Aim lower
SNL obviously going for ratings rather than content.
Long-running US skit show Saturday Night Live has once again courted controversy by inviting Technoking Elon Musk on to host. SNL announced the pick via Twitter on Saturday to be confirmed the following day by teleprompter-hater His Muskiness himself who then quipped: "Let's find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is …
It's SNL, not some foreign policy analysis show or literary critique. The question will be whether he is funny. Does he have comedic timing? Any moron can read out somebody else's script but only some people get the timing and delivery right.
That Elon Musk is a massive dickhead doesn't mean he can't be funny. Chevy Chase is/was quite funny but is also well-known to be a massive asshole and SNL staff endured him for years before they fired him.
Agree, AC. Last I watched SNL (looooong time ago) it appeared that all the guest host has to do is get through the opening monologue (unclear how much/little is writ by others), appear in a couple of skits, and cash the check (or gorge out on green room snacks, whatever the compensation is). Some hosts I had little hope for turned out to be pretty good, within the cast/crew's carefully constructed guardrails.
here in Blighty in that, we don't get SNL unless we have a subscription to some obscure cable channel.
Some of it was funny especially the takedowns to Trump but most of it wasn't very funny.
I'm sure that Elon's grand plan to rule the world won't be harmed by this event. His Starlink system is set to become the 'World's ISP'.
If you drive a Tesla, you are giving him all the data he needs to sling targetted ads at you as you drive or rather the car drives itself.
"A host should have some discernible talent other than… being rich? "
There's precedent for this. Main example I can think of is George Steinbrenner (then owner of the NY Yankees). He appeared at a time when he was fairly unpopular in the press due to repeatedly firing his managers. Steinbrenner's monolog lampshaded the situation. He pointed out that SNL hosts fell into two categories 1) entertainers (actors, musicians, athletes, etc) and 2) beloved public figures. Since he was clearly not an entertainer, by process of elimination he must therefore be a beloved figure.
I read a lot of US media and occasionally SNL will come up - "SNL takes aim at Trump" etc. and you go and watch the sketch and it's just embarrassingly unfunny. Jokes that would make a 12 year old cringe. US TV can do topical comedy extremely well e.g. Daily Show, or Colbert, but SNL is just garbage.
Perhaps it was good once, or perhaps it was always like this but has accumulated a few stand out sketches and performers that we forget the 95% of it that was dreck.