A random thought

Some comedy writer who I really admire will point out from time to time that the original Saturday Night Live wasn't as funny as some subsequent seasons, and it has always been hard for me to react to that.

I was about 11 when SNL went on the air, and I prolly watched the very first episode of the series, since I would stay up late on Saturday nights to watch the midnight horror movie, but I do CLEARLY remember the very early episodes, and seeing people like Andy Kaufmann challenge what was considered entertainment. For people who watch TV now and weren't around then, it's hard to explain how different SNL was from everything else on TV.

The "pinnacle" of sketch comedy was the Carol Burnett show, which was funny and all, but worked more on just being silly than being funny. In each episode they would have cast members cracking up at the jokes they were giving. It was all very safe and bland, something you could watch with Grandma in the room.

SNL was dangerous back then. They were doing drug humor, sex humor, and (best of all) Smart humor. They broke the rules of how TV was done, and injected a sense that anything could happen when they were on stage. Now, SNL has become the Carol Burnett show, with the biggest "joke" of the seasons being a sketch where everyone cracked up and they couldn't finish. It might be funnier now, but it's not important anymore.

And that's why the origianl shines for those of us who loved it.