Saturday Night Live has always covered politics, at least to some extent, and both fans and critics have always had opinions about how the show has handled these sketches. Every President has been made fun of to some extent, and both political parties are semi-regular topics of ridicule. Doing political impressions of many different public figures is by design, and for as long as Lorne Michaels is in charge, that’s never going to change.
The longtime showrunner is the subject of a new documentary, and the Oscar-winning director, Morgan Neville, recently talked to USA Today about all the time he spent inside SNL while making it. Not surprisingly, the subject of politics came up, and he openly said what people have been seeing all along. Michaels isn’t trying to make a show to serve a particular political viewpoint or a particular group of people.
Instead, he’s trying to make a show for everyone, which means featuring different points of view. Here’s a portion of Neville’s quote…
Lorne will never speak specifically about those things, but something that he’s said to me a lot is, ‘Remember, it’s called broadcasting because it’s meant to be seen broadly. It’s not just a show for the coasts – it’s supposed to capture all kinds of opinions.’ He wants to keep reminding his critics, much to their chagrin, that we’re not just doing everything to validate a certain political point of view.
I don’t know if it’s fair to say Saturday Night Live currently is or has always been politically neutral, but it’s definitely fair to say the show does not exist to validate a certain political point of view. During its five-decade run, the show has employed both right wing and left wing comedians and roasted political figures on both sides of the aisle.
As a longtime viewer, I think it’s probably fair to admit the show leans a little to the left more often than not. Its certainly been criticized by Republicans on a semi-regular basis for being biased, but notably, it’s also been accused quite a bit of not being left wing enough by folks on that side.
Lorne Michaels and those working at Saturday Night Live have long prided themselves on being a topic of conversation that connects everyone. Its best sketches have a way of bringing different people and different generations together. For that to happen, there has to be an understanding that the show is operating in good faith and that it’s an equal opportunity offender. The best way to do that is by making fun of everyone and making it clear no one is off limits.
SNL is currently on a little mini hiatus, but it’ll return early next month with three awesome upcoming hosts to close the season. You can expect to see at least several political sketches before the 2026 TV schedule wraps, along with a wide variety of jokes targeted at a wide group of people, just as Michaels has always wanted.
