Americans SNL?

[Banrockmystation]

Does anyone else not get the humour AT ALL in Saturday Night Live?
Im English so maybe it’s just a real culture difference but I do not find any of the skits funny at all?! Not necessarily even offensive, just completely boring and I don’t get them!
The audience seems to find it hilarious, am I missing something??

I find it annoying
man-splainy ifswim

watch it sometimes as I get sent clips from friends who live in the us.

The audience is laughing because they're told to. They have been warmed up by a warm up comic who stands in front of them, tells jokes, throws them sweets and in my experience literally coaches them in giving big loud laughs that we were asked to copy. We three brits sat there confused during this practice and as a result got no sweets boo!!!

Love it! But not every sketch is hilarious… sometimes it really hits the nail on the head…

there is crowd whipper-uppers in uk shows as well...

Ah we quite like it. The election stuff was often very funny.

I find it odd if people of my generation (mid 30s) don't 'get' American humour though as we've grown up with it?

Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer was a classic… but yes, it’s American and the humour is for them and their current state of affairs… whatever it may be
repubkicans tend to hate it as they’re brave enough to take on Trump and the like. One of the impersonators does a great shirtless Putin

It is hit and miss.

I do love:

More Cowbell
The Caifornians
Kate McKinnon as Justin Bieber in his Calvin Kleins
Real Disney Princesses of Beverley Hills (may have name wrong)
And most skits with Kate McKinnon

It’s the cultural gap. American humour is generally very different to British humour. It’s not to do with subtle references to American culture it’s to do with the style of comedy. A huge number of Americans simply dont get sarcasm for example whereas it’s an inherent part of day to day British conversational style. They take a lot of things at face value and often need to be sign posted when the joking starts. That’s why they find someone like Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes so “shocking!” because it’s such a different style of humour than they are used to.

That’s said Nate Bargatze couple of SNL George Washington sketches on weights and measures are hilarious. highly recommend you google them.
“Nobody knows!”

I don’t get it either but find many of the former cast funny in other things. I assume it’s a cultural gap.

Watched it several times over the decades and, not only did I not think it funny, but just didn’t get most of it. I did see one of the Baldwin brothers do Donald Trump in his last presidency and thought it humorous but that’s been the sum total. Would rather watch paint dry. But, some people obviously think it good or it wouldn’t have lasted decades like it has so power to them.

@MarketSt I'm a similar age to you and I think it might be because SNL is SO American- it's the cultural complexities and in jokes that are hard to grasp if they don't relate to your every day, so it's not funny, just strange.

Also films aimed at an international audience will be designed to appeal broadly. So yes, still American but accessible in their references and set ups in a way that SNL doesn't have to be. I still don't rate a lot of the attempted comedy.

Then again someone upthread mentioned Fawlty Towers which I've never found remotely funny despite being English. Even when you're clued in, humour doesn't necessarily land.

I find it funny but there are some skits that I don't understand because they are about American life/politics which im not experiencing.

I wouldn't expect anyone other than British based people to understand a skit impersonating Jacob Rees-Mogg or thr despair a job seekers appointment

Absolutely a huge cultural difference. The show isn’t made for Brits - it’s made for Americans who find it funny. In the same way I don’t find any of the old British comedies remotely funny at all.

Little Britain wasn't even funny here never mind.being shown abroad! I don't even think little Britain is repeated anywhere.

SNL has been going 50 years that's good going for something that isn't funny. I watch it .here and there some of the humour hits some of it goes over my head, they do.satire of US culture that I don't understand, I really don't think it's aimed at "us" though.

I disagree with "Americans don't get sarcasm". That's an overused trope. They just do it differently. I feel like which comedians translate is a bit more subtle than that. There's the obvious things, that the humour or subject matter is very nationally or culturally specific. I think to Americans, Ricky Gervais just comes off like an arsehole instead of funny and I don't think it's because of sarcasm. I can't explain why, because I don't like him either! Americans have a hard time with a specific strain of British understatement. If a British person says something is "quite nice," the American thinks they don't like it very much and they're being polite. By the same token, if you say something very neutral and you actually mean "that is a terrible idea and you are a dribbling idiot," they don't get that either. The British use this way of expressing themselves so much that we take it as natural. Americans only do it sometimes. It's like if a Southerner says "bless your heart." Northerners think it's always passive aggressive, but no. Sometimes it's straight (your neighbour heard you were in the hospital and brought a casserole, and she's a great cook. Bless her heart!) Sometimes it means "You're an asshole," and you have to infer through experience which one it is. As a rule Americans are more direct, especially on the east coast, and sarcasm is less used in interpersonal communication unless you're trying to insult someone. Don't ask me to navigate Midwest Nice, though, which is candy-coated passive-aggression.

TBH the British "I'm going to insult you and call it a compliment" is difficult to navigate. I'm autistic and it can be difficult to tell when it's a real insult (with the sandwich of "I'm going to insult you, use it to pretend we're mates, but actually the insult is real"). Americans are more straightforward and tend to signal sarcasm by tone. "How are you today?" "Hit by a bus on the way to work. Absolutely wonderful, thank you for asking!")

This Reddit thread is quite funny though.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/4q66fi/do_americans_understand_sarcastic_humour/

There are lots I find funny but certainly not all of it. I like most of the weekend updates because I like Colin Jost and others that stand out are Jumanji one and the Avatar font one. To the PP who asked, you can watch on their YouTube channel or Tiktok.

I think it's partly cultural and partly the nature of the show. I know when I moved to he UK it wasn't so much that I didn't get UK humour, but more that I didn't always get humour that was based around cultural references. Like I could always laugh at HIGNFY because it was current and topical, but I wouldn't (back then) have understood This Country.

SNL has always been hit and miss, which I think is part of the point. It's ensemble sketch comedy, put together in a week, some topical, some not. I think the idea behind it was partly to bring the audience into it by having a cast they formed an attachment to and letting the cast try things out. They've had some brilliant writers and comedians over the years. They probably have more misses than hits, but the hits can be very funny.

My kids grew up here, but 2 went back to the US for university, and I remember them being shocked that their friends didn't get The In Betweeners and Peep Show - I do think Americans often find cringe comedy difficult.

Beautiful summary 😆

As an aside, the gold medal of passive aggression has to go a greetings card I found in a shop once (in London): "May this year bring everything you deserve".
Still makes me chuckle!

I’ve seen loads clips of the special from the weekend and I don’t get any of it. I’m assuming a lot of it is in jokes because it was an anniversary show and a lot cultural references I don’t know about.
Obviously there’s a lot of talent on there, but apart from the musical performances, I’ve never seen anything to tempt me to watch any of it.

@knitnerd90

I think Midwest nice gets really misinterpreted outside the Midwest. We just have a cultural setting to maintain a positive attitude even if we are somewhat annoyed. It might come off as fake but to us it’s just a way to maintain good social relations.

As for Britain, I still can’t get used to personal insults being used as a sort of bonding ritual. Particularly so among men. I find it so mean-spirited lol

I also feel Americans generally get sarcasm but it’s always with a ‘tone’. The dry humor is something that totally throws a lot of us off

Agreed on Midwest nice! I was confused by the description of it being passive aggressive.

I love Corner Gas. I found it when I was staying in Toronto this summer and then I was very excited to see that it's available to watch at home in Ohio.

Oh, and I have a t-shirt that says, "Midwest Nice." I bought it in Cleveland.

Kate McKinnon as Bieber - absolutely nails it. The show with Kirsten Stewart, where she plays Gisele on the quiz show and McKinnon is Bieber… ace

I like a fair bit of it. I can appreciate a lot of different types of humour and like a varied amount of stuff.