Jon Stewart recently came out and defended SNL against those who claim it is no longer funny. But I doubt even Stewart could defend what is attempting to pass for political humor on recent SNL'S, especially last night's cold open. Stewart, a pro at political satire, understands that for political humor to succeed it must be reality-based---it must contain the truth--otherwise it is just propaganda. Last night SNL's cold open was pure right wing propaganda.
The show opened with a takeoff on Schoolhouse Rock's famous "How a Bill Becomes a Law" skit. In the SNL version, Kenan Thompson appears dressed as the Immigration Bill and is seen kicked repeatedly down the Capitol steps by Jay Pharaoh's Barack Obama. From the onset, this skit gives the false impression that the Immigration Bill reached the President's desk and he "kicked it to the curb", choosing instead to replace it with his own Executive Order. Total Fox News-worthy BS to presumably anyone up late enough to watch SNL.
SNL made its early bones with its cutting edge political humor and continued doing so right up to Tina Fey's spot on Sarah Palin skits. But somewhere after the departures of Fey and Seth Meyer's, what is supposed to pass for political humor has begun to slowly drift into GOP talking points until last's night full on dive into political propaganda. When Fey did Palin, the only words she put in Palin's mouth were Palin's. The only actions were Palin's. What made them funny was the delivery by a consummate comedic actress. But Fey didn't have to lie. She just had to read the transcripts from Palin's own speeches and interviews.
Jon Stewart does exactly the same thing every night on the Daily Show. Ditto Colbert. These guys know that political humor/satire is reliant on turning the target's own words against them, exposing hypocrisy. The current political writer(s) at SNL clearly lack(s ) this talent or understanding.
Later in the broadcast, during the Weekend Update, they again zinged Obama by changing his slogan from "Yes We Can" to "Yes I Can", which was fair game. That was political humor (though pretty lame by prior SNL standards). But the cold open was so frought with false portrayals of the facts surrounding the Immigration Bill, that it could have come directly from the "news" writers over at FOX. For there to be even a splinter of truth in their portrayal, Kenan Thompson's BILL would have had to send up a huge dust cloud as it rolled down the stairs given the more than 500 days the real Immigration Bill has been sitting on John Boehner's desk. And it could never have come in contact with Obama's foot as anyone who actually has an IQ above double digits and isn't a white male over 60 (the majority Fox demographic) knows that no Immigration bill has ever reached Obama's desk.
As has been evident for most of this season, SNL is struggling to stay relevant. When you can't even rouse your studio audience that is a pretty clear sign you need new material. Either that or if you want to continue to source your material from Fox, then perhaps it would be wiser to seek an earlier time slot as the demographic you are appealing to goes to bed even before Hannity comes on nowadays.