Joe Rogan criticized Saturday Night Live for restricting its comedy due to being on network television.
Rogan argued SNL “handicaps” and “handcuffs” itself from pushing boundaries due to executives’ fears of controversy and an inability to cover certain topics.
“If you’re on network television, you’re dealing with so many executives. They’re all terrified and everyone’s scared and everyone’s ideologically captured,” Rogan said. “There’s certain things you can’t joke around about. It’s like, God, there’s so much ground you can’t cover. And it’s just, you handicap yourself. You just handcuff yourself.”
He attributed this to network restrictions and meddling, citing his own experience with Comedy Central.
Rogan also felt the live format hinders creativity compared to online content.
“The real problem is the format is just so restrictive,” he said. “The fact that you have to break for commercials. The fact that you have a specific amount of time, all of that is just, you can’t compete with the internet because of that. You just can’t.”
“And then you have all the meddling,” he said, noting that his work with Comedy Central was “[expletive] insane, trying to tell them what is funny and what is not funny. It was insane.”
Former SNL cast member Rob Schneider criticized a 2016 sketch mourning Hillary Clinton’s election loss, saying it signaled the show was “over.”
“I hate to [expletive] on my own show,” Schneider said. “When Hillary Clinton lost—which is understandable why she lost. She’s not exactly the most logical person in the room.”
“Then when Kate McKinnon went out there on Saturday Night Live in the cold opening and all that, and she’s dressed as Hillary Clinton, and she started playing ‘Hallelujah.’ I literally prayed, ‘Please have a joke at the end. Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there,'” Schneider added. “And there was no joke at the end, and I went, ‘It’s over. It’s over. It’s not gonna come back.'”
Alec Baldwin defended SNL, noting a third of episodes are good while also acknowledging criticism of those behind a show that previously employed the critic.
Baldwin argued every program has ups and downs but SNL has endured for decades.
Schneider had criticized “someone’s judgment and you leave out the idea that you had no problem with their judgment when they hired you[…] And of course, Rob Schneider had a great run and he’s funny. I think he’s funny. Rob’s very, very funny,” Baldwin said.
“SNL is a live TV show[…] They’re in an office at a meeting on a Monday and the show is live by Saturday. It’s not easy. Of course, I’m going to defend them. They’re my friends, they’re old, old pals of mine,” Baldwin said.
“I divide the episodes of SNL the way I divide everything else. You look at an actor’s career, you look at a director’s career,” Baldwin added. “I divide it into thirds. A third of it is good, a third of it is so-so and a third of it is not very good. And a third of the episodes of SNL have been good, and a third of them so-so and a third not so good. Everybody’s batting through 33 [percent].”
“It’s no different than any other program. It is topical, they discuss what’s going on. It’s what’s expected of us and it’s worked. In a couple more years, they’re going to be doing their 50th season, so they must be doing something right. Of course, I love Lorne. I love the institution that is SNL, I’ve had a lot of fun with them.”
“But you’ve got to be careful. Someone taught me this in this business; that is you’ve got to be careful when you criticize people for their judgment and you turn around and pause for a moment and realize, well that judgment of theirs led them to hire you once upon a time.”
