Behind the scenes, of course.

Political hopeful and renowned funnyman Al Franken took some time off from his campaign for a Minnesota Senate seat in order to reprise his role as an SNL writer for Saturday’s opening skit. The bit features Darrell Hammond as John McCain, recording his approval message for some less than accurate campaign spots. Truly hilarious and terrifyingly accurate, Politico has more on Franken’s role and the problems comedy has posed for his own political career.

An amazing skit, to be sure, but let us take this as further proof that Saturday Night Live owes its sustained cultural relevance to the internet. No one watched this live on Saturday night.

Around the time of Will Ferrell’s departure, the show became utterly unwatchable and you would’ve been hard-pressed to find anyone willing to sit through the weekly train wreck.

Now, thanks to a handful of stellar digital shorts and the magic of online streaming video, millions are under the (false) impression that show is somehow funny again, conveniently ignoring the fact that five good minutes of an hour show still leaves something to be desired.

In the next five years, we could very well see an online only version of SNL when some good soul has the kindness and audacity to wake Lorne Michaels from his extended, unfunny dream state.

Photo by Flickr user Aaron Landry used under the Creative Commons