It’s deeper than that. The originators of SNL tapped a subversive comedic history from Paul Krassner, Terry Southern, Dick Gregory, Lenny Bruce, and others. They were also shaped by MAD Magazine, underground comix, and especially the National Lampoon. SNL didn’t specialize in political comedy early on. Chase’s Ford sketches were just slapstick and Aykroyd’s Carter only appeared rarely.
By the late seventies that type of comedy just ran out of gas and then hit a wall when Reagan was elected. It took SNL years to get back on its feet and the humor was no longer subversive. I agree with the article that today’s SNL can’t do political satire very well. It’s mostly because the writers don’t come from a tradition of sharp political satire and the network fears going over a line. On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 5:37 PM John Edwards <[email protected]> wrote: > In other words: “A young man is now old and I am MAD ONLINE about it: MY > COLUMN” > > John > > On Sat, Dec 14, 2024 at 9:14 AM Mark Jeffries <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> From the left-leaning American Prospect, author Siddharta Mahanta says >> that Lorne has become "the very sort of out-of-touch, too-comfortable >> elitist the Lorne Michaels of 'Saturday Night' (the recent movie) was >> railing against" (Note: Mahanta is pretty much a member of the Bernie left >> who throws around "neoliberal" and isn't wild about Obama): >> >> >> https://prospect.org/culture/2024-12-13-requiem-for-comedy-dream-saturday-night-live-movie/ >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/bcbefabb-9130-43d5-a668-8e50896df64dn%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/bcbefabb-9130-43d5-a668-8e50896df64dn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJLXtMLXm3AAby4nsfnPUPGM2PCXbH2tgf-Uca9qPjQk1KZObw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJLXtMLXm3AAby4nsfnPUPGM2PCXbH2tgf-Uca9qPjQk1KZObw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiHLo6wq9bXXxdzKBeH8yUK7dytgDH%2BEQEnY_cEc%3Dz9Bjw%40mail.gmail.com.
