Don't get me wrong. It still has its moments and some genuinely funny segments, such as Colin Jost and Michael Che writing each other's news commentary. Actor Adam Driver has skits that make me laugh out loud when he guest hosts. Still, SNL has become something you watch clips of later online if there are any clips worthy enough to be watched. 

But this isn't just an SNL problem. Think of the last time you genuinely laughed at a joke that came out of mainstream culture. Or, more accurately, when was the last time mainstream culture made you laugh regularly? When was the last time you tuned into a late-night talk show expecting to be entertained? Is there a new sitcom on a major network that you genuinely enjoy to the point where you make time in your evening to tune into new episodes?

If you're like me, you've so wandered away from modern mainstream comedy that you probably can't even name three sitcoms that are currently producing new episodes. You'd probably prefer going through a streaming service and binging older ones. 

What's the issue? 

The problem is multi-faceted, and a book could likely be written on the cultural shift that brought mainstream media to the mostly unfunny state it's in today, but I can easily put my finger on at least one of the problems.

Comedians and comedy writers forgot the purpose of comedy. 

Let's take a recent SNL skit. As Bob Hoge wrote on Monday, SNL decided to mock the moment Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) went after three university presidents for their antisemitic policies regarding calls for genocide against Jewish students. To be sure, it's a moment that would be perfect fodder for SNL because it was a moment where three high-powered people demonstrated just how absurd, ridiculous, and evil they can be. These three women should have been eviscerated via satire and lampoonery. 

Yet, SNL chose instead to make these women look relatively normal and, instead, made Stefanik look like she was the crazy person in the room. The skit effectively pardoned the virulent antisemitism that has infected these universities and these women enabling it to continue the show's obsession with making Republicans look bad. 

So disgusting was the segment that SNL alum Cecily Strong reportedly pulled out of the skit right before the show aired as she was unwilling to take part in the display. 

This skit, though horrible and unfunny in a big way, is a symptom of a much larger problem. The writers and performers of SNL forgot that comedy is meant to do two things: make people laugh and cause the burden of life to lighten and use absurdity to tell a truth. 

What SNL and many mainstream comedy writers are doing today isn't either of those things. They're acting in a goofy manner while delivering what is essentially pure propaganda. The core "Republicans bad" message has eclipsed their common sense to the point where all other things deserving of mockery are completely ignored or, if up against a right-leaning individual, defended, uplifted, or even celebrated. 

The issue at the core of mainstream "comedy" isn't that they make fun of Republicans or conservatives. The best comedy is the irreverent comedian who makes fun of everything and everyone. Even conservatives can easily fall into the trap of taking themselves and things a bit too seriously, and a deprecating joke about them can be a healthy way to snap people out of it. 

No, the issue is that they make fun of conservatives the vast majority of the time. Comedy should be indiscriminate in who it mocks. If it only focuses on one group of people, then it's just a weaponized platform, not a comedic outlet. Yeah, shows like SNL will take potshots at the left, but these are few and far between, and the disparity makes it feel less than genuine. 

Moreover, when you're only focused on bringing down one group, you lose the element of truth that makes comedy funny. At this point, you're just putting a laughter mask on a bad-faith attack. You have to exaggerate to the point where you lose that element of truth that sells the joke. 

Mainstream comedy writers stopped making their work in good faith and focused less on making jokes and more on following a set of mainstream rules about proper targets and pre-approved boundaries, which is exactly how you make comedy not work. 

If mainstream comedy wants to return to form, it's going to have to remember what comedy is, but what's clear at this point is that corporate media is so infested with activism that this isn't going to happen for a long time.