By Charlie Keeler
If you have checked Saturday Night Live’s youtube channel in the past year, you will have noticed a playlist titled “Cut For Time.” “Cut For Time” refers to the sketches that are cut from the show due to the show running over its hour-long time slot. SNL creator Lorne Michales decides which sketches to cut and which to keep. These decisions can take place as little as one minute before the show goes on air, or, in some rare occasions, during the show itself. There is a recurring joke on the show about how sketches written by Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennet keep getting cut. It’s played off very lightheartedly, and neither of them seems to mind very much. But why do these sketches get cut? These cut sketches bring up questions about the current state of comedy as well as the future of the genre itself.
These cut sketches often result in an outcry of criticism. People online are unhappy with the cuts: “SNL is cutting the wrong sketches,”(Arron C) and, “Cut for time? Or, straight to the internet? With Kyle involved, there’s an 87% chance,”(J Cobbs). Most brutally, “Leave it to Lorne Michaels to be out of touch with the current audience and cut some of the best comedy bits on this show. We want more material like this!” (Joshua Josey).
The non sequitur humor present in these sketches is something that Kyle Mooney and Beck Benent were famous for even before their years at SNL. Kyle and Beck were in charge of a Youtube channel called “GoodneighborStuff.” There they made sketches very similar to the ones they now write for SNL. The sketches were outrageous and they thrived on the “random” effect of comedy. Once hired for SNL they could still do their wacky digital sketches but within certain boundaries. Even though they were not as popular as the old youtube channel, they were incredibly well-received among the internet community.
Looking at the comment section, one might make the argument that Lorne Michaels should stop cutting these sketches because the public seems to like them. However, that support comes exclusively from the youtube viewing audience. One of the Kyle and Beck sketches that got to air elicited some of the worst audience reactions the show has ever received. The premise of the sketch is based on bad 90’s TV sitcoms and uses the non sequitur humor that Kyle and Beck grew up loving. However, the SNL live audience is out of touch with the references made by Kyle and Beck in the sketch. Therefore, there is an argument that Lorne Michales should cut these sketches because the live audience does not react to the content in the same way that the online audience does.
How Lorne Michales should handle Kyle and Beck’s work is unclear. Comedy is changing, and a man that made his career in a now-outdated style of comedy might not be as excited about this change. However, for many younger fans, this change is positive.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux5 MujRA
Also my Dad’s general Knowledge