Biden-era new ‘SNL’ struggles to make fun of 2021

2021 has arrived with some really big questions: Can we beat the COVID-19 pandemic? Will the economy recover? Is the nation capable of healing its dangerous divisions? Then, of course, there was the biggest question of all: What will late-night comedy do without Trump?

Saturday Night Live responded to the latter, at least in part, with its first episode of Joe Bidens’ presidency. And the future seems … uninspired.

After a month-long hiatus, the series struggled to find its place and seemed woefully overwhelmed by a world that has changed dramatically since the venerable sketch comedy, now in its 46th season, was last aired. in December. Despite all the hustle and bustle of an incredible insurgency on Capitol Hill, Kim and Kanyes went their separate ways, Bernie Sanders ushering in the mittens, furry QAnon idiots, vaccine deployment errors, Game Stop Wall Street host, John Krasinski and the actors have had little or nothing to work with by the editors of SNL.

There was a parody of Ratatouille, in which the film’s precocious rodent was reimagined as a rat that controlled Krasinskis’ movements in the bedroom. There was a little fun version of Supermarket Sweep, a weak weekend update with transgender jokes in the military, and other lazy, rude gags scattered around sketches I’ve already forgotten.

If Trump scored a victory last month, SNL may suddenly seem lost without him. The great orange lighthouse of ridicule has left the building, and where the joy of mocking Biden (most recently played by Alex Moffat, who replaced Jim Carrey) or Vice President Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) when all that that there is to work with so far is an aggressively normal inauguration and civilian daily press briefings. The new team in Washington will surely be parodied as they embark on one of the most difficult terms in modern memory, but they will never shoot drama like their predecessor. SNL will have to broaden its scope again, because wresting humor from the White House will never be easier than over the past four years. The health of nations depends on a boring POTUS.

When the comeback series attempted to get humor out of the news on Saturday, it rarely hit the mark. Outdoors, Kate McKinnon hosted the What Still Works talk show, where she watched what, if anything, still works in America.

Her first guest: Marjorie Taylor Greene, the newly elected Georgia MP who promotes the QAnon conspiracies, has endorsed the execution of Democratic leaders on Facebook and believes the mass shooting at the school in Parkland, Fla. Was staged . In the segment, Greene brings a pistol to the interview, brags about threatening to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and believes the California wildfires were started by Jewish space lasers.

The problem is, it’s not satire: it’s the truth. And the bit isn’t improving as it goes … for several other guests. Among them was OJ Simpson (Kenan Thompson), who made an appearance to talk about the vaccine rollout in what’s now happening on SNL for tongue-in-cheek humor. (Simpson has been vaccinated against COVID-19, unlike much of the country.)

Why write jokes when the wacky nature of reality is hard to beat? It’s no doubt getting harder and harder to make headlines, perhaps even more so than it was when Melissa McCarthy turned Sean Spicer’s infuriating swagger into a comedic genius.

But SNL has built a 45-year-old comedy empire at the pinnacle of culture, politics, and whatever else manages to capture the zeitgeist. There is no doubt that he will do it again. But the show needs to wean itself from a former presidency and look at the present and the future with fresh eyes, no matter how murky or bloodshot it is after four years of Trump.