#debbie downer

HI. I just have to gush for a minute, because it was a really shitty weekend and I’m decidedly avoiding thinking about the reality of my life so I finally fell down the rabbit hole that is the SNL 50th anniversary content.

YOOOOOO. The thing is, I, like all weirdos, grew up on Saturday Night Live. When I finally got a tv in my bedroom I’d make sure everyone was asleep on Saturday night and I’d turn it down real low and I would just get sucked in to whatever was going on that week. It was edgy, it was funny, it was always on point even when it wasn’t, and as we all know, SNL has given me some of the great loves of my life. 

Andy Samberg. Jason Sudeikis. Bill Hader. Will fucking Ferrell. TINA FEY. Amy Poehler. Goddamn Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. MYA RUDOPLH. Jimmy, my hometown baby, Fallon. 

SNL is just so absolutely special. It’s this powerhouse, cultural beacon that plucks fucking crazy comedians from obscurity and gives then a platform and lets them do weird things with celebrities and highlights just the strangest smattering of musicians. It’s the perfect amount of controlled chaos. I really don’t know what part of my brain it feeds, but it’s just so STUPIDLY human.

When ringtones were a thing, I had a text tone of Will Ferrell doing Robert Goulet. I had no idea who Robert Goulet actually WAS, but Will’s impression for some reason was incredible. I can honestly still hear it, it was that sound bite of him saying “dinkle donkle dinkle donkle, someone’s calling you! GOULET!” Like, why? WHY did that make me so happy? 

Literally, not even a few months ago I posted a Weekend Update video in my engineering team’s slack channel to explain that I have ‘VOICE IMMODULATION, TINA!’ because of how insanely loud I can be. And that wasn’t even the first time I’ve used that sketch to get people to understand why I am the way I am.

I fell disgustingly in love with Lonely Island, and I still very decidedly am - I probably know all of their albums by heart. I was deeply obsessed with Jimmy and Tina hosting Weekend Update, and then even more deeply obsessed with Tina and Amy hosting Weekend Update; I’m pretty sure I’ve formed world views based on their snark.

 Keenan Thompson has created some of my all time favorite bits, and I respect the fuck out of him that he does them for a bit and then never does them again. I still sometimes sing my favorite song from “Deep House Dish” because ‘THIS IS MY SIGNATURE LOOOOK! And I’m gonna WEAAAAR THIS OUT!’ I also still scream ‘WHAT UP WITH THAT?’ 

The point is, this show is ingrained in me in a VERY real way. And I’m so thankful for it. And if you are too, at the very least, you need to watch the 50th anniversary special. There is a lot of other content you should watch too - the concert special, the documentary about the music of SNL - but good lord, the live anniversary show is two and a half hours of fantasticness. 

Debbie Downer. The Laurence Welk Show. Keenan scaring kids straight with his prisoner persona. Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon. BRONX BEAT! Featuring Linda from fucking Coffee Talk!!!!! Adam Sandler singing his fucking heart out about 50 years of the SNL experience, with more emotion I think I’ve ever seen from him. A digital short about the crippling anxiety that fuels the entire goddamn show. 

Bill Murray’s ranking of the top ten Weekend Update hosts. The girl you shouldn’t have started a conversation with at a party. Kate McKinnon’’s frequent pantless alien abductee, whose mother was played by Meryl. Fucking. Streep. 

I’m honestly just like vibrating out of my skin, that was exactly what I needed. And I’m sure that some people might just look at it like an excuse for celebrities to pat themselves on the back for no reason, but truly, there’s magic in this show. There’s legacy. It’s just…pure joy. People being absolutely ridiculous in an attempt to get someone, ANYONE, to laugh. Because it’s fun. Because it feeds us.

Comedy is healing, you guys. It’s art. And SNL has given us 50 years of beautiful, stupid, irreverent creation. That should be celebrated; let them be proud of this monstrous, sparkling, inane thing they made. It’s so, so, so remarkable.

Like I said, I had a hard few days, I was going through some things that made me act the fuck out and I lost control of myself, but then I sat down and watched SNL appreciate it’s own existence, and it helped to bring me back to who I am. Is that ridiculous? Probably. But that’s the magic of content. And I’m so thankful for it.