Saturday Night Live has been churning out liberal propaganda for decades.
But the show wasn’t always a left-wing cesspool.
And Adam Sandler saved SNL from one miserable problem that left writers celebrating.
Adam Sandler brought the fun back to Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live was a different animal back in the early 1990s.
The show hadn’t yet transformed into the woke mouthpiece it is today.
Back then, writers were burning themselves out trying to create comedy gold under the intense pressure of live television.
Conan O’Brien – who worked as a writer on SNL from 1988 to 1991 – recently opened up about how miserable the atmosphere was behind the scenes during his tenure.¹
"I was in that state of mind, and I think, you know, [Robert] Smigel and [Bob] Odenkirk and Greg Daniels were like, ‘It’s life or death,’" O’Brien explained during a chat with fellow SNL alum Andy Samberg on his "Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend" podcast.¹
The writers were treating every sketch like their careers depended on it.
The pressure was crushing everyone’s spirit – until Adam Sandler showed up in 1991.
Sandler brought something the writers desperately needed: pure joy.
"He was like, ‘This is so much fun to be at SNL. Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. Yippee!’" O’Brien remembered about Sandler’s infectious enthusiasm.¹
Sandler’s attitude was a game-changer for the SNL writing room
While veteran writers were grinding themselves into the ground, Sandler was having the time of his life.
"And he had that, ‘I’m going to do Opera Man. I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that. This is great, guys!’ I was like, ‘This is a possibility? You can like this?’" O’Brien recalled.¹
O’Brien had been so consumed by the pressure that he forgot work could actually be enjoyable.
Sandler’s carefree approach opened everyone’s eyes to what SNL could be – a place where comedy writers could have fun while creating brilliant material.
The contrast couldn’t have been starker.
O’Brien admitted he was "way too intense" during his SNL days and later regretted robbing himself of the fun he could have had.²
"I burnt out. I burnt out. And [Lorne Michaels] could not have been nicer," O’Brien said about his experience.¹
The intensity drove him away from the show entirely.
He left SNL in 1991 to join The Simpsons writing staff because the pressure had become unbearable.
The SNL writing room was a pressure cooker before Sandler arrived
Bob Odenkirk, another writer during that era, shared similar feelings about the toxic atmosphere.
"I was too hard on the show. I had a lot of attitude when I got hired there, like, ‘This show could be better, this show could be ‘Monty Python,’ this should be more cutting edge, this should be more dangerous,’" Odenkirk revealed.³
The writers were their own worst enemies.
They had turned what should have been a dream job into a nightmare of self-imposed pressure and unrealistic expectations.
Everyone was treating every single sketch like it would make or break their entire career.
That’s where Sandler’s influence became crucial.
His genuine excitement about being part of SNL reminded everyone why they got into comedy in the first place.
Sandler wasn’t worried about creating the next "Monty Python" – he was focused on making people laugh and having fun doing it.
The timing couldn’t have been better.
Sandler joined the cast right when O’Brien was at his most burned out, showing the writers that success and enjoyment weren’t mutually exclusive.
His characters like Opera Man became SNL classics precisely because they came from a place of joy rather than desperation.
What SNL could learn from Sandler’s approach today
Fast-forward to 2025, and SNL has a completely different problem.
The show has abandoned comedy in favor of pushing left-wing talking points.
Instead of burning out from trying too hard to be funny, today’s writers seem more concerned with crafting the next anti-Trump rant.
Sandler’s approach – focusing on pure entertainment rather than political messaging – feels like a relic from a bygone era.
The show that once benefited from his infectious enthusiasm now treats comedy as a weapon rather than a source of joy.
Maybe that’s why Adam Sandler’s movies continue to dominate Netflix while SNL‘s ratings have plummeted.
Audiences can tell the difference between genuine comedy and political propaganda disguised as humor.
Sandler never forgot the lesson he taught those SNL writers in the early ’90s – comedy works best when everyone’s having fun.
¹ Conan O’Brien, "Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend" podcast, Variety, August 1, 2025.
² Entertainment Weekly, "Conan O’Brien regrets SNL burn out," Entertainment Weekly, 2024.
³ Bob Odenkirk interview, Entertainment Weekly, July 2025.