Saturday Night Live’s middling new season

Saturday Night Live has begun its new season. And it is spectacularly ordinary. 

     It’s not unusual that SNL centers its shows and skits around politics. This is fine . . . when the jokes are funny. In the early days of Donald Trump’s election to the White House, this was the case. The jokes were funny, and the skits were pristine. Yes, they were making fun of Trump, but even if you are or were a big-time supporter of our president, many of these early jokes could make you chuckle. 

     The problem is that these jokes were four years ago, at the beginning of the election cycle and early on into Trump’s presidency, and SNL still makes many of the same comedic references. Sure, they make a few jokes at the expense of former Vice President Biden, but the main focus has always been Trump. So, my question is this: how many times can SNL say something like “orange man bad”? 

     They can’t figure out the answer, but they seem to have gotten an estimate, and it is somewhere around infinity.

     Now don’t get me wrong, I usually like SNL, but it just seems to have grown stale. Still, this season, there has been one major exception. As of this writing, there have been only four episodes, but the second one, hosted by Bill Burr, was spectacular.

     Burr did not make jokes that he thought that the left-leaning audience would want to hear. Instead, he talked about things that push the line of dark humor and even get you laughing out loud, even if it might not be politically correct. Burr is a stand-up comedian and is brilliant at coming up with jokes that other people would never attempt. 

     Now you might say, “but Chris Rock hosted, and he is a comedian,” but I would have to disagree with you. The funniest thing about Rock is probably his voice. 

SNL is a good show, but to become even better, it needs to take a break from politics and focus on other current events.

     Let’s move on to the music acts, and this will be short. The singers, in my opinion, are pointless. I do not even remotely want to watch someone perform in the middle of a funny show. Even if the singer is someone that I like, I am not interested in watching them. Why would I? I can go on YouTube to see live performances. 

     As of now, Bill Burr takes the lead with his episode of SNL, and in second, I would have to place Adele. Adele is not a comedian, but she was able to incorporate her singing into a skit that I found hilarious. It was not a full-blown performance, but only a second or two of several songs that gave the sketch a unique feel. I would rank the other two episodes a tie in last, with neither of them standing out in any way at all. SNL is a good show, but to become even better, it needs to take a break from politics and focus on other current events.