Let’s face it: when it comes to Saturday Night Live you never really know what you’re getting into. Some seasons are absolutely to die for, manifesting characters such as Stefon, the Spartan Cheerleaders and the Dick in a Box duo. Meanwhile other seasons are so dull they seem like a complete waste of airtime. It’s a dangerous lottery, with much needed comic relief on the line. So when Saturday Night Live‘s 42nd season aired at the beginning of October, I was more than a little skeptical. After witnessing four episodes since then, all I can say is this: It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen.
With a spectacle as hysterical as the 2016 presidential election occupying our nation, the comedy show has obviously had a wide range of content to choose from. And if there’s one thing SNL tends to do right, it’s their political cold opens. Alec Baldwin consistently shines with his impersonation of Donald Trump, using Trump’s erratic gestures and agonizingly slow vocal speed to his advantage.
Meanwhile Kate McKinnon makes a wonderfully hysterical Hillary Clinton, poking fun at Clinton’s consistent avoidance of certain topics (hint: it’s the emails), and celebratory gestures expressed throughout the debates. Of course, with political sketches it’s hard to tell if the jokes are actually funny or if it’s just because of their uncanny resemblance to the real election. Either way, SNL‘s political cold opens act as saving graces for the 42nd season, because without them the show would likely be a snooze.
What immediately struck me as a slight disappointment was each of the host’s opening monologues. It’s the opening monologue that sets the tone for how the host is going to perform throughout the night. If it turns out less-than-desirable, you face the chance of people tuning out for the rest of the episode. Each of the first four hosts, while eliciting a few chuckles here and there, tended to fall just a bit short of being truly funny. And this is coming from the girl who listened to the Hamilton soundtrack for about nine months straight — I was expecting to absolutely fall in love with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s monologue. But when he broke into a rap about how excited he was to be on the show, I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed with the predictable move.
If it were just the opening monologues that lacked captivation, the season wouldn’t take on too much damage. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. With the exception of Weekend Update, which was consistently successful in the hands of Michael Che and Colin Jost, a lot of the sketches done throughout the season just weren’t genuinely funny. Sketches like “Drive-Thru Window,” “Campfire” and “Melania Moments” looked for cheap laughs and passive entertainment, but most of the punch lines didn’t land. While there were some golden moments in “Chonk” and “Funny New Comedy,” the overarching reaction was general disappointment.
Saturday Night Live‘s 42nd season has undeniably had a rocky beginning. The political humor is saving the show right now, but with the election finally ending next week it’s hard to say whether SNL will be able to pull itself out of the rut it seems to be stuck in.
