For Some Reason SNL Cut a 'First Take' Sketch That is Funnier Than Anything They've Done in Years

YouTube description - In this Cut for Time sketch, things get heated as co-hosts Molly Qerim (Chloe Fineman), Stephen A. Smith (Chris Redd) and Michael Irvin (Kenan Thompson) discuss Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Few truer words have ever been spoken than Nate last week dragging current cast and crew of "Saturday Night Live" for being pussies: 

There's an old story from the early days of SNL, when they were on their second or maybe third cast and the show was positively floundering, they brought back original writer Michael O'Donoghue back as head writer. O'Donoghue was legendary for a dark, twisted, style, which was the absolute antithesis of the direction the show had drifted toward. So the very first thing he did was call a meeting in the writer's room where he excoriated them all for how terrible the show was, with insults like, "Do you honestly think there are diamonds in the dogshit you've been writing?" Then he said, "Do you know what's missing? Do you know what this show needs?" Then he pulled out a can of spray paint and wrote, in giant letters across the wall, "D-A-N-G-E-R." 

Now I don't think that comedy necessarily has to be dangerous to be funny. Nobody has to die doing it. But by god, it has to have risk involved. Risk of failure. Risk that the joke won't land. Risk that you'll ask the audience to go places they're not willing to. Most of all, risk of offending people. It's been forever since this once proud institution had any of these elements. In the span of about eight or 10 year, it's gone from something you don't want to miss, to something you might check out if you're in front of the TV, to knowing you can miss it because if they have anything worthwhile it'll be viral in the morning, to something you completely forget about. Unwatchable. 

And then there's this "First Take" sketch. That somehow didn't make the cut? How is this even remotely possible? There were so many other diamonds on the other night that this was lumped in with the dogshit? Honestly? What kind of command and control to they have over at NBC that this one was cut for time? 

I mean, this is fantastic. The kind of sketch they haven't had since the days Will Forte was in the cast. The best kinds of impressions, where you reduce the people you're imitating down to a couple of exaggerated personality traits. Even Molly Qerim, for crying out loud. Just spot on Stephen A. and the Playmaker. Forte is peak Forte, chewing the scenery as your prototypical sports blogger imbecile. (Hey now...) The script hits every note. The idiotic arguments over nonsense topics. 

• Bulldozer filled with cocaine. 
• "Don't threaten me with a good time!" 
• "You are the glue that hold this show together, but please shut up, because I have to scream." 
• "You played in the NFL for 12 years and you're a Hall of Famer, and I just started a website. But you don't know anything about football!" 
• "With all due respect, God is wrong!" 

If this show wasn't swirling the drain, they'd do this every other episode until it eventually gets played out like all their recurring characters do. Instead, they cut it for time. It's like they don't want to be funny or relevant any more. They just want to do Trump skits and Elmo impressions. In other words, the opposite of "D-A-N-G-E-R." 

Cutting this is like keeping an All Star on your bench. If I'm Lorne Michaels, I'm calling everyone into a conference room right now and demanding answers. But from the way the last few seasons have been going, it seems like everyone over there stopped caring.