Saturday Night Live just turned 50 years old, and these past two weeks have been filled with new skits and updates.
The Oct. 19 episode included updates on the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and the election. It also featured two live performances by Billie Eilish as she sang “Birds of a Feather” and “WILD FLOWER” live.
Skits also joked about having second thoughts about skydiving, an Uber game show hosted by a conspiracy theorist, Michael Myers doing sassy choreography during a kill scene, and more.
Despite its 50-year runtime, many viewers have claimed that SNL isn’t very funny, stating that the show has been on a downward spiral for a long time. Some individuals think that SNL’s skits try too hard to appeal to their younger, Gen Z audience.
SNL is credited for being the launchpad for many known comedians like Tina Fey, John Mulaney, and Jimmy Fallon, but it doesn’t seem to be the cornerstone of culture it once was.
When SNL first premiered in the ‘70s, it was a brand-new concept for comedy television. It was innovative and new, but now it seems to have faded into the background and is not being received the way it used to be.
SNL may have lost some of its touch, but its impact continues to linger. It still has a viewership. After all, they are iconic and well-recognized for what they’ve done over the past couple of decades.
The best and most recent example of SNL’s success is the episode that Ariana Grande hosted on Oct. 12. This episode was the most watched episode since Elon Musk’s episode in 2021. Her most popular skits include “Castrati” and the viral “Bridesmaid Speech.”
“Bridesmaid Speech” featured a hilariously catchy song sung to the melody of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” as the bridesmaids sang about their bachelorette trip and the bride’s—Kelsey, played by Chloe Fineman—affair with Domingo, played by Marcello Hernandez.
TikTok absolutely loved this skit, with audios taken from the clips of the bridesmaids and Domingo singing. Clips of other skits featuring Grande, such as “Maybelline” and “The Hotel Detective,” also went viral on social media.
This episode hit it off with SNL’s audience, especially the young adults. They were funny and, in the case of “Bridesmaid Speech,” very catchy.
Viewers were hooked by interesting premises from the beginning, and a few individuals have posted videos or comments on social media stating that this SNL episode felt closer to the older, funnier SNL rather than the newer, sometimes bland SNL.
Hopefully, SNL keeps this up with next week’s episode, hosted by Mulaney with musical guest Chappell Roan, especially since both figures have made unique impacts on youth culture in the comedy and musical sectors.
Grande’s hit episode shows that SNL and its writers are still capable of producing quality work. There is still hope for the viewers who have felt disappointed lately.
