They were both part of the joke, again it's the classic CYE situation, a minor event comes back to bite Larry in the butt big time. Both the 2% milk and the handshake play into him losing the primary.
Nah, as someone else already said SNL has always been hit or miss with their sketches. Every time someone talks about the "glory days" they forget the hundreds of bad sketches that particular group had.
Sketch is always hit or miss, comedy in general, SNL just has a whole lot more of it spread over decades, and with the history and legacy its left behind the scrutiny becomes more focused.
Personally I think a lot of it is due to the environment and not focusing on hiring enough competent writers, way too political and nepotism like with Lorne serving as this dysfunctional father figure to aspiring cast members. Most people just aren't good at writing comedy, the whole system of everybody submits sketches has always been an unnecessary tradition. We know a lot of these people can
do comedy from an acting standpoint, so let them focus on that strength. Then again had it not been for that kind of rearing in writing we may not have had Ghostbusters, Austin Powers, etc etc. Basically they should have a more vetted process of who's a competent writer in the first place and assign specialties accordingly. I mean 80+ sketches a week submitted, really? Totally unnecessary.