Wow, it’s really tanked since the 1990s. Apparently Saturday Night Live was struggling for viewership, so they jumped at the chance to bring former cast member Tina Fey back into the fold, in which she did cameo appearances impersonating Sarah Palin.
Her performance was marvelous, bordering on the uncanny. I found it absolutely hilarious. Apparently, it helped the folks at SNL, who saw a 50% increase in audience share. Fey did another skit lampooning the Vice Presidential debate, and tonight, the real Sarah Palin was invited to appear.
I’m not sure if it was real or perceived, but I could see a glint of disdain in Governor Palin’s eyes for the whole situation. While Fey did an impersonation of a press conference, Palin and producer Lorne Michaels looked on from a studio monitor. Alec Baldwin came on for no apparent reason, and the best thing he could do with his cameo was hit on Governor Palin. Lovely.
I suppose that’s all he thinks he should have to do, given the dislike for her he’s articulated so eloquently elsewhere.
Then Mark Wahlberg came and went for no apparent reason. Baldwin did a pantomime of informing Fey, who was still in character, that Palin was on site. Fey remarked, “who? The real one?”
Then she said, “I’m out of here,” before stomping off in a jilted-prom-queen-runner-up manner. I don’t think Fey’s resentful demeanor, much less her avoidance of eye contact with Palin, was the least bit forced. Like Baldwin, she’s made no secret of her contempt for Governor Palin.
Of course, that doesn’t stop her from cashing the checks, does it?
Palin then took the mock podium, cracked a joke, and did the “live from New York” line. And that was it.
Oh, tonight’s host? Josh Brolin, they guy playing President Bush in Oliver Stone’s questionable biopic. Brolin didn’t waste any time, using his opening monologue to bash the President repeatedly.
Here’s the problem: that’s all he had.
Even his jabs weren’t funny; they were simply cheap shots for the enjoyment of an audience that obviously didn’t need convincing. I’ve been to parties like that, where the in-jokes are tired and crass, but that’s the closest thing these people can manage to conversation, so they go through the motions because they have to do something to break the awkward silence of people who have nothing to say.
I kept watching through two more commercial breaks, and I realized something. Saturday Night Live has gone from an incisive, intelligent and often pants-wettingly-funny show to a rather droll and pessimistic chat room projection for 20-something liberals.
It’s vicious and disorganized, but its worst sin is that it’s not the least bit funny.
The last time I paid any real attention to Saturday Night Live was in the early Chris Farley phase. Even then, it was slipping a bit, but by the show’s current standards…well, I’ve just got nothing nice to say. I’ve just got better things to do with my time that watch a Macgyver parody in which a man fires golf balls from his rectum.
Palin held her own and showed a healthy sense of humor. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the rest of the show. Perhaps it’s time for Lorne Michaels to give up the ghost. In any case, I’ve seen all of this generation’s SNL I need to, and it saddens me.