The US presidential election is important for a lot of reasons – and they’re not all political. Yes, electing the person who will be in charge of upholding democracy and leading the free world matters and all, but you know what? So does comedy! And we all know that a new president means a whole new era of Saturday Night Live impressions and political sketches. So, I ask you, do you really want to spend the next four to eight years of your life cringing through Jim Carrey as Biden?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last four years, you know that the chaos of the Trump Administration has made for some pretty hilarious material for SNL writers. It’s really not that surprising. I mean, the opening monologues – which mock everything from political press conferences to the President’s Twitter account, pretty much write themselves. So, here are the 10 ways that a Biden Administration will RUIN SNL. Stick around to the end and, if you’re as worried about the future state of comedy as we are, hit those “like” and “subscribe” buttons.
Number 10. Lorne Michaels Will Have to Trust His Cast
For the last four years, Lorne Michaels has pretty much relied on celebrity impersonators to make up the majority of his sketches. As celebrities like Melissa McCarthy, Brad Pitt, and Alec Baldwin took to the stage at 30 Rock, the actual cast members of SNL were thrown from the spotlight. I mean, besides Kate McKinnon does anyone even know who’s actually on the show these days? Either Michaels thinks celebrities are better for ratings or he genuinely doesn’t trust the cast of people he picked out himself. Regardless, without Trump’s downright bizarre White House staff, there just won’t be a need for so many celebrity impersonators. I guess this season we’ll find out who’s on SNL – but if Lorne Michaels doesn’t even trust them, should we?
Number 9. SNL Writers Won’t be Traumatized Anymore
We all know that behind great comedy is usually great sadness. I mean, it’s really not that hard to understand. Comedy is a defense mechanism and if we can laugh through the pain, we just might be able to survive it. It’s no secret that the last four years have been a little, well, agonizing, and the cast and writers of SNL have been pretty open about just how traumatized they’ve been. Every sketch these days details the doom the country is facing – from the raging virus pandemic to the raging Karen pandemic. I mean, when Biden was announced the winner, the whole cast took a collective breath of relief. While we’re happy they might be able to find the peace they so desperately need under Biden’s presidency, we’re worried for the sake of the show. I mean, happy people just aren’t that funny, you know?
Number 8. Trump Won’t Be Angry Tweeting About it Anymore
Let’s be real – one our favorite parts of watching SNL these days is reading Trump’s angry tweets about it afterward. It’s as if he’s forgotten that literally every president since SNL’s creation has been impersonated and mocked. That’s, like, the whole point, dude. Of course, those presidents didn’t have egos as delicate as a newborn baby. I mean seriously. One time he tweeted that the show might be conspiring with Russia and should be investigated by the FCC. You just can’t make this stuff up. His tweets are even more outrageous than the sketches written to make fun of him. Honestly, don’t you think comedy as a whole might have been killed by Trump’s Twitter? His tweets are just better material than any comedian could possibly conjure up themselves. And it’s that much better that they’re not supposed to be funny.
Number 7. The Writers Will Have to Write Their Own Material
We all remember the Four Seasons Total Landscaping debacle. You know, right after Trump lost when Rudy Giuliani accidentally held a press conference in the parking lot of a landscaping company instead of the Four Seasons Hotel? And to make matters worse, the landscaping company was smack in the middle of a crematorium and a jail? I am telling you people, this material WRITES ITSELF. The SNL writers have literally not had to come up with their own ideas in four years. How can we expect them to remember how to now? Biden’s administration just won’t supply them with these literally endless streams of controversial news stories and mess ups. We’ll be left to watch sketches about Joe Biden petting his dogs or going to church. Yes, that’s adorable and sweet, but it’s not comedy. I don’t know, it’s just hard to imagine that the show will be as hilarious if the country’s not burning in a dumpster fire.
Number 6. No More Alec Baldwin as Trump
Alec Baldwin may have gone on record to say that he’s “overjoyed” to be giving up his role as President Trump now that Biden’s won, but I think it’s safe to say that the rest of us are sad to see him go. The New Yorker literally wrote that “Alec Baldwin is the perfect Donald Trump” and we couldn’t agree more. From Baldwin’s tight lips and spray tan to his spot-on raspy, bitter old man voice, the actor and the president are almost indistinguishable. Not to mention, Baldwin has reprised his role in so many SNL episodes over the last four years, that it’s hard to remember he’s not even in the regular cast of the show. It’s also been fun to watch Donald Trump squirm in anger in response to the impressions, not just in his tweets against SNL, but in his tweets against Baldwin himself, too. It’s safe to say that Trump is not a fan of his impersonator. Luckily for him, Baldwin isn’t too keen on Trump either – and, I have to say, it makes it even more fun to watch his impressions when you know he really hates the guy. SNL just won’t be the same without the Trump impersonator we’ve grown to love.
Number 5. Jim Carrey’s Biden. Just. No.
And that brings us to Biden’s impersonator. For whatever reason, Lorne Michaels thought it would be a great idea to bring on one of comedy’s biggest personalities to one of America’s most composed presidents. Jim Carrey is an outstanding and legendary comedian, but his portrayal of Biden is nothing short of cringe-worthy. He plays the president-elect as absolutely manic and crazed, which honestly doesn’t even make sense. Where Baldwin shined as Trump, Carrey is downright failing as Biden. I mean, it’s not entirely Carrey’s fault that he can’t nail down the Biden role. As The Los Angeles Times explains, “Alec Baldwin arrived to a wealth of material when he took on the role of the 45th president” and there’s just not that much beyond “aviator glasses, silver hair, and ‘here’s the deal’ phraseology” for Carrey to work with. We just hope that he figures out how to master the president-elect – and soon. Otherwise, we’re doomed to cringing through his scenes for the next 4-8 long years.
Number 4. We Get it – Biden’s Old
This brings us to yet another problem. We worry that with a lack of material on Biden, SNL will rely solely on old person jokes to poke fun at him. Old person jokes are fine and everything, but they just aren’t that creative. We’ve grown used to watching SNL mock Trump’s golf game during a global crisis, his fragile ego, his Twitter account – I mean, the jokes never run out. Jokes about Biden’s old age are already getting, well, old. We just have to hold onto hope that Biden will develop a slightly more outrageous personality – you know, for the sake of comedy, not the country – so that there’ s more material for SNL to work with. In the meantime, we hope that SNL will focus even more on Maya Rudolph’s impression of Kamala Harris, which is absolutely perfect, and the only thing SNL seems to be getting right post-Trump. We love you, Maya.
Number 3. That Fly Sketch
SNL is clearly already running out of material, because they’re starting to reach more than they maybe ever have. Did you guys see that fly sketch? You know, the one where Jim Carrey as Joe Biden is the fly on Mike Pence’s head? I mean, the fly thing was funny on its own during the VP debate. We didn’t need SNL to bring Jim Carrey into it and ruin the whole thing! It really is painful to watch Jim Carrey try to play Joe Biden as a literal fly. He seemed just as confused as the audience was as he buzzed around Pence’s scalp and practically begged us to laugh with him – and we did, but only because we were so very uncomfortable. I mean, guys, I’m seriously worried that we’ll be stuck watching sketches like these for the entire Biden presidency. I don’t like watching Jim Carrey as Biden as a human and I don’t need to see him flying around my screen as a Biden fly, okay?!
Number 2. Biden’s Staff is Boring
This is a big one, guys. One of the best parts about SNL in the last four years has been the sketches featuring Donald Trump’s staff. No one can beat Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer or Kate McKinnon’s Rudy Giuliani. They are as hilarious as they are terrifying, as captivating to watch as they make you want to shield your eyes. McCarthy’s Spicer especially was just pure comedy gold and will go down in the books as one of SNL’s best impressions of all time. Biden’s White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, just doesn’t seem like she’ll provide the same kind of material that Sean Spicer did, right? She’s just so…professional and put together. If we want good comedy, we need the White House staff to be a total disaster. That’s just how it works.
Now, before we get to the number one reason why Biden’s win will RUIN SNL, go ahead and click that like and subscribe button. If you don’t, comedy’s dead forever. So, you know, make the right choice, here.
Number 1. Even the SNL Cast Thinks So
In October, SNL made a mock PSA in which they begged the question, “if Donald Trump isn’t President, then what are we going to talk about?” In the sketch, they panic about what comedy will look like with “their favorite villain disappearing.” I mean, hey, if the cast themselves can admit that their show needs Donald Trump to be funny, then it must be true, right?! They end the PSA with a glimmer of hope – remarking that Trump will still be around after he loses, and he’ll still have a Twitter account. This might be a hint that the cast is going to continue mocking him, even after his presidency, but I still don’t think it’ll be quite the same as it is now. The cold, hard truth of the matter is that Biden’s win will just plain ruin SNL.
Do you think Biden’s win will ruin Saturday Night Live? Let us know why or why not in the comments below – and be sure to add your favorite sketch from the Trump era while you’re at it. Thanks so much for watching and we’ll see you next time on ScarlettMedia!
Credits:
Writer: Grant Herbel
Editor: AB Scarlett
Voice: Scott
Video: @_FearOK
#Ruined #ScarlettMedia #joebiden
Scarlett.Media productions are for commentary, criticism and parody. All media samples are for transformative and fair use.
See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).