Every Saturday people have looked forward to watching a Saturday night show filled with comedy that evokes laughs from people all over the world. Though as of recently with the newest season on its run, people haven’t found their excitement while watching the show. It’s a genuine and thorough feeling flowing through people who’ve been watching for years on years.

Over time, the sketches grew less sharp, the jokes got more predictable, and the show’s famous rebellious humor fizzled down to safer and more cushioned humor. Many longtime viewers reminisce and remember how SNL used to push boundaries and get a laugh out of people of all generations. Now, the show seems to rely solely on celebrity cameos and following the latest social media trend instead of writing solid, core comedy jokes. 

I believe that this decline in comedy started with the rise of social media. With a new surface to critique people on, SNL found itself changing what they said and did based on what the online crowd had to say about them. SNL used to be a big contender of pop culture comedy but now seems to struggle to keep up with it. The writers now seem to be lost so they repeat sketches to the point they are completely unfunny and overused. 

Media critics have noted that SNL now has bigger competition with late night humor than ever before. With comedians on tiktok, instagram, or on a late night talk show, they struggle with being the main platform to spread jokes to the public. Many people agree with this but also think that a big cause to the drop from last season to the present season was because of the firing of many fan favorite actors. 

SNL is facing a 24% drop in viewers from last year following the season 51 premiere. This was after they fired many big members of the show like Ego Nwodom, Heidi Gardener, and Michael Longfellow. Along with the firing of the actors, they also fired some of their biggest writers for the show which is definitely a factor in the decline of the show’s humor. 

Despite the negative reactions many are having, SNL remains a radiation in many people’s homes. Saturday Night Live is something that always will tie people together on late weekend nights for group laughs with loved ones all over the world. Viewers can only hope that in the future, SNL will return back to its prime and bring back the late night comedy everyone knows and loves.