Saturday Night Snooze

Last year, I found Iconoclasts on the Sundance Channel.

The show takes two public figures and puts them in an roving interview environment. Every once in a while, the two share a professional or personal connection; often, the two share little except a mutual admiration. Mario Batali and Michael Stipe, for instance. Still, it worked.

This morning, I caught the episode with Lorne Michaels and Paul Simon. The pair often discussed their long-running friendship by reviewing the many times Simon appeared on SNL.

My thought throughout the interview: What the heck happened?

I can't even remember the last time I saw a complete episode of SNL, which coincided with when it ceased to be funny. I don't even miss it. Now, if I want to watch funny skit comedy, I'll watch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Growing up, SNL was a weekend staple. We'd risk sleeping during church just to catch the show in its fullness. If you showed up at the lunch table on Monday morning without knowing many of the skits or Weekend Update jokes, you might as well just sit next to Ronald Miller in Siberia.

Brian called me a couple of weeks ago with his idea for a skit. Weekend at Harry's, he called it. It would follow Senators Reid and Clinton playing puppeteers to Senator Johnson in order to hold onto their majority. He asked if this idea were feasible. I responded that I wasn't aware the show was still running or that people still watched it. Cast members aren't comedic. Jokes aren't funny. Skits aren't entertaining.

Obviously, being funny every weekend for over 30 years is impossible. Continued comedic genius for that long a period is probably unprecedented.

Still, this dry spell is reaching epidemic proportions. And I believe it directly relates to the inability of too many people to laugh at themselves and others in non-malicious racial matters. While political commentary has primarily guided SNL, its comedic method of revealing the idiocy of racism has been invaluable. Kinda like All in the Family.

But lately, Lorne is playing it safe.

A word association skit like the one Chase and Pryor performed would end with demands for an apology and eventual boycott. Even a Garrett Morris jail dance-and-song skit would end in complete discomfort.

Now, those were iconoclastic.