Saturday Night Live ended its a Sleepy Hollow segment with a sexual assault punchline that divided audiences. During the Halloween episode, a "Headless Horseman" bit is just one of several NBC sketches that includes sexually suggestive humor, leaving viewers to wonder if the writers are relying too much on sophomoric humor for the sake of being provocative.
John Mulaney returned to host the fifth episode of Saturday Night Live writers still find a way to includes jokes that are fundamentally about sexual assault - a recurring theme in the episode from beginning to end. In between, The Strokes ironically perform "Bad Decisions" and "The Adults Are Talking."
"Headless Horseman" suits the Halloween premise, and the absurd situational comedy fits Mulaney's style. Playing Ichabod Crane, the Saturday Night Live bit ends with the three puritans stealing the head, followed by voiceover narration that reveals that "the ghostly cries" of said head can still be heard in Sleepy Hollow today. The punchline: Crane and company used the head to fulfil their sexual desires.
Saturday Night Live received mixed reactions on Twitter, with some people expressing their approval of the over-the-top humor and others expressing their disgust with the sexually assault-themed jokes. In the first full sketch, "Cinema Classics: The Birds," Kate McKinnon parodies Tippi Hedren's famous performance in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film, with the joke being the absurdity of the film's actual premise - attacking pigeons. At one point, McKinnon wonders if the birds had been "raped" - a line that will draw laughs from some viewers but leave others cold.
Later, during the Weekend Update segment, The Mandalorian's Baby Yoda (Kyle Mooney) tells co-host Michael Che about fans that have sending private messages which are "sexual in nature." In the final sketch, "Another Uncle Meme," John Mulaney's character defends himself against meme jokes that suggest he's a virgin pervert. As a whole, the Saturday Night Live episode raises questions about comedic intent and cheap humor.
Despite still being one of the most-watched entertainment shows on TV, Saturday Night Live is itself the butt of many jokes about how the show simply isn't funny any more. There are certainly valid criticisms to be made from week to week. In 2020, Saturday Night Live could gain some good will amongst audiences in general by relying less on sophomoric humor and focusing more on material that allows the performers to thrive. Right now, if often seems like the Saturday Night Live writers are falling back on a formulaic blend of politics, sex, and trendy millennial talking points (usually weed humor), rather than getting creative with the comedy.