: Farley, Carvey, and Myers, each with their own personality. Farley played the role of the big, red-faced, anxious, screaming Matt Foley, Carvey played the wildly critical, squeaky-voiced “Church Lady,” and Mike Myers played Wayne, one-half of the awkward basement rocker duo of Wayne’s World.
A few from that cast, like Sandler and Rock, became A-list celebrities, as did Myers. His success in Wayne’s World and the Austin Powers trilogy in the early 2000s solidified the fact that SNL can indeed produce hilarious stars.
However, as undeniably funny and star-powered as the 90s were, it's hard to deny that many of those laughs were built off of stereotypes such as “abnormal queer behavior.” The sketch “It’s Pat,” for example, featured a visibly genderless character and played a theme song in which Pat is referred to as “this” or “that,” a theme that definitely would not hold up in today’s cautious society. It’s almost assured that the mostly-white cast of the 90s would be “cancelled” by today’s teens.
Fast forward to the late 2010s when SNL amended those wrongs. With current cast standouts like Kate McKinnon, Ego Nwodim, and Bowen Yang, this era of SNL has been the most diverse yet, featuring queer, Black, and other POC cast members.
The sketch “Pride Month Song” called out the issue of “rainbow-washing” (supporting LGBTQ equality, but mainly as a marketing move) seen within today’s companies, in a lighthearted, playful song. The sketch featured Bowen Yang and Kate McKinnon (both outspoken queer cast members) poking fun at LGBTQ stereotypes as well as addressing the unnoticed struggle of finding a queer partner in a world that silences them.
As SNL continues trying to appeal to Millennials and Gen Z, it has become more political. During the Trump presidency, there was a shift to more political sketches in every episode, many of which poked fun at the then-president. Additionally, the show often airs sketches with caricatured versions of conservatives, such as a misogynistic co-worker (“Sexual Harassment Charlie”) and un-PC grandparents (“A Thanksgiving Miracle”).
While 90s-era SNL may not hold up with today’s teens, its present-day counterpart does. In fact, it might be in the midst of a revival. Bringing in performers and hosts popular among teens like Taylor Swift, Gunna, Billie Eilish, Ariana DeBose, and Zoe Kravitz strikes a mark and usually lures the most viewers.
In its 47th season, SNL has also added comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy to its lineup, featuring Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy (son of veteran SNL writer Tim Herlihy of the 80s and 90s). Emanating the same hilarious energy of The Lonely Island from the early 2000s, they bring a refreshing new take on comedy. It's no wonder they were named in Vulture’s “Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2021.”
Saturday Night Live continues to be a cultural phenomenon, and there hasn’t been anything else like it in the media. With a new generation of comedians, the show could change dramatically in the next decade. Will the new casts follow in the footsteps of the “greats”? Will they create their own new sense of humor? Who knows what's next to come to Studio 8H.