SNL Heats Up As Election Season Approaches

Because we can’t catch a break, American media is once again consumed by the political intrigue of the Trump Administration. Luckily, Saturday Night Live is back on air just in time to cover the upcoming impeachment process. 

The show began its new season on September 28, the very first cold-open titled, simply, “Impeachment Cold Open”—starring the forever favourite Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump and foreshadowing the tone for the rest of the premiere’s set. But this is normal, in fact, playing on present politics is one of the only things keeping SNL afloat.  

While it pains me to say, SNL pretty much drops into oblivion whenever it’s not an election year. 2008 and 2016 were two historically high performing years for the program, the actors taking a particular interest in satirizing the American political process and beginning the upward trend in Weekend Updates popularity—thanks to Seth Myers and his general confusion as to how America is still running. When it’s not an election year, the sketch comedy drops viewership by almost 2 points (via Wikipedia (sue me)). It seems that America really isn’t interested in improv and absurdism unless politicians are involved. So really, the Trump administration is a godsend to SNL, since the administration insists on pointing out the inevitable destruction of American democracy.  

While Saturday Night Live wasn’t set to pick up in ratings till the next year, the dysfunction of the Democratic party and the chaotic DNC debates gave the tail end of season 44 decent content to play on. The new impeachment investigation is only encouraging the unexpected spike in their viewership, and SNL doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. All three cold-opens have involved the approaching election—two centered around Trump’s proposed impeachment and one satirizing the DNC (rightfully so). The show has even created a new sketch format, “Inside the Beltway,” to have another designated platform for discussing public opinion. 

This isn’t to say that all SNL does is make fun of Republicans. Yes, Trump is an easy target—but that’s not the cast’s fault. The show was created to provide satirical commentary on American life, we can’t fault them for playing into what the public wants. If they see something ridiculous—see: a border moat filled with alligators and snakes, they’re going to comment on it. It’s their job. And you cannot argue that they specifically target the right. Yes, we all know that SNL is adamantly liberal, but the show has made it clear that there will be no mercy when it comes to discussing the potential democratic candidate. The Left’s dare I say, desperate grabs at public attention, are a favourite for SNL sketches, especially when the DNC decides to shove a dozen huge personalities into one debate. 

This isn’t to say that SNL is purely a political show now. There’s still plenty of contextless absurdism and hilarity to be found on the show. Truthfully, the past few seasons have been underrated, the 70’s TV stable going unfortunately underground as network television starts digging its grave. If satire and political spoofs are what SNL needs to keep a leg up, then I truly cannot wait to follow this impeachment process and hope to god they’ll regularly bring Maya Rudolph back to portray Kamala Harris.