I'm about 15 pages from completing the book, "Live from New York" which gives a blow for blow account of the inner workings of Saturday Night Live as told by it's writers, stars, musicians, producers, directors, and guests. After reading the book, I have a new appreciation for Saturday Night Live. Thought I'd take a moment and give out some opinions I have about the show.

I was watching the 25th Anniversary episode of SNL on dvd the other day and Chris Rock said some kind of remark about how amazing that out of 25, there have only been about 4 funny seasons. I'm sure it was in jest, but I think that there is some kind of prevailing attitude that SNL really isn't that funny of a show. I couldn't really disagree more. I think that no matter how bad an episode of SNL is, there are still numerous moments that are really funny. It's virtually impossible to get that much writing and comedic talent in one place for a week and not have at least a few funny moments happen.

But SNL definitely goes through periods where the funny moments are too few and far between. I think that mainly happens when they're between casts and when they change direction and tone. It seems like the "bad seasons" were the ones that happened post-original cast/pre-Eddie Murphy cast, the post Murphy cast/pre-Dana Carvey cast, the post Dana Carvey cast/pre Will Ferrell cast. So on and so forth. I think that right now, the show is in one of those go between stages. I think that overall it's not great, but it's certainly not bad. I think that it's on the upswing.

One of the elements that all of the great casts have had have been the cast members for all seasons. Someone who is great at characters, great at ensemble yet can hold their own in their own sketch, and someone who can save a sketch as it sinks and sinks. I think that the best of this type of cast members have been the Aykroyds, Hartmans, Ferrell, and to a certain extent Joe Piscopo. Each person could really blend into a sketch and a character, but when their time was called, they could really do some great characters.

Being the boys club that it is, Saturday Night Live ALWAYS has great seasons when the female cast members are given material to work with. The original cast had Gilda Radner, the late 80's early 90's cast had Jan Hooks, and the late 90's cast had Cheri Oteri. It's a shame that more women don't get more to work with on the show. I think that the new cast has it right though. It seems like now, the stars are people like Maya Rudolph and Rachel Dratch.

Then there is always the debate on which cast is "the best cast." That's probably the age old Saturday Night Live debate that everyone who's a fan of the show has an opinion on. When looking at the seasons of SNL and which ones are great, there are no clear cut points of when it's good and bad. It's usually not that sudden. But there usually is a pretty sudden marker of when new cast members are ushered in and the old cast members are ushered out.

I obviously wasn't around enough in the 70's to remember Saturday Night Live so all of my recollections of that show have been from watching reruns. I DO remember watching some of the Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal cast shows as they happened. I DEFINITELY remember the late 80's cast. I remember all of my siblings and I gathering around the television pretty much every Saturday Night. We'd eat our cookie dough and watch Saturday Night Live until bed time rolled around. And obviously I remember all subsequent casts and Saturday Night Live seasons.

The original cast had sketches that people are still talking about today. They had so much talent and broke so much new ground that it's almost hard not to give them the "my favorite cast" label. But I don't think that the original cast can compare with the late 80's early 90's cast. I'd take Dana Carvey, Mike Meyers, Nora Dunn, Kevin Nealon, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, John Lovitz, Victoria Jackson, Dennis Miller, Tim Meadows, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Julia Sweeney any day of the week. There really wasn't a weak link in those casts.

The characters of that cast were not only memorable, but immensely popular (Waynes World, Church Lady, Coffee Talk, Master Thespian, etc.)
Even the lesser popular sketches were funny if for nothing other than being completely wacked out (Deep Thoughts, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, Lothar of the Hill People, Hollywood Minute, etc.) It seems like that cast changed the show a lot. The early seasons, the cast would try tons of new characters. The late 80's cast would find a character that was really popular and would then proceed to beat that character into the ground. I think that the current show resembles that cast more than they do the original cast. It's a lot less adventurous way to go I suppose.

But maybe my liking that cast is biased considering that the Carvey cast was the one that I watched during my impressionable years. I guess that's the fun of it.

Before reading the book, I had never known about the politics between the cast and the writing staff. Apparently, different cast members align themselves with different writers so that they get written into the show that week. The fortunate ones are the people who align themself with good writing, but can also write for themself if need be.

I also have a new appreciation for the writing on that show. I didn't know just how difficult it was for them to write a new show every week, with about 3 days worth of writing. It seems like a pretty formidable task. I'm surprised that it's not worse of a show than it is sometimes. And the more you're familiar with a writer on that show, the more you can tell by watching the show who wrote which sketch. It's no wonder that two of the funniest writers in the show's history (Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel) still work together on the Conan O'Brien Show.

It's also different now because there is so much competition out there. With the original cast, there really wasn't much out there for that type of comedy except Saturday Night Live. Nowadays, that type of sketch, sarcasm humor is everywhere. It used to be that all of the young and funny talent would have to come through Saturday Night Live to get their start. But nowdays, there are plenty of places for comedians to get their start, that I think that SNL has suffered moderately. I mean, why should someone like Dave Chappelle go to a show like SNL when he can get his own show on Comedy Central?

I think I've successfully proven my dorkiness enough for one day. I should get going. :)

matt out