Do you think Saturday Night Live is still funny?

[AstralEclipse]

I have to be honest with you, Saturday Night Live rarely makes me laugh that much anymore, and part of the problem is that the current cast is just nowhere as funny or inventive as the casts from 70's and 80's, and even the early 90's for that matter. Does anyone else agree?

 

[Don_M]

Concur: SNL's cast members seem to spend a lot of time congratulating themselves instead of putting together a good show. When they're doing an impression these days, they no longer try very hard to look and sound like the character they're sending up. Fred Armisen's Barack Obama and Darrell Hammond's Chis Matthews are prime examples. The comediennes are front and center in relatively few skits, and are mostly consigned to minor roles within them. Can you think of any memorable bits featuring a female cast member who wasn't Kristin Wiig? Finally, the thinly veiled inside gay jokes have been so numerous for so long that they're no longer merely tiresome, but flat-out overbearing.

The guest host makes a big difference, though, so maybe they should work on doing better in that regard. The Jan. 16 show with Sigourney Weaver was quite good; Taylor Lautner's Dec. 12 turn was unwatchable. More real actors/comedians and fewer celebrities, it seems, would help a lot.

 

[Orrymain]

I have never liked SNL. I've watched it a small percentage of the shows, but it just doesn't do it for me. I liked it better when Chevy Chase was on it.

 

[BCF68]

Concur: SNL's cast members seem to spend a lot of time congratulating themselves instead of putting together a good show. When they're doing an impression these days, they no longer try very hard to look and sound like the character they're sending up. Fred Armisen's Barack Obama and Darrell Hammond's Chis Matthews are prime examples.

Honestly Chevey Chase's President Ford wasn't very spot on.

I don't really watch it much anymore. Haven't in years. Good casts come and go. Horatio Sanz sucked and ruined any skit becuse he couldn't say a fricking line without laughing. How he lasted 8 years on that show is beyond me.

 

[BCF68]

I have never liked SNL. I've watched it a small percentage of the shows, but it just doesn't do it for me. I liked it better when Chevy Chase was on it.

You realize Chase was only on for the first season.

 

[Orrymain]

Like I said, I've never really liked it and didn't watch that much.. He came back a lot for a while and was still the most associated with it for quite some time.

 

[Mockingbird]

Now that Mad TV is off I have been watching SNL and I have to say it is better then it was but not as good as the original incarnation. I have been unfortunate to even have caught re-runs already. Being a shift worker I wonder what happened to the days when there was decent stuff on TV after midnight.

 

[matie1138]

There will never be anyone like John Belushi or the original cast for that matter. The actors were great but the skectches were incredibly well written too. Now they just worry about being politically correct :-(

 

[Orrymain]

They've never had a cast like that first group. Look at the individual careers that were launched as a result. That's a sign of the talent. The followup groups have never been as collectively famous/successful.

 

[JoeM]

I haven't really watched SNL since the Dana Carvery/Michael Myers/ Adam Sandler days. It seems like there was a brief uptick in hilarity but things soon went back down hill again. Hopefully they'll shuffle the cast and it will be funny again. The question is will anyone notice?

 

[AstralEclipse]

The way I see it is Saturday Night Live had 2 or 3 great periods, between the 70's/early 80's and then again from the early/mid 90's, and there just hasn't been very much to write home about since then.

Every once in a while you'll still see a fairly funny skit or even episode, but overall...