Is it just me, or does it seem like Saturday Night Live has finally gotten comfortable talking about – and making fun of – race?
Some of the best pieces so far in its 41st season have dealt with racial issues. “The Day Beyonce Turned Black,” a horror-movie trailer parody (and something of a sequel to their “The Beygency” trailer parody) which showed white people freaking out over Beyonce’s “Formation” single (and her even more incendiary Super Bowl halftime performance), was an hilariously accurate take on absurd white outrage. They’ve also done some on-point, racially-themed skits like their takedown of the Oscars not nominating non-white actors this year and how ladies tend to overuse the term “ghetto.”
Their long-running news roundup “Weekend Update” has also gotten more racially charged now that comedians and SNL writers Colin Jost and Michael Che man the desk. The pale-skinned Jost and the dark-skinned Che (who did a brief turn as a correspondent on The Daily Show before becoming “Update”’s first black anchor) have turned into an intriguing, engaging odd couple. They rattle off jokes about the news, as well as bring their own back-and-forth perspectives to (usually racially-centered) stories and events. These days, “Update” should be called “A White Guy and a Black Guy Figure Out the News – and Each Other.”
It certainly helps that SNL currently has five African-American cast members, the largest number of black faces in the show’s 41-season history. Since we live in a culture that’s constantly hit with news and issues regarding race (and racial unrest), it’s a good thing this weekly, satirical, sketch-comedy show decided to throw a few more black folk into the mix.
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“When it came to race, the show seemed afraid to engage with black culture mainly because it didn’t know much about it to begin with.” |
SNL wasn’t always so willing to tackle matters of race. Thirteen years ago, the late, great Bernie Mac hosted an episode, and many of the skits he appeared in mostly consisted of the white cast members getting awkward and uneasy in his presence. One skit had Mac playing a game show host who hit his embarrassed white contestants with questions regarding black-focused subjects they knew absolutely nothing about, and another had him as the lost black member of the Three Stooges, who were a little leery about smacking their African-American comedy partner upside the head.
To me, that episode summed up SNL’s problem with race ever since the show hit the air in 1975. For four decades, Lorne Michaels and his revolving crew of writers and performers have satirized many aspects of news, politics, and pop culture. But when it came to race, it always seemed as though the show treaded lightly, afraid to engage with black culture mainly because the predominantly white show didn’t know much about it to begin with. It also didn’t help that, for years at a time, the show’s cast would only feature two or three black cast members, men and women who often tried (and usually failed) to get material — and their own perspectives — on the show.
As far as African-American Not Ready for Prime Time Players go, it’s rare for them to break out and become household names, even when they’re off the show. It’s well-documented how Garrett Morris, the show’s first black cast member (mostly known today as that old dude from 2 Broke Girls), was frustrated about how he was just a token member during those first five years, usually relegated to playing stereotypical roles.
 (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images) |
“Leslie Jones shines on ‘Weekend Update,’ where she delivers rants on dating and relationships.” |
By the time Eddie Murphy came aboard in the 1980s, which was right after Michaels and the rest of the show’s original cast and writers moved on, the show was in the middle of a frantic restructuring. Originally a featured player, Murphy soon began looking for ways to hit the camera, whether doing stand-up bits to stretch time or editorial rants on “Update.” Once it became obvious this charismatic kid had the audience in the palm of his hand, the show started using him more, having him play everybody from Buckwheat to Gumby to even Jerry Lewis. When it comes to Reagan-era SNL, Murphy has always been seen as the most valuable player.
Of course, Murphy quickly left SNL to be a movie star and the show slipped back into a Caucasian revue, especially when Michaels came back to run things in 1985. Since then, black comics have come and gone in the cast, with some moving on to superstar careers well after they left the show (Chris Rock, Damon Wayans, Tracy Morgan) and others not being so fortunate (Dean Edwards, Finesse Mitchell). Tim Meadows and current SNLer Kenan Thompson have been two of the more memorable, reliable cast members of color, mainly because they’ve each been on the show so damn long. (Thompson is in the middle of his 13th season; Meadows was on for 10.) SNL has even employed black comics as writers over the years: Warren Hutcherson (who went on to produce The Bernie Mac Show), J.B. Smoove, and Hannibal Buress are just a few of the people who’ve tried to bring some black power to the writers’ room.
Black women have had it worse on SNL. With the exception of the biracial Maya Rudolph (daughter of the late soul singer Minnie Riperton), whose perceived racial ambiguity allowed her to play a wider variety of roles, the small list of sistas who have performed on SNL barely went on to do bigger, better things. Ellen Cleghorne? Yvonne Hudson? The late Danitra Vance? Seriously, have you heard of any of these ladies?
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“Jay Pharoah proved how invaluable he is to the show recently when he impersonated a slew of black comics on ‘Update.'” |
SNL’s black-women problem reached a boiling point a couple of years ago when the show was getting criticized for its lack of black female diversity. This led to SNL hiring cast member Sasheer Zamata, as well as two writers, Leslie Jones and LaKendra Tookes, in the middle of the 2013-14 season. While Tookes left the show after that season, Jones became a cast member and, in my opinion, the show’s breakout star. She was even the recent subject of a New Yorker profile. She usually shines on “Update,” where she delivers rants on dating and relationships, while aggressively pushing up on Jost.
As a loud and outrageous presence on the show, Jones has received her fair share of fans and detractors. Her first SNL appearance was an “Update” rant where she said she would’ve been considered a catch during the days of slavery. The bit was greeted with outrage, mostly regarding whether a black woman should make light of slavery, especially on the white-friendly SNL. It seems controversy just follows Jones; she’s recently gotten backlash for starring in the all-female Ghostbusters reboot as an MTA worker and not as a scientist, like the characters fellow stars Melissa McCarthy, ex-SNLer Kristen Wiig and current cast member Kate McKinnon portray in the film.
Whether you love or hate her, Jones — along with Zamata, Che, Thompson and comedian/impressionist Jay Pharoah (who proved how invaluable he is to the show recently when he impersonated a slew of black comics on “Update”) — is providing a fresh, distinctive, and, shall I say, soulful comic sensibility to a program that’s been sorely lacking it for a long time. They aren’t just adding blackness to the show; they’re adding different layers of blackness to the show. The “Beyonce” parody brilliantly laid out how uncomfortable and narrow-minded contemporary mainstream society can be when black people bring up black stuff. The African-American men and women who populate SNL today are looking to show white folk that not only are black people a diverse collection of individuals, but we can laugh and take a joke just like they can.
Basically, after all these years, Saturday Night Live is finally realizing what it needed to inject some life back into the show: a long-overdue splash of color.
Follow Craig D. Lindsay on Twitter: @unclecrizzle
