Agreed. SNL has become nigh unwatchable for those and a couple of other reasons, too.

A cast that's way too large is one. There's none of the manic energy created by the conceit that we're watching a small cast cope with the challenge of putting on a full-length show, playing many parts each.

Writing that goes nowhere and substitutes gross-outs for bite and wit. Plus they haven't figured out how to end a skit in decades now. Even a deus ex machina is better than most of the "endings" they come up with.

They have yet to figure out that political satire is a higher art than mere imitation (and most of those are bad). Granted, satire is constantly outdone by reality in the age of former president Trigger A. Lert, but if they can't do more than simply recount reality in wigs and fake beards, they should pick other targets.

Notable exception to most of this: Kate McKinnon.

Kate McKinnon elevates most things she is in. I also tend to laugh authentically during Weekend Update. Otherwise, SNL is grossly uneven at best, more often than not it is excruciating.

Based on the history of some of the later performers, I would say reduced cocaine usage.

I don't think you can recapture the situation in 1975, when the time slot was a dead time for the network and they were willing to experiment with it and let a young, edgy producer come in, with a group of mostly improv performers and young writers from all over (including National Lampoon) and be cutting edge.  Even then, the show over-relied on breakout characters, catch phrases and recycled sketches, which led to cast members getting burnt out (along with offers and drug problems).  Michaels isn't the same guy and the network isn't run by the same kind of people.  The show is an institution and the network just wants to maintain a reliable audience level.  Michaels will only go with a proven formula and has continued to demonstrate his biases in cast members and material.  Women were marginalized for far too long and minorities even longer.

I'm also not the same age as I was then; but, I watched SNL regularly, through the 90s, with only brief periods where I didn't watch at least the 1st half hour.  i skipped the Doumanian era, after the initial horrible broadcast and the same for Lorne's return. I was burnt out with it by the 2000s and didn't care much for the casts or sketches.  I caught part of it when we visited relatives and was shocked by everyone just staring into the teleprompter and reading their lines.  You always had problems with that in many shows, in all eras; but, there was no attempt at acting within the scene.  Kenan Thompson was the only cast member I saw who could actually perform a sketch and his Black Jeopardy sketches are among the few things I have seen, in recent years, that I thought were consistently funny (though In Living Color covered that kind of thing years before).

Watching SNL today is rather like reading a favorite author's more recent work, compared with their groundbreaking works.  it's usually never as good and they usually peak far earlier on, then churn out more of the same, over time.  You see the same elsewhere.  The Goon Show was the big cultural thing for the Monty Python group and they then did the same for tv comedy.  The alternative comedy scene brought the Young Ones, Fry & Laurie and French & Saunders and those performers subsequent work.  After that, you get the character performers, like Steve Coogan and his Alan partridge shows, or Sasha Baron Cohen and Ali G, or the pseudo-documentary style of The Office; but, most of the rest seems to be the same old stuff.  The networks are more risk averse, the performers play safe, etc.  Also, with the political and social climate, you have people immediately pouncing on sensitive subjects when displayed in comedy, taking things out of context and attacking those involved.  Comedy is supposed to push buttons to get you to look at things from a different perspective; but, if someone does attack, everyone now wants to run and hide, rather than debate and learn.
 

The last time I watched an entire episode of SNL, Will Farrell was still in the cast. Can't say I feel like I've missed much.

Cei-U!
I summon the shuffling zombie of a once-great show!

Those were the good ol' days of SNL in the beginning. Babysitting my aunt/uncle's 2 boys (6 years younger than me) since they both worked nights. She a nurse, him Police detective. Every other weekend was spent staying up late after putting my cousins to bed. Uncle ordered me a Pizza, i poured myself a rum and coke, a pile of my uncle's Playboy/Penthouse to peruse and a nice doobie (cops get the best stash) as I sat back watching SNL.

That is how to enjoy the Not Ready for Primetime Playets!!! Laugh so hard until my stomache hurt sometimes and then replaying it all in conversation with my school buddies all the next week. We were all so hooked on SNL it was insane. We quoted entire routines...

The era with Christopher Guest, Martin Short and Billy Crystal was just awesome.