On a good night, with the good host, Saturday Night Live can still be funny. The ‘Weekend Update’ segment is funny, although John Oliver gets some of the same laughs while managing to work in some trenchant analysis.
The part of the show that is consistently unfunny, frequently cringe inducing and generally unwatchable is the political cold open. These segments typically starring Kate McKinnon as Elizabeth Warren or Alec Baldwin as Trump are just terrible.
McKinnon’s Warren (like her Hillary Clinton) is just as overly broad, dopey and lacking in any incisive commentary as Baldwin’s Trump. The writers seem to be on autopilot. The “jokes” are recycled show after show which creates the awkward feeling that the cold opening is parody of itself.
