Notorious for its political humor, Saturday Night Live (SNL) has returned this fall with Season 44. Ever since its inception in 1975, this show has not hesitated to thrust politics center stage and scrutinize them.
The brief synopsis that appears on the right side column when researching SNL blatantly states, “Live from New York for more than four decades, celebrity hosts join an award-winning ensemble cast to perform comedic sketches, satirical news and digital shorts, alongside popular musical acts.” Not only is NBC Studios admitting to their satirical news, but it’s being promoted, which begs the question, why is political humor praised within society?
On countless occasions, Alec Baldwin can be seen sporting the “Trump look,” touting pursed lips and speaking in a condescending manner. The crowd goes wild.
Several other late night hosts such as Conan, Samantha Bee, James Corden and Stephen Colbert practice political satire, too. After all, it draws in viewers. The infamous SNL skit called “Donald Trump Interviews Himself in the Mirror” has over 25 million views on YouTube. Then, an innocent skit called “Slapjack Rematch with Kevin Hart” garnered only two million views. Interestingly enough, the Donald Trump skit had controversial results, with 265 thousand likes and 33 thousand dislikes. The slapjack skit had 37 thousand likes and only 537 dislikes.
In such a politically charged climate, emotions are high, tensions are taught and sensibility is wavering. Everyday I receive at least 10 Wall Street Journal notifications, notifying me of yet another issue that has risen within our society. At a time when, according to a Pew study, 67 percent of Americans are politically active, it’s no wonder politics become a target in talk shows.
Part of the growing appeal towards political satire is that it provides an outlet for people in lieu of our country’s state of affairs. People almost have to laugh at it. For example, SNL had a skit about Brett Kavanaugh. When Brett Kavanaugh nominates himself as the Supreme Court Justice nominee, fakes tears during his hearing and filibusters his way through the process, sometimes people need to just laugh at the reality of this man holding a seat in the highest court, and standing to defend the foundations of our country, when he cannot follow them himself. The skit offered people an outlet to let loose some tension that was tightening throughout the entire nomination process.
It’s important to acknowledge that skits are “safe” for the politically aware viewers. They venture into rocky terrain when less informed people absorb the skits. What Jimmy Fallon and all the other hosts portray is often a radicalized version or extremely diluted version of what is truly happening in the country. In solely portraying the extreme views of government through comedy, it works to further polarize society and widen the divide between left and right views. Odds are, if someone is apprehensive about President Trump, after seeing the SNL skit, that person will probably go from being skeptical to disliking Trump or worse. It cannot be assumed that every viewer is politically aware, and when that is not the case, the skits only serve to facilitate controversy and widen the ever-growing gap between liberals and conservatives.
As seen from the previous paragraph, it’s no shock that political humor has its downsides. Focusing on the positives, it has become essential within our society. After all, a little more laughter in our lives doesn’t sound like such a bad thing.
