What's saving SNL right now

I have a love/hate relationship with NBC's Saturday Night Live, and I feel like a whole lot of other people do too. Sometimes it's hilarious, other times it's a real miss. Regardless, I continue to watch and look forward to it every week. Some say the show hasn't been as funny since Tina Fey left, which may indeed hold some truth, but I think the show still has its moments of brilliance. There are a few things (and people) that I give credit to keeping the show afloat. Here they are:

Using the Lonely Island boys.



You may not always be a fan of his digital shorts (some are great, others not so much), but getting Andy Samberg on the show was an excellent decision on the part of the SNL higher-ups. He's creative and definitely funny. I had been a fan of the Lonely Island comedy crew and their amusing music videos back when Youtube was still in its infancy. They have a quirky sense of humor that I appreciate, and it's great that their comedy is exposed to a larger audience. "Dick in a Box" is funny, but you should watch "Just 2 Guys" to see how they got their roots.


This week's Digital Short was funny. I admit, I was cracking up a bit.



Good writing and funny recurring characters.



I love Bill Hader's spoofing of the Julian Assange ordeal. He cleverly and hilariously makes light of the somewhat murky situation revolving around the Wiki Leaks founder. Hader is one of my favorites of the show, also on the list is Keenan Thompson (All That was a favorite show of mine growing up), Kirsten Wiig, and Bobby Moynihan. They all they play diverse characters, and do it exceedingly well.


So funny.


Good musical guests. I was pretty disappointed by the recent (lack of) performance by Puff Daddy, aka Diddy, and his two female backup singers/dancers who are calling themselves Dirty Money. Puffy should stick to doing adlibs on hip-hop tracks and stop pretending that he can rap. This week on the other hand yielded a wonderful performance by the Slim-Again-But-Not-So-Slim-He's-Skeletal Slim Shady who performed "No Love" from his latest album, alongside Lil Wayne. I've heard the song a hundred times, but hearing and watching it on the show was powerful. Eminem and Wayne put on a good show, and definitely kept me interested. It wasn't like they were just rapping on top of a recorded track. It was raw and live. I especially enjoyed Wayne's new song "6 Foot, 7 Foot" which he performed on SNL, my first time hearing the song. It's sick.


"Be good or be good at it..."


Check out "6 Foot, 7 Foot" while you're at it.



What do you think? Do you watch SNL? Do you think it's funny?