October 5, 2025

"SNL" is back.

With lots of clips — the whole show? — at YouTube

I tried to pick one out for this post, but somehow I couldn't. Maybe you can. Bad Bunny was the host. The cold open was about that Pete Hegseth harangue.

The show has been around for 50 years, and I remember watching the first season, when the running joke was that they barely deserved to be on the air. It began like this:


I'm not the slightest bit uncomfortable about belonging there, with George, rather than here, with Bad.

50 comments:

Captain BillieBob said...

I'm so old I remember when SNL was funny.

rehajm said...

I had a hard time going to sleep as a kid so I stayed up to watch. I think my first live show was the one with Three Mile Island and Jimmy Carter. I got to go back and catch up when a writers strike put the old episodes on the air. My favorite episode was Steve Martin with Blondie. Now it’s just another Kimmel or The View, one of those shows what will never die because they air to prop up a dying political identity. At least I hope it’s dying…

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I watched it occasionally in the 70s. I liked some bits of it. It is a cultural centerpiece for some people. But at that time of night, even on a weekend, doesn't its core audience sort of have to be "people who aren't getting children ready for church in the morning?" It shows.

n.n said...

Sexual Harassment and You

The right and wrong way to approach a woman.

Joe Bar said...

Watching SNL was a mandatory formation at USMA in the70s. We even let the Plebes in the TV room.

chuck said...

I miss George Carlin.

Iman said...

A mercy killing. It needs to be put down.

narciso said...

like that National Lampoon cover,

Dave Begley said...

Hegseth/Trump bit was terrible.

mezzrow said...

We are "Strangers in a Strange Land", we who are of the twentieth century. They fail to grok us, we return the favor.

Howard said...

Chat GPTio was a great concept, but was watered down. It's like a parody of the original SNL designed by corporate publicists. It's as bland as poi, as edgy as a doorknob and as funny as a colonoscopy.

Howard said...

Thank God for Kill Tony

Dave Begley said...

In the George Carlin bit he discusses the difference between football and baseball and how football is now the national pastime. Football is, but not the NFL. A dress-wearing rapper will never perform at a college football game.

n.n said...

More cowbell

Mary Beth said...

I watched the Demon Hunter one. It was not great, but it wasn't horrible either. The audience clearly recognized the songs and I'm sure they liked being called "smart adults". Needed a hotter Jinu. Yang played it too campy.

Howard said...

I also noticed that in the parody of the Mexican comedy TV show, only for you Latino actors used Mexican accents. All of the Anglo actors spoke in standard American Anglo English. Playing it safe is never funny.

n.n said...

Re: More cowbell

Gold-plated diapers.

What does that mean?

Classic.

narciso said...

stop digging, you will never find that pony,

Curious George said...

"Dave Begley said...
In the George Carlin bit he discusses the difference between football and baseball and how football is now the national pastime. Football is, but not the NFL. A dress-wearing rapper will never perform at a college football game."

No, the NFL is. By far.

narciso said...

he had the belabored analogy to military combat, versus the more lackadaisical style of baseball

Narr said...

I was in the first SNL watching cohort, and rarely missed a show, but I don't recall that one at all.

Not one of his great routines, IMHO.

Wilbur said...

Howard said...
I also noticed that in the parody of the Mexican comedy TV show ...

I know not what show was parodied, but I would've loved to have seen the old SNL crew (Belushi, Ackroyd, Murray, et al.) send up Sabado Gigante. Belushi or Ackroyd as Don Francisco, who was already over the top, appeals to my sense of humor and imagination.

But then I guess most of the country wouldn't have gotten the jokes, and the whole language barrier thing ... oh, never mind.

narciso said...

that would require wit and knowledge, Latin TV is full of foolish reality shows as well as Turkish soaps,

john mosby said...

Wilbur: "But then I guess most of the country wouldn't have gotten the jokes, "

SNL is sometimes at its funniest when it does NYC-specific and other niche stuff. How many people in the hinterland ever saw a samurai movie but still laughed at Belushi's "Samurai xxx" sketches? Or the takeoffs on NYC basic-cable shows and local UHF ads? The writers and actors just did a sketch on something they really liked, and didn't care if the audience fully understood. Then in a zen-like way, the audience loved it! As opposed to today, when the writers and actors rack their brains to come up with something that offends no one, and, surprise surprise, it also amuses no one. CC, JSM

Thomas said...

It may be Back, but it sure isn't Good.

narciso said...

oh noes...anyways

Josephbleau said...

“My name is Ozymandyus king of kings, look upon my works ye mighty and despair.”

But now we have Ozymandyus on tape, and he looks pretty good. So despair Jimmy, and apologize for your abuse of the Juggies.

Biff said...

The crowd cheered loudly when Zohran Mamdani's name was mentioned in one of the Weekend Update clips, and the comment section was filled with comments looking forward to the rapture, sorry, I mean Mamdani taking office. NYC is in for a rough ride.

Lee Moore said...

I made it about two and a half minutes into George Carlin's routine, waiting for something funnier than limp smile mildly amusing. Then I gave up.

narciso said...

hipster anti war wisdom, so was some of mort sahls material that they slipped into the 1980 season,

narciso said...

they helped elect Carter, who is responsible for furthering the energy crisis and the Iranian revolution, because his staff like Anthony Lake and Robert Pastor indulged in this hippy foolishness,

narciso said...

pastor was following one of david Horowitz's old tracts for guidance, O'Donahue lost his mind over Reagan, why the show went into a ditch and recovered sometime in the mid 80s (this was in Robert Downey's insufferable period)

narciso said...

https://nypost.com/2025/10/05/entertainment/bad-bunny-fires-back-at-super-bowl-halftime-backlash-in-snl-monologue-you-have-four-months-to-learn/ no te comprendo, and I have patience,

JAORE said...

There used to be a tracking of Super Bowl watchers by checking water usage. Water use spiked during half time as viewers flooded to the bathroom as soon as actual football was paused for half time.
We may have burst water mains for Bad Bunny.
Me? I plan to have the game taped. I'll watch the first half. Go do or watch something else. Then pull up the recording and start watching the game again when it is THE GAME again.
I will not be taking Spanish classes to watch Bad Bunny.

narciso said...

trust me, it does no good, to learn Spanish, to listen to him,
there are some great musicians they could have used, but they picked this hack,

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“I'm not the slightest bit uncomfortable about belonging there, with George, rather than here, with Bad.”

Same. And it isn’t reactionary geezy nostalgia (c’mon, it was the ‘70’s). It’s about inhabiting a more rational, more intelligent, more free, place. That was rapidly becoming this place, but y’all know what I mean.

Clyde said...

“Harangue”? If it’s a harangue when someone gives a speech that badly needed to be given, then I guess you could call it that.

Freeman Hunt said...

Wow, there's big dose of feeling old. Who is Bad Bunny? I'll look him up... This person doesn't even look vaguely familiar.

tcrosse said...

Back when SNL was funny: President Reagan, Mastermind

Iman said...

I know enough Spanish to understand I needn’t watch that pinci pendejo.

Iman said...

Yeah, narciso. I think it’s about time Los Lobos rocked teh Superbowl!

Disparity of Cult said...

Many celebrities lack humility but at least they can sing or act.

narciso said...

he can't enunciate, no matter the captioning

Disparity of Cult said...

"He wore the dress" - appearing in drag in a movie, etc., is a theme of so-called conspiracy theories about entertainers making Faustian deals to be propped up by the HypeMachine™. No funny, no Bad Bunny.

narciso said...

He removed all doubt with the Kill Tony kerfluffle, so did Nicky Jams and a host of other performers,

Bunkypotatohead said...

One of the characters last night even said they should have called it quits at the end of the 50th season.

Krumhorn said...

I was a contract attorney at NBC in the early SNL days fresh out of law school. I was called on to mediate between the show and the network broadcast standards folks a few times. Had no idea what I was doing. Some of the material under dispute was hilarious stuff. The Belushi and Aykroyd bumble bee bit in the cabin almost got me fired.

- Krumhorn

Old and slow said...

I had high hopes when I heard he was a raggaeton artist, but I'm just listened to him and I'm not impressed. Now if they got Tego Calderon or Daddy Yankee I'd almost be inclined to watch the halftime show, if not the actual game. Hell, even Wisin y Yandel would be better.

Wilbur said...

I would watch a Daddy Yankee performance.

Grundoon said...

I remember when SNL was new; I was in college. Also I remember the first Superbowl, the first Ford Mustang, and the first RAGBRAI bike ride.
The called the second one SAGBRAI but some wise person changed it back before we got to years four and five.

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