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'Saturday Night Live' Returns ... Whether You Like It Or Not
by Dr. Ryan Vaughan, PhD (no, seriously), posted Sep 23rd 2010 2:35PM
With 'Saturday Night Live' returning for its 36th season on Sept. 25 (host Amy Poehler and Katy Perry), you'd think there would be a lot of buzz -- things being ballyhooed and heralded amidst a blitzkrieg of promos and rumors. You'd think that, but you'd be wrong, and not just because we don't ballyhoo as much as we used to, but because people just don't care about 'SNL' anymore.
Yes, for whatever reason, people yawn at the thought of arguably the most influential comedy institution this country has known and ever will know ... and I'm here to tell you why that sucks.
If you've ever uttered the phrase, "SNL has sucked ever since Will Ferrell left," you need to punch yourself in the face. Not because Will Ferrell wasn't awesome -- he's pound-for-pound the most prolific cast member of all time -- but because it's just a flat out lie. Nine times out of 10, that phrase is followed by the question, "When was the last time you watched the show?" If your answer is "not since Will Ferrell left," you need to stop talking altogether because you're making it difficult for me to keep from punching you myself.
That's the problem. 'SNL's apparent decline is a social movement, not an actual phenomenon. The show has been consistently funny for the last decade in the wake of Ferrell's departure, but it's as if a bunch of hipster idiots got together to spread the word that 'SNL' isn't funny in order to sound all cool and alternative and ironic. And before we knew it, the masses bought into this philosophy like so many 'Jesus is My Homeboy' T-shirts. It's like anything else: We'd much rather regurgitate someone else's opinion than actually do the work and make our own.
I fight with at least one person a day about the show, and the argument always follows this same pattern. I grew up in the Mike Myers/Dana Carvey era through the beginning of the Chris Farley/Chris Rock/David Spade era, which some would contend is one of the greatest 10-year spans in the show's history. But I still think the show is funny today and that it had something to offer in the Ferrell-less years between then and now.
We need to stop conceptualizing the show in televisual terms, especially since it transcends television on so many levels. 'Saturday Night Live' is an icon, an arbiter of both humor and social commentary whose contributions to our culture are, at once, copious and significant.
I have always viewed the show more like a sports franchise, and as an organization, it has been in existence longer than many (Toronto Blue Jays, Jacksonville Jaguars, among others). If you're a sports fan, you root for your team, no matter what ... or at least you should. When the team has a down year, do you immediately jump ship and start bad mouthing the team? Do you stop watching games? No, you give them the benefit of the doubt, because you love the team. You look for the strengths as the team tries to rebuild. The Yankees sucked HARD in the '80s, but if I had given up on them as a result, I never would have seen Don Mattingly play.
Why should 'SNL' be any different? There have been up years, with great talent and multiple superstars that captured our hearts and imaginations throughout glorious seasons. And there have been down years when legends retired or moved on to make questionable movies, and the show had to scour the minors to find fresh young faces to put into the line-up. This is always a difficult time, but not a time without value.
Players need time to develop their skills on the biggest stage, to find their niche within the team and to get comfortable with their surroundings and their new roles as budding stars. 'SNL' has had some down years, but never a down and out year. If I stopped watching post-Ferrell, I would have missed brilliance from Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudekis.
It's comedy. There's nothing guaranteed about it. Not every sketch is going to kill. They call it a "sense of humor" for a reason. Even the funniest people in the world only have a "sense" of how it all works. So, if you never got off the bandwagon, yay! I applaud you. Those of you who did bail for the wrong reasons, I'm not sure I want you back. Just check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Dr. Vaughan teaches English/Media/Humor courses at Binghamton University in upstate New York, and he knits. You can also check out his blog at drvtv.wordpress.com or www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-Vaughan/21931402981
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