Saturday Night Live has been on the air for more than 40 years and in that time a lot has changed on the sketch comedy series, including the cast, the writing staff and even the tone of the series as well as the types of sketches that resonate with the viewers. Former SNL cast member Norm Macdonald recently voiced his displeasure over one particular way the NBC series has changed in recent years, noting that he takes issue with the way the sketch comedy series has been using "agenda comedy." Here's what he had to say in an interview:
I don't like agenda comedy. I guess I could say that. Yeah, [SNL is] too big to fail. But there's something distasteful when you watch --- I don't know how they're gonna do it this season, but if Donald Trump is displayed as an idiot all the time and Hillary's not, then it shows they're out of touch with what people think, and it's just not fair.
While Saturday Night Live has included Hillary Clinton in plenty of sketches over the past season or so (and she's been played by the delightful Kate McKinnon), the types of jokes they have lobbied around about the Democrat candidate have not been nearly as tough as the ones that have poked fun at Donald Trump. Whether or not that's the byproduct of agenda comedy, as Norm Macdonald put it to Vulture or simply the result of Donald Trump being the more colorful candidate is largely a matter of opinion. Still, Norm Macdonald didn't mince words with this particular criticism.
While an election year is often great for the major news networks, it can be a more difficult time for other TV personalities and series. There's often debate about whether or not coverage is fair. Candidates are expected to get equal time on the major networks, which can be difficult. In addition, the election cycle can be a hard time for a lot of TV personalities and series. For example, The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon was recently criticized for throwing out softballs to Donald Trump by other late night host Samantha Bee, who is known for being a little more hard-hitting. Seth Meyers has been vocally anti-Trump for some time now, while ABC's Jimmy Kimmel has expended more effort trying to play the election jokes more down the middle. Still, even he has had to field questions about his coverage, and has basically stated that Hillary has been too boring to really come up with good material for.
It's certainly an interesting year for an election, and as we get closer and closer to the actual election date in November, it's highly likely that the election will be brought up even more on late night shows like the ones mentioned formerly in this post. Saturday Night Live doesn't even premiere its 42nd season until next week, so it's hard to tell what we should expect from the new episodes of the sketch comedy series. We'll find out on October 1 at 11:30 p.m. ET. To find out when the rest of your favorite TV shows will be returning, take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule.
