Early snl had ten to fifteen minutes of watchable comedy. The rest was garbage, unless you were stoned or drunk, or both.
That's about 10 to 15 minutes less garbage than the current show.
I don't know about this season's cast, but the last 5-10 years has had its share of brilliance:
Bill Hader (did he quit 10 years ago?), Beck Beckett, Leslie Jones, Kyle Mooney, Kate McKinnon, Chris Redd, Keenan Thompson, even Pete Davidson, had super funny moments. How you can find this not funny:
I think there are some people like the Dana Carveys of the world, who were brilliant at SNL but really struggled doing anything not SNL-related. I think that Kenan Thompson is like Dana Carvey in that regard except Kenan knows he won't be successful at anything post-SNL (or he has, and already tried), so that's why he's in his 21st season. (Kenan had a failed NBC sitcom and is starring in the new Kenan & Kel movie).
Bill Hader was able to establish himself away from SNL with Barry.
Beck Bennett has been away from SNL for 2-1/2 years. What has he done since leaving ?
Chris Redd...well, he starred in the failed Kenan sitcom...and he was a successful working actor before SNL and he probably will remain a working actor but not a big star.
Kyle Mooney, who (if you didn't know used to do comedy bits on Jimmy Kimmel Live, will probably have the same Chris Redd trajectory.
Leslie Jones...we'll see. She released her memoir this year and guest hosted The Daily Show in the spring and fall. And she has done some acting gigs, but nothing really massive.
Pete Davidson turned 30 a few weeks ago...He is stariring on his own sitcom loosely based on his life after starring in a movie loosely based on his life. (The sitcom debuted the week the writers' strike began, so he wasn't able to promote it on SNL in May but he hosted the season 0remiere.) He also starred in Dumb Money recently.; But Davidson was billed to be the next Adam Sandler...He'll always get work, though. But nobody really is. the next Adam Sandler.
It's funny how some of the aforementioned people got SNL thanks to connections ... Megan Mullally was responsible for getting Bill Hader on SNL. Chris Rock was responsible for Leslie Jones. Bill Hader was responsible for Pete Davidson...
