During a time when people can’t stop talking about cancellation in comedy, “Saturday Night Live” took a bold stance during its 50th anniversary special. The three-hour broadcast included an “in memoriam” for all of the questionable characters the NBC behemoth has broadcast over its five decades.
Tom Hanks introduced the segment, teeing it up as a moment to “honor those we’ve lost.” “I’m speaking, of course, about ‘SNL’ characters and sketches that have aged horribly,” Hanks added, earning a launch from the studio audience. “But even though these characters, accents and let’s just call them ‘ethnic’ wigs were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them. So if anyone should be canceled, shouldn’t it be you, the audience? Something to think about.”
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The segment started with John Belushi’s iconic samurai character, and it didn’t let up from there. Once each snippet of a sketch was played, its offense appeared on the screen in a somber yellow font. Tracy Morgan’s Astronaut Jones was mournfully diagnosed with sexual harassment. Lindsay Lohan as Hermione Granger in a skimpy costume? Underage sexual harassment. Fred Armisen as a mentally disabled foil to Ben Affleck? Ableist.
The memoriam also included several cast members donning, shall we say, questionable skin tones. And there were just oh-so-many homophobic jokes.
One of the most shocking moments unsurprisingly came from the series’ first season. During a sketch that involves Chevy Chase interviewing Richard Pryor for a job, Chase’s character asks Pryor to try his hand at some word association. The sketch quickly spirals out of control with Chase eventually calling Pryor the n-word, to which Pryor responds “Dead honkey.” (The sketch is still available on NBC’s official YouTube page.)
“SNL” then highlighted some of its more regrettable guests over the years, showing clips from R. Kelly, Jared Fogle and O.J. Simpson.
As intentionally cringeworthy as the segment was, it wasn’t all shameful. Will Ferrell’s “Dissing Your Dog” was included for “Animal cruelty,” a sketch that features Ferrell saying passive aggressive things to various cute pups.
There was a directness to the segment that reflected the core of “Saturday Night Live.” From its very first episode, “SNL” has always been a show that has been fearlessly and unapologetically bold. Pretending that the series doesn’t have a history of sketches that have aged terribly isn’t just inaccurate; it’s comedically dishonest. And that’s the last thing “SNL” can ever be.
By “mourning” these moments, “SNL” found a way to cope with and honor its problematic past while sending a clear message going forward: The times have changed. And, by virtue of being a show that is obsessively a reflection of the time, “SNL” has changed with them.
