Back in November, you probably saw “RBG Rap” pop up on one of your social media platforms. (I realize that November 2018 might as well be 2009 in Internet time, but think hard.) In the Saturday Night Live sketch, Pete Davidson and Chris Redd rap about the virtues of Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Kate McKinnon) to the tune of Sheck Wes’ “Live SheckWes Die SheckWes.” And that’s … basically it. Like so many SNL song parodies this season, “RBG” is a relatively straight-forward take-off on a recent, buzzy hit, with a one-joke premise that aligns with popular neoliberal talking points. If you’re a fan of Sheck Wes, or Ruth Bader Ginsberg, or the preservation of abortion rights, or the juxtaposition of a swaggering hip-hop banger with an elderly judicial icon, you might have shared the video.

But what if you like comedy? Is “RBG Rap,” you know, funny? Humor is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but laughter is supposed to be an involuntary response to a joke that you often can’t intellectualize after the fact. “RBG Rap” seems designed to elicit clapter, a term coined by Seth Meyers for a joke that seeks merely to confirm the audience’s political opinions. (You can also apply it to bits that reward the recognition of a pop-culture reference.) Clapter is, superficially, more virtuous than laughter, but it’s also cheaper and lazier.

Jokey musical numbers have always been a foundational part of Saturday Night Live, from The Blues Brothers to “Choppin’ Broccoli” to “The Hanukkah Song.” But this season’s song-based sketches, like much of the rest of SNL, have taken a turn to the topical and hyper-specific. Instead of goofing on a particular artist or genre, numbers like the #metoo-themed “Permission”, the mental health-oriented Migos nod “Friendos,” or the Robert Mueller-oriented spin on Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas” are polemics inextricably tied to this exact moment in time. They feel less like fully realized comedy sketches than dashed-off tweets. Oh, and they are also pretty bad just as songs. In terms of catchiness and quotability, “RBG Rap” makes Adam Sandler sound like Paul McCartney.

Now more than ever, I really miss The Lonely Island.

When was the last time you watched a Lonely Island video? Probably a very long time. But I implore you: Take a moment and watch “Jack Sparrow” again. Yeah, I’m talking about that video from 2011 (!) in which Michael Bolton sings about the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I know it sounds dated but trust me. I just revisited “Jack Sparrow” and was shocked by how well it held up.

“Jack Sparrow” is not topical. It’s not a straight-forward redux of a popular hit from its time. And it’s not built on a one-joke premise — you might think it is, but witness how Bolton starts off as a punchline and ends as the coolest guy in the room, all while twisting and turning the joke in all kinds of strange and delightful ways. Even now, seven years later, “Jack Sparrow” is still, somehow, funny. And watching it makes me think that SNL still hasn’t recovered from losing the Lonely Island.

The trio of Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer more or less retired from SNL after Samberg left the show in 2012. But the influence of the Lonely Island on SNL remains indelible. The show is still doing pre-taped rap and pop parodies that aim to go viral well past Saturday night, in a manner that is similar to the style pioneered by the Lonely Island. The difference is that the execution now is much more obvious and far less clever or canny. If the Lonely Island is the Nirvana or Pearl Jam of contemporary SNL musical comedy, what the show is doing now can be likened to Creed or Nickelback.