In April, Kristen Wiig hosted Saturday Night LiveAn occasion that, under normal circumstances, would merit some excitement. But someone familiar with strange lore SNL Should know better: This was Wiig’s fifth time hosting, and when one hosts SNL Five times, the opening monologue becomes absolutely unbearable.
This is the fault SNLA longtime schtick known as ‘The Five Timers Club’ where after hosting the show five times you get a velvet smoking jacket and enter a mythical exclusive society filled with Steve Martin and other winners like Tina Fey and Justin. Timberlake.
It’s an excuse for the show to indulge its worst passions: packed with A-list guest appearances, Wigg’s monologue saw Paul Rudd sadly asking why he wasn’t asked to be one of the celebrity cameos; Matt Damon, who has only hosted twice, wore a five-timer jacket because executive producer Lorne Michaels said he was so good he deserved it; And Jon Hamm and Martin Short are begging Michaels offstage for a chance to host again. In total, eight of the country’s most loved actors bowed together at the joining altar SNL And, specifically, its creator.
There are infinite ways for SNL Being Insufferable: A sketch overstays its welcome, the rookie featured player slurs his lines, the writers forget the jokes entirely and force us to listen instead. An eccentric piano ballad In an attempt to say something sincere about politics. But by far the worst version SNL When the show becomes more interested in its own mythology than making people laugh.
This year promises to be the company’s 50th Such moments are full. In the season premiere, host Gene Smart recalls watching the first episode of his first season SNLKnowing he would one day host the show, when “SNL50” branding was everywhere, from the interstitials to the top story on Weekend Update.
This fall’s slate of hosts is largely limited to repeat hosts, including John Mulaney and Michael Keaton, who will return for their sixth and fourth hosting seasons, respectively. The nostalgia tour extends beyond the show: Oct. 11, Saturday night, A movie that dramatizes the story SNLIts 1975 debut, will premiere in theaters. Meanwhile, Questlove is producing a documentary SNL; Filmmaker Morgan Neville Won’t you be my neighbor? Is, somehow, production five their
Its worst version SNL When the show becomes more interested in its own mythology than making people laugh.
And on Valentine’s Day 2025, SNL Radio City will host a “homecoming” event at Music Hall, produced by Michaels and Mark Ronson, in addition to a live primetime reunion with current and former cast members that will air next Sunday.
the picture Saturday night, Directed by Jason Reitman, received okay reviews, many critics were annoyed by the over-flattering of both Michaels and SNL. The Rolling Stones It is called a “Filled Love Letter”: “Saturday Night Live Long has swooned over his own self-mythology, and saturday night Happy to add that backpatting as the show’s golden anniversary approaches,” wrote David Fear. Put more precisely accordingly The New RepublicThe film is little more than “a cinematic circle jerk.”
To be fair, franchise nostalgia is a plague that only affects more SNL. Pop culture is in a deeply self-referential, self-absorbed mood: Endless reboots that recycle previously successful intellectual property A sign of an entertainment industry that has buckled under its own weight Crushing corporate consolidation. The film is about the results The origin story of the recognized company (Nike, Pop Tarts, BlackberryFlamin’ Hot Cheetos, to name a few, TV prologues (D ring of power, House of the Dragon), and Constant samples in pop music.
Or take, for example, the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe, which sold movie tickets throughout the 2010s by promising hardcore fans that they would see their favorite character in a post-credits scene. Or the decade’s other blockbuster cultural product, Taylor Swift, who staged the highest-grossing tour of all time, packaging and repackaging nostalgia for her fans.
when SNL By committing the sin of self-importance, it feels worse, not because it is more guilty than the rest, but because SNL It’s supposed to be fun. There’s nothing hilarious about seeing the rich and famous congratulating themselves (that’s what awards shows are for!) Instead, it comes across as deeply lazy.
SNLIts best moments have always been the ones where you have no idea what kind of brain they might come from. With few exceptions, its topical and political elements are never as memorable as its wacky characters and absurdist sketches — recent standouts include last year’s Silly Beavis and Butthead sketch And Lisa from Temecula. In other words, SNL It works when it lets the young comedic intellectuals who staff the show do their work without reminding us that we’re watching a show that’s been on the air for 50 years.
However, this usually does not happen when an aging leader does not understand that the best use of their power is to hand it over to someone else. Lorne Michaels is a show business icon who’s nearly 80 years old and could be forgiven for wanting to stick around long enough to enjoy a victory lap (a network powerhouse’s 50 years is nothing like hell).
Michaels notwithstanding Press statement in 2020 that he planned to retire after his 50th season – a position repeated in 2023 when he That’s the hint Her replacement “could easily be Tina Fey” — she recently told multiple media outlets that she now plans to stay on indefinitely. “I’m going to do it as long as I think I can do it,” he said The TimesAdding The Hollywood Reporter“As long as it’s important and I can be useful, I’ll stay.”
To say you see (or even care). SNL 2024 itself is kind of embarrassing, even though it’s been around for decades — people who tuned in as kids or teenagers believe that no cast could possibly live up to the one that introduced them to sketch comedy. You could say it’s bad at any point in its history and you’d be at least somewhat right, but it’s especially disheartening to see talented writers and performers expend their energies deifying and worshiping their own employers.
There are so many favorites in pop culture right now. SNL Relying on the audience pointing and saying, “I got that reference!” Instead of creating work that is actually fresh or funny or compelling. After all the meta in-jokes, all the celebrity cameos, all the cutaways of Bigg Boss off stage, there is hardly any room left for laughter. if soft The season premiere Any indication, don’t expect many of those this year.
