SNL is certainly not the first to get nuts with politics. Laugh-in predated SNL by around eight years, near the end of the Viet-Nam war. Now THAT was politically charged night-time TV. Carson and many others chose non-political humor over political humor. And for straight stand-up comedy and quick-thinking humor, Carson was a genius. Jack Paar was Carson's predecessor on the Tonight Show but he was too controversial and there was a lot of in-fighting, and he ended up quitting in 1962, which was when Carson took the show to the higher ratings.
I remember the Ed Sullivan Show too, and who could forget Merv Griffin! All great entertainment, mostly non-political. But those were all either talk shows or variety shows that featured interviews and "talk-show stuff.". SNL is not a talk show, nor was Laugh-In. They are political satire, comedy, and entertainment. They've never pretended to be anything else, and they're great for the genre.
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