Back in the day (the 80's) we already had memes, but they looked like other things.
The movie Robocop came out in 1987 but the gag about "I'd Buy That For a Dollar" was indicative that meme culture was enough of a thing to be worthy of satire.
Back when SNL was in its 80's prime it seemed like every skit turned into a meme. For example the Jon Lovitz "pathological liar" skit was pretty big for a while.
It's unfortunate the NBC keeps such a tight grip on all the SNL content. Lot's of 80's cultural history is locked up like that.
For me, the worst thing about getting older is realising that I'm now older than the people who used to be on TV.
They seemed ancient when I was in my teens - at least 35. Some of them may even have been over 50. (!)