re: When did Saturday Night Live stop being funny?

Personally, I grew up on the show and while in college, we'd rush home from the bar to watch it. (Great way to ask girls back to the house! No "On Demand" back then! )

I 've been watching Saturday Night Live (SNL) on and off for close to 50 years now (not so much these days), and for me, deciding on favorite skits or "when it stopped being funny" would be a near impossible task. Same with SouthPark in later years.

The "golden eras" of SNL are often debated. Each era had its own comedic flavor and cultural context. So, the "peak" often depends on personal taste.

These are among my favorite skits...

“King Tut” - 1978
“Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood” - 1981
“Celebrity Hot Tub Party" - 1983
"Wayne's World" – 1991
“More Cowbell” – 2002
“D*** in a Box" – 2005
“The Californians” – 2012
“Black Jeopardy” - 2014

So, to me, you haven't had "great" skits in a while. Some of the stuff now isn't funny. You mentioned the Trump Skits. Not that funny to me, BUT, bringing back Mike Myers as Elon Musk on SNL was hilarious.

Article On The Evolution

Reddit Thread On "The Best Years".

When Belushi died.

Lorne Michaels, the Creator of SNL, has a great quote where he said that whatever cast was on the show when you were in high school is your favorite SNL cast… i agree with that, though id actually amend it, at least for myself, to say from junior high to early college.. i was a big Carvey , Hartman, Mike Myers guy and to me that late 80s- to mid 90s cast was gold .

When Chevy, Bill, and John left

quote:

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For decades, there weren’t many options for comedy other than sitcoms. I was in high school when SNL debuted, and whatever we did on Saturday nights, we made sure we were in front of a TV at 10:30.

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That’s me as well and I agree with your post.

I would usually at least click in and catch a glimpse but when they did the whole Hallelujah thing when Trump first won that was it for me. Don’t want nor need to see anymore. It can be canceled as far as I’m concerned. Last hoorah was probably the Will Ferrell Adam Sandler days. I have a nostalgic feel for the joe Pesci Eddie Murphy years

After Poehler, the girl that looked like the Alaskan governor and a few others left, it was over. Some of the news skits were kinda of funny, but the overall content has sucked for damn near 10 years. I don't watch it but if something is funny it will be on some kind of replay..

You can argue when the backslide began or whatever but this moment killed the show altogether:

quote:

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It was never really funny…and on the rare occasions they had a funny skit, they invariably carry it i\out far too long. That said, enough high-school guys watch it to keep it from getting canceled for 50 years!

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Sure thing. You’re probably 30 and think Akroyd is a space rock.

I feel like SNL has gone from funny to not being funny several times throughout its existence. This is the longest stretch of not funny that I can recall though. It hasn't had a memorable sketch since the Bill Hader crew left town.