Christian Ross

remember snl?

edit: this is entirely too long

Does anybody ever watch Saturday Night Live anymore? I often hearken back to the days when it was Farley and Sandler, Hartman and Spade, even Myers and…well maybe not Schneider. The days when Jack Handey wrote the deepest thoughts and songs like ‘Turkey-Lurkey-Lu’ often propelled us into the holiday season.

I remember taking a blanket and pillow to the living room and sleeping on the couch almost every Saturday evening just for that hour and a half of pure entertainment. I can admit that now, too far removed from that time to remember if I did that because I was too young to have anything else to do on a Saturday or I was just that uncool. Either way, I loved SNL back in the day.

Great moments from SNL circa 88-93: Farley and Swayze as ‘male dancers’, Schlitz Gay Bear, and Spade’s New York Minute.

Don’t get me wrong, it had it’s moments in college and some there after with a guy named Ferrell. Sad thing is, at the time I didn’t realize his greatness. It wasn’t til years later when I saw one of his ‘Best of’ DVD’s that helped me to understand just how much he did to keep that show alive for 10 years. My wife ranks the ‘Alta Dina JH Choir Teachers’ way up on the list of all-time great skits. And if ‘More Cowbell’ isn’t on your Top 10 (although I hate 10 ten lists) SNL moments, you are not aloud to call yourself a fan anymore. Of any era.

Ouch, the more I write on this here log-o-web, the more I see myself getting older. (Every other post I write about the good old days) But with that in mind I will continue.

SNL is pretty much a shell of it’s former self these days. Fallen/Fey were about the best thing they had in the last 6-8 years but now they are gone too. I don’t watch much of it anymore, I’ll catch a skit here or there if I am lying in bed and actually still awake. For the most part I had written off the show for good.

Until now. I’m not here to fight for SNL or to even say it has life, but I am here to say that as of late, Saturday Night Live may have found it’s life support. Life support in the form of one comedian, Andy Samburg. If Lorne Michaels can figure this out in a hurry his Saturday night show just might get another 10 years. The ‘SNL Digital Short’ created by the one Mr. Samburg may be the answer to all of SNL’s problems.

Sorry this is getting long. And now a word from our sponsor:

“…from the east coast, to the west coast, down in Dixie, back home…this is our country”

December 2006: Host/musical guest Justin Timberlake and possible comic genius Andy Samburg make history. The most watched clip on the Internet. Ever. 13,000,000 times. You wouldn’t even believe it if I tried to explain it to you.

Which brings me all the way up to today. The entire reason I started this post, and thought it would be about 3 sentences long, was to show the following picture and say that if ever there was a management team that wanted to make some serious money; this is how it would/should be done. JT himself, on a nationwide tour had a show this week in Madison Square Gardens (NYC) and joining Justin for a walk down ‘Color Me Badd’ lane was the SNL savior.

I would have given my left arm for these five minutes.