I would like to parody those who make the blanket statement that Saturday Night Live is not like it used to be but I’ll leave that up to The Onion, since they dabble in that forum.

But to quote Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler (they’re both on SNL), “Really??” Saturday Night Live is no longer funny? “Really??” Don’t you miss the multi-faceted comedic stylings of Molly Shannon? Or David Spade? I really wish they would bring Colin Quinn back to do “Weekend Update”. Every person has some opinion on what era of Saturday Night Live was funny. Mark Wahlberg likes the Joe Piscopo era.

I’ve been wanting to bring this up for a while but haven’t been cranky enough. Recently Saturday Night Live got more attention with the election coverage and SNL has always had a history of doing a lot of election related stuff. That’s great because it probably keeps SNL in the ratings enough to keep going.

Unfortunately, this was mostly because of a spot on impression of Palin by Tina Fey. I imagine most of the people who followed it, a demographic that included my parents, don’t even realize Tina Fey is not in the cast. Mark Wahlberg couldn’t name anybody on the show and a few weeks later he was on the show. Now I’m not saying it’s your civic duty to watch and appreciate SNL. I guess I’m just airing out the fact that it’s still a very funny and relevant show. It has its moments but it definitely has a more solid cast and writers than any of the ones I grew up with. So don’t act appalled when I mention watching SNL this weekend or I ask you if you saw it.

I thought the Palin impressions and political coverage were cute but pretty predictable and standard. Some of the funnier, more poignant moments came when Tina Fey read back word for word what Sarah Palin actually said in an interview. That’s funny and gets the point across but definitely doesn’t show the abilities of the warped minds of the cast. Even something as timely as a rip on MacGyver or the Match Game ends up turning into a Twilight Zone-meets-comedy maze but with the ability to stop after 5 minutes, if they’re going nowhere. There are few if any weak links on the cast now and even Kenan is funny now, “Bokay?”

As Ransom says, “the things I laugh at anymore are either fart jokes or ones that make me say, ‘O ho ho ho, that was quite a marvelous turn that took.’” I’m glad SNL is able to combine both for me without turning in to an impression-riddled TV version of Scary Movie 5 or Date Movie 2 where they rehash word for word something that wasn’t funny the first time around. But really, I’m an elitist that is just glad to see that some shows still exist that aren’t racing for the bottom. Two and a Half Men is one of the highest rated shows on TV.