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It didnt work last week.
And 50 years in, it is the badness that makesSNLso great.
Both versions of SNL badness are thrilling, but for different reasons.
Wait, are you guys mad at me?
she asks in an exaggerated voice.
I feel like you guys really hate me right now.
Hey, Im feeling really anxious.
Can I get a hug?
she adds to diminishing laughs, coming off as an under-articulated Kristen Wiig character.
If theres any good, it relies on the sheer fact of a celebrity cameo.
And then there are sketches that do fully bomb on live television.
Take, for example, another Rock sketch from the 40th-anniversary season in 2014 called The Arguing Couple.
It plays more like a scene from a melodramatic play than a sketch with a clear comedic game.
Why are you attracting so much dirt?
Are you a human Swiffer?
Rock yells with disdain.
Dont embarrass me in front of strangers.
DONT EMBARRASS ME IN FRONT OF STRANGERS!
The Uber driver is uncomfortable, and so is the audience.
In October 2008, there was an episode that was going as well as an episode ofSNLcould go.
(It would end up being the most watchedSNLepisode of the last 30 years.)
And thats exactly what they did.
The first time Hader calls Forte fart face, the audience greets the line with silence.
It only gets worse for the 70+ times fart face is said over the next five minutes.
Deliberately or instinctually, maybe Michaels knew that an episode that is too consistently good wouldnt feel likeSNL.
This contrast might be even more vital today, whenSNLis consumed largely online.
According to YouTube, the moment where Gardner fully loses it is the most-replayed part of the sketch online.
The possibility of something being bad onSNLcreates a comedic tension stronger than anything created by good sketch-writing alone.
In April 2000, the More Cowbell sketch seemed doomed to obscurity after dress rehearsal.
In the background, one of the cone-shaped studio lights was visibly askew.
Because those kinds of accidents actually allow you to think,Well, its live.
And what would even be the point ofSNLbeing live, if it all worked perfectly every week?
