There may be some truth to 2, but not in my case. I watched reruns on Comedy Central, and found the early-to-mid 90's cast to be funnier than the mid-90's/early-00's one. It was an unbiased opinion. I guess it could be said that every SNL cast member is a one-trick pony unless they came out of the original cast. This can be said for any of your favorite cast members. Everyone on SNL has their role.

Mike Myers was to either play the straight man in random sketches or be Wayne. That varklemp woman was cute the first time, but lost steam after that.

Adam Sandler was to be the timid character in EVERY FUCKING SKETCH.

Chris Farley threw his weight around. Literally.

David Spade was a C-Class smartass.

Dana Carvey required makeup to be funny.

Jon Lovitz was either the ugly guy or a thespian.

Phil Hartman went from straight man to B-Class Smartass.

Every woman in the early 90's was there to be a woman in the cast.

Kevin Nealon was an A-Class Smartass.

I could go on, but I don't really need to. Everyone on SNL has a role. No matter how multi-talented they may seem, they are one-trick ponies. SNL is still better than MadTV.

Maybe it's just nostalgia. Maybe not. I think that a couple of casts (like in the late 80s, early 90's) were pretty bad. Then there was a resurrection, now it pretty much stinks up the joint. The only thing that saved them this past year was the political commentary and some of that was just awful, like with Governor Patterson wandering about the set.