In Memoriam: Saturday Night Live

I haven't quite figured out why they scream the opening. Perhaps, it goes with what comedy has sunk to. To cover the weakness of humor, you yell and scream and run into each other and hit each other in the crotch for the punchline. While people are ''laughing'' at the action, they do not understand that beneath all the clamor there is no humor to be found. It is ''bells and whistles'' comedy, no substance. Maybe, that is why ''Live From New York, Its Saturday Night!'' is bellowed at such a high decibal level..... I remember this show fondly from my youth when it meant something. There was high comedy art and satire, along with the catchphrases that the public walked around repeating. Well, it still does have the catchphrases, but, the days of substance and quality are long gone. Now, it is impossible to follow the magic of the original show. It was a different time in history--- the 1970's--- where a generation brought up on television gained control of the medium. The times were sharp and ready for topical humor. Watergate and Vietnam had brought America to its knees. The sexual revolution, women and gay rights, and, the realization that our leaders were not whom we always thought they were, demanded that entertainment address these topics. Music did it in the 60's. Now, comedy had its princes lined up to take the banner of satire and go to the ultimate extreme. Stand-up had Pryor and Carlin and Steve Martin [ all would host the ''SNL'', with Carlin as its first host]. Sketch players had ''Second City'' and the ''Groundlings''. And, ''The National Lampoon'' had a Off-Broadway revue called ''Lemmings'', which brought all these ingrediants of current humor together. So, when an enterprising young Canadian producer named Lorne Michaels pitched a late night program concept to NBC, he knew exactly what he wanted and where to find these performers.... It helped that the road was wide open. They would not be compared to what had come before because nothing had ever been attempted at this level. When ''SNL'' premiered in October, 1975, it was hailed in the counterculture as a revelation and a revolution. Here, finally, was a show that spoke for them. They laughed at the political jokes, the drug jokes, and the references to their generation. On the other side, the establishment hated the show for the same reasons as its supporters so embraced them. They were too shocking and obscene. Older viewers were very offended that the show would make fun of anything. One joke, read on ''Weekend Update'', brought a torrid of hate mail from the public. It concerned the real-life shooting of a T.V. personality known as ''Professor Backwards'', who had an act of saying words in the reverse order. Chevy Chase read that after being shot, the Professor cried out, ''Pleh! Pleh!'' [ I still laugh at this. If you do not yet get the joke, go back and look at the words again]. Older comedians and viewers, like Johnny Carson, were appalled by this joke. It was offensive, insulting, and mean. Well, yes, it was. That is the right of the young: to shock and provoke the older generation. ''SNL'' saw the line of taste that first season and cheerfully jumped quickly over it.... The show was much more than shock value. It was a dead-on satire of everyday life and the events swirling around us. Along with this topical commentary came an extraordinary collection of characters created by this very young, talented cast. The Coneheads, a Samurai, an old lady named Emily Litella, Roseanne Roseannadanna, a lounge singer who butchered modern music in show-business cliches, a stumbling President, two nerds, killer bees, ''Weekend Update'', which skewered the news, all of these became beloved by the public. As the show progressed past its first year, the ratings soared. Even the establishment, which had blasted it, now embraced its audacity. The press quickly dubbed them , ''The Beatles Of Comedy''. Like the Beatles, ''SNL'' had nerve and got away with it. Even the actual Beatles themselves were rabid fans of the show. These were the days, remember, before cable and VCR's. You had to be home or at a party to watch the show. Because, it was a show that everybody talked about the next day. It was high-energy comedy, like tightrope walking. It was live and it was dangerous. You never knew what could happen. And, because of that danger, an electricity ran through the T.V. That gave the show its edge-- an edge that went away with the original cast in 1980..... After the departure of the ''Not Ready For Prime Time Players'', the show took a massive hit in popularity and quality. While there have been talented people throughout the shows history--- Phil Hartman, Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey--- there has also been a parade of bad performers who used the show not for its original purpose, but, rather, to launch a movie career. That is fine. Everybody is allowed ambition, the original cast left the show for the movies, but, with this new mentality, the purpose of the show in the first place has been badly lost. That is why the show is no longer relevant. People are hired, and immediately have agents and are making deals to move on. Any thought of creating worthwhile comedy is lost in the search for the gold of stardom. Jimmy Fallon may be the best example of this. For some unexplained reason he was hired for the show and was given the showcase of ''Weekend Update''. Watch his smirking through ''Update''. He is telling us how funny he is. Not showing it, but, telling us. Clearly, his agenda is not presenting comedy, but, presenting Jimmy Fallon [ the same can be said for his talk show and commercials ]. The Lorne Michaels from 1975 would not have put up with this shit. If anything, the original show would have mercilessly devoured a lame performer like Fallon. They would have cut him up like cat food... That may be the key problem of the show all of these years. Lorne Michaels is still in charge. He has long ago shed the rebel outsider from the first show and willingly embraced the establishment. Again, nothing wrong with that. But, when you give up the outsider's role then you do lose the touch of the people and what is going on. You view life through a limo instead of walking the streets. You vacation in the Hamptons instead of talking to your public in bars. With age comes security and not taking as many risks as one does in your youth. The heart of why the show has been creaky and stale is that it has long become what it used to parody. I suppose that is to be expected, but, for those of us that held the rascal nature of the first show so dear to our hearts, it is painful. It is like a once-great performer just playing of past glories and riches. Pretty sad for a comedy show.... I have never been to 8H where the show is presented. I would like to go sometime. Somewhere, on that stage, are the ghosts of glories past. Somewhere, there is a Albanian man with a Samurai sword. Or, a spunky, cute-as-a-button girl playing  Roseanne Roseannadanna. Or, a clumsy man taking falls as our President. They are there, probably wondering why no current comedy from the show is joining their ranks of greatness....