Rob Schneider explains the moment he felt Saturday Night Live ‘lost its way’

‘It’s over. It’s not gonna come back,’ Schneider said

Rob Schneider has shared his thoughts about the moment he thought Saturday Night Live had lost its way.

Referring to the 2016 sketch of Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton, the 58-year-old comedian said that was the moment he realised SNL was “over”.

During a conversation on The Glenn Beck Podcast about how the comedian’s political views have shifted towards the right in recent years, Schneider said: “I hate to crap on my own show.

“When Hillary Clinton lost – which is understandable why she lost. She’s not exactly the most logical person in the room. And then when Kate McKinnon went out there on Saturday Night Live in the cold opening and all that, and she’s dressed as Hillary Clinton, and she started playing ‘Hallelujah.’ I literally prayed, ‘please have a joke at the end.”

He continued: “Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there.’ And there was no joke at the end, and I went, ‘It’s over. It’s over. It’s not gonna come back.’”

The SNL Clinton skit that Schneider referenced aired in November 2016.

In a rare departure from the norm, McKinnon took the stage solo as her Clinton character, but wasn’t making jokes in light of the Democratic candidate’s surprise loss to Donald Trump.

Sitting at a piano, McKinnon delivered an impassioned rendition of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah”, both a tribute to the musician’s recent passing and the subdued atmosphere among Clinton voters.

Election Week Cold Open - SNL

In light of the election’s results, the song took on an added significance delivered through McKinnon’s Clinton, particularly in the lines: “I did my best/It wasn’t much/I couldn’t feel/So I tried to touch/I told the truth/I didn’t come to fool ya.”

McKinnon, visibly moved, then ended the segment by looking straight into the camera and saying: “I’m not giving up, and neither should you.”

Outside of SNL, Schneider spoke out about other unnamed late-night hosts participating in similar “indoctrination”.

“You can take the comedic indoctrination process happening with each of the late-night hosts and you can exchange them with each other,” he remarked. “That’s how you know they’re not interesting anymore.”