As one of the longest-running shows on television, it’s only natural for “Saturday Night Live” to occasionally enter periods where something just feels off. Maybe it’s the chemistry of the cast members or the quality of the writing, but the current season is a prime example.
The end of the show’s 47th season earlier this year brought about the biggest cast turnover in over 20 years. Lost from the roster are some of the most impactful players from the past decade or so, including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and—I’ll die on this hill—Melissa Villaseñor.
Coupled with a dramatic rebranding, “SNL” may be in for a rough year. That’s natural, and nothing they’ve never surmounted before. This would be the case were it not for a certain sketch from their Oct. 8 show, hosted by first-timer Brendan Gleeson, which may have only furthered the show from Gen Z interests.
For Try Guys fans and non-fans alike, ex-member Ned Fulmer’s recent cheating scandal kicked up a storm on social media. Especially as Fulmer was the member of the group known affectionately as a “wife guy,” fans were left feeling betrayed by an online personality they had come to admire. As children of the internet, we—Gen Z—seem to form delicate parasocial relationships with those we see online. When they prove themselves as anything opposite of what we perceived them to be, it’s upsetting.
This is not to say Fulmer’s infidelity with one of his subordinates is not a significant situation and telling of commonplace power imbalances between men and their female employees. This is, of course, conjecture—the story is very much still developing. If the video “SNL” parodied is telling, we will likely not hear the entire story for a long time, if ever. Regardless, what happened with Ned meant something to Gen Z. It was frustrating, disappointing and a breach of trust.
In their parody, “SNL” communicated loud and clear that they, a cast and crew of mostly millennials and Gen X, do not understand and therefore do not care about what Gen Z cares about.
The sketch, “Try Guys,” features Ego Nwodim as the anchor of a CNN broadcast, interrupted by a live feed from the Try Guys themselves in a clear mimicry of the group’s recent video addressing the Ned situation, “what happened.” The anchor attempts to bring the newscast back on track with the discussion of more breaking, worldly news while reporter Gleeson continually returns the topic to the Try Guys.
The Try Guys, portrayed by Bowen Yang, Mikey Day and Andrew Dismukes, detail the nature of the scandal. Day, as Try Guy Zach Kornfeld, explains that Ned “committed the heinous act of having a consensual kiss, and not telling us, his friends,” a nod to Fulmer’s recent post on Instagram describing his affair as a “consensual workplace relationship.”
Overall, they’re communicating that in the grand scheme of things this all seems very silly, especially with such pressing other events going on in the world. The intent is clear although the sketch is, as Amanda Wicks of The Atlantic puts it, “underscoring how the show flounders when it just rehashes internet culture instead of being original.”
“SNL” has always been known for satirizing current events, most notably the goings-on of American politics. The rise of the internet and social media, of course, opened up loads of topics and comedic potential for the show. It’s to be expected that the writers might troll the hashtags and draw inspiration therein, especially as a means of staying relevant and relatable amidst the current shift toward streaming content in favor of network television.
This sketch is part of a larger trend at “SNL” of making parodies of what’s popular among the kids, as evidenced by their series of attempts at satirizing TikTok last season. I have no issue with this trend itself but, rather, the execution. Instead of a commentary on a famous business owner engaging in a long-term affair with a subordinate, “SNL” opted to mock the Try Guys’ response to the situation which bears more weight than the show seems to understand. The situation will no doubt have an immense negative impact on the Try Guys’ company, not to mention on the people in the most vulnerable position of all: those who were betrayed by their romantic partners in the public eye.
The sketch feels empty. It’s not due to a lack of comedy but because it’s a sad attempt at trying to appeal to Gen Z. Maybe your thoughts when you saw the title and thumbnail of this sketch were similar to mine:
“Oh, cool! A show I really like made a sketch of something I hear a lot about! I wonder where they’re gonna go with it?”
Maybe you were let down as well.
If “SNL” wants to stay culturally relevant, it needs to start caring about what young people care about. I hate to be the one to say it, but there are only so many times you can make jokes about how you don’t understand what the youth of today are going on about. Everyone is getting older every day, and pretty soon Gen Z is going to be the only people you can sell your show to.