NO LAUGHS ON ‘SNL’ ANYMORE
— President Trump, via Twitter
You’re right, Mr. Presi- dent, “Saturday Night Live” isn’t funny. Tell us something we don’t know.
“SNL” isn’t funny, Elizabeth Warren isn’t an Indian and Alexandria OcasioCortez can’t do math. You call this “collusion.” The rest of us call it “obvious.”
In fact, if you pledged not to tweet again until Alec Baldwin landed a funny line on NBC, you could throw away your smartphone right now. And your poll numbers would jump 10 points before Easter.
My complaint isn’t about SNL’s blatant partisanship, it’s about something far more important: comedy.
“Saturday Night Live” used to be hilarious, mustwatch TV. Why? Because it was all about the jokes. Yes, George H.W. Bush got smacked around by Dana Carvey (and reportedly loved every minute of it), but so did Bill Clinton, by both Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond. And they had a “strategery” — to use a Will Ferrell as George W. Bush line — for real laughs. We are “Live from New York, and we are here to make you laugh” was their motto. Even when they failed (Johnny Rocket, anyone?), they were swinging for the comedy fences.
Then came the Obama era and suddenly a source of consistently funny political comedy turned into a bad session of “Skit Night at DNC Sleepover Camp.” President “If You Like Your Doctor” was left unscathed — and worse, unmocked — by Team SNL.
The cause was obvious. Lorne Michaels and his cast wanted to make good politics more than they wanted great comedy. Comedy is by definition destructive. It peels off layers of pleasant political lies and lets us laugh at the truths underneath. For eight years, “SNL” went on a comedy sabbatical, largely in service to that other comedy-killing force, political correctness.
Then Trump shows up … and “SNL” loses it. Has there ever been a more target-rich comedy environment than the Trump White House? But it’s oncesharp wit has withered into a bad parody of liberal outrage. Hey, Alec Baldwin — hate isn’t comedy. Jokes are. Write some.
For a glimpse of how far “SNL” has strayed from its mission, take a look at the cold open of the first show after Trump’s victory: Cast members crying while Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton sang, “Hallelujah.”
“We didn’t know what to write,” “Weekend Update” anchor Colin Jost said about that show. “No one was feeling very funny.” Yeah, pal — we noticed. Something else America has noticed, “SNL”? President Trump is funnier than you are.