Saturday Night Live Lambasted by Local Comedy Clubs Over COVID Exception

During this obnoxiously lonesome pandemic, there have been innumerable instances of the enhanced COVID-19 rules only being applied to the average citizenry of our nation, and not to the upper-crust that exist in their gated communities, or within the cult of celebrity.

One of the most famous examples came to us from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was caught on camera flouting a local ordinance in California stating that hair salon customers would need to be attended to outdoors only.  Pelosi, almost unbelievably, blamed the salon owner for her behavior, suggesting that the entire debacle was a setup, meant to make her look bad.

In New York City this week, a local comedy club owner is furious now that Saturday Night Live is back to taping in front of a live studio audience while his business is still shuttered.

A Big Apple comedy club owner is angry that “Saturday Night Live” is shooting with a live audience, while the city’s comedy clubs remain empty because of COVID — and he says he’s disappointed that the city’s big-name comedians haven’t done more to help the ailing industry.

Dani Zoldan, co-owner of Upper West Side comedy club Stand Up NY, told Page Six that it seems as if there’s one set of rules for the longrunning NBC show and another for local clubs.

Zoldan was furious.

He told us that comedy clubs in the city are being forced out of business by the lockdown, and said, “From the perspective of a comedy club owner, it’s frustrating, day in and day out, to bear witness to this loss and see that every Saturday night ‘SNL’ is allowed to produce their show indoors, seemingly in violation of the same laws crushing small businesses all over New York City.”

“They have a live studio audience and the cast members are not social distancing,” he said. “I was watching the show Saturday night and I was so upset that struggling comedy clubs are going out of business while they’re doing their thing and collecting a paycheck.”

And, in a fairly brazen act of obliviousness, last week’s episode of SNL featured a bit that mocked a Staten Island bar owner who has repeatedly refused to adhere to local COVID-19 regulations, portraying him as a rube of sorts.