R.I.P. SNL

Recently my husband and I discovered HBO Max has “Whose Line is it Anyway?” from 1998 on the platform, and let me tell you, it’s been refreshing. Not just for the 90s nostalgia, but also for the comedy itself.

Why? Because it feels like real comedy. Not politically correct. Not restrained. Just true comedy. They even poked fun at President Bill Clinton (and lived to tell the tale).

The sad part was it truly caught me off guard that they were making fun of a democrat—because let’s face it, that doesn’t happen much anymore.

Shows like Saturday Night Live (SNL), which should be challenging the status quo, clearly have no desire to do so. And if they do go after their favorite political party, it’s painfully obviously that they are pulling their punches.

I’m not the only one who has noticed. In a recent interview with Glenn Beck, comedian Rob Schneider said SNL is dead.  

“I hate to crap on my old show,” Schneider said. “I literally prayed, “Please have a joke at the end. Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there.’ And there was no joke at the end, and I went, ‘It’s over. It’s not going to come back.’”

What moment was he referring to? This pile of hot garbage the show put out after the 2016 election.

If you survived all three minutes and three seconds of that mess, I commend you. You also must be a masochist.

Unfortunately Schneider is completely right. Everything has become so politicized now that we can’t even laugh together as a country. Comedy has become cautious. And at that point, it’s not comedy anymore. 

Schneider also noted that all the late-night hosts are almost indistinguishable from each other, and “That’s how you know it’s not interesting anymore.”

I remember hearing Canadian clinical psychologist, Jordan Peterson, say that comedians are the canary in the coal mine of our society. If they start to become silent—beware. Censorship is on the horizon.

However, I DOOOOO still have some hope. Comedians like Ricky Gervais, or Bill Burr, still seem to be un-cancellable, and I think that is due to their refusal to bend when the mob comes demanding an apology. Let’s just hope these other comedians grow a pair soon. Because I’m ready to laugh again.