By
Shaun Clayton
Arizona Daily Wildcat
"Saturday Night Live" is back for another season. But perhaps people do not know that, or perhaps they do not care. Perhaps they realize that "Saturday Night Live" needs to die.
First of all, it is not funny - except maybe to those who have the maturity level of a 13-year-old. Each episode is filled with sketches in which the only focus is sexual or bodily functions. Oh, and there is yelling. Lots and lots of yelling. Apparently the performers on "SNL" have deduced that the louder the characters yell, the funnier they are.
Further, there are the by-products of "SNL" - the movies which retain all that is bad about "SNL" and put it on a bigger screen. And people have responded just as they should. "A Night at the Roxbury" and "Superstar" have been huge box office flops.
What is even worse is that the people behind "SNL" do not seem to care. They seem deliberately to aim for the low end of the comedy spectrum. This is a show that in the last few years has had the likes of Michael McKean, Laura Kightlinger and Janeane Garofalo in the cast. These comedians, already well-established, would have been an asset to any other comedy show, but "SNL," chose to keep these people in the background, performing in roles that were better suited to well-paid extras.
This is a shame because at one time "SNL" was at the cutting edge of comedy. It was a brave concept in 1975 to have a late-night, live comedy show, and it attracted the best and the brightest performers. Now, "SNL" has become the institution - the standard against which the creative rebel. Perhaps that is the best reason that "Saturday Night Live" should go.
Its cancellation would stop the validation of comedians who yell, fart and generally appeal to the lowest common denominator. Adam Sandler is the perfect example. Compare the yelling, the fart jokes and immaturity that Adam Sandler has to a comedian of yesteryear, such as Harpo Marx. Harpo could make people laugh without a single word throughout his entire career. Sandler cannot help but yell.
Then again, perhaps Americans no longer like comedians with wit and an intellectual bent and prefer those who can make fart jokes with the best of them. If that is the case, then it is not a crime for "SNL" to lift such comedians to the heights of popularity as it just gives the viewing public what it wants.
More likely, though, the public does not want this, and "SNL's" reputation will not save it from cancellation. It has happened before - in the late 1980s, "SNL" was in danger of being removed from the airwaves. The show may start to falter again soon, and if it does, let it go - quietly and with respect for the times when the show was actually good. It's for the best.
