Live from Jyväskylä, it's Thursday morning!
I'm on a roll here - last week I ranked the top 10 current cast members of Saturday Night Live (1975-Present), so today I'll be ranking my favorite cast members throughout the ages. I'm excluding current members of the cast as their legacy isn't finished yet (not to mention the fact that they got their own list), so this list is all about people who aren't in the cast anymore.
Cards on the table - I haven't actively followed the show before the last few years and the only full episode I've seen from the olden days is the very first one from 1975. That being said, SNL's YouTube channel is absolutely filled with clips from all ages of the series, and I think I've watched enough clips from different eras to get a pretty good picture on who my favorite cast members are. I'd also like to clarify that I'm ranking these people specifically based on how good they were on SNL, and not their overall comedy careers.
Here are my honorable mentions: Amy Poehler, Bill Murray, Jason Sudeikis, Kristen Wiig, Norm MacDonald.
10. Maya Rudolph (2000-2007)
Sure, it might seem like Maya Rudolph still belongs to the SNL cast, as she guest stars as Vice President Kamala Harris so frequently. But she hasn't been a part of the official main cast for fourteen years, believe it or not. When she was, it was what I consider to be the ultimate "golden age" of the series, as so many of my all-time favorite comedians were in the cast throughout the early 2000's.
Rudolph certainly brought her own unique charm into the mix, and her charisma (not to mention her singing skill) has helped her tackle ambitious celebrity roles from Whitney Houston to Beyoncé. The skit of her absolutely butchering the Star-Spangled Banner at the World Series is so over-the-top that you can't help but laugh your eyes out.
9. Chevy Chase (1975-1976)
Here's a mind-boggling fact: despite his legendary status in the show's history, Chevy Chase was an official cast member for one season. While he came back many times afterwards to guest star, as well as hosting the show eight times before being banned due to behaving too much like his character Pierce Hawthorne in Community (2009-2015), Chase really was in the main cast only for the show's first season.
His appearance there was enough to build quite the legacy, though: in addition to appearing in many iconic skits and breaking through as a masterful comedy actor with his one-of-a-kind style, his largest contribution to the series is undoubtedly the creation of the Weekend Update segment, which he hosted in the first season. To this day, he remains one of the better Update hosts in the segment's impressive history, and his signature catchphrase "Good evening, I'm Chevy Chase and you're not" is one for the ages.
8. Fred Armisen (2002-2013)
What I really love about Fred Armisen's comedic style is just how genuinely weird he is. Many comedians are charming, charismatic people who do a good job acting weird when necessary, but Fred Armisen is just honestly, actually weird by nature. The way he plays any given role has a level of endearing awkwardness to it, and it works wonders as a contrast to the more straight-forward style of the more conventional comedians in the cast. No wonder that the series held on to him for so long; he is the fourth-longest tenured cast member in SNL history, and has appeared in the second-most sketches (856).
Whether he's playing an obvious casting choice like Michael Bloomberg or any number of his recurring Weekend Update characters, or a totally out-of-the-box character such as Queen Elizabeth II (no, really, Fred does a great Queen Elizabeth), he always seems to nail the roles he's given. My favorite SNL moment from him comes from the time after his tenure as cast member: his hilariously awkward appearance during Tina Fey's monologue when she hosted back in 2018.
7. Dan Aykroyd (1975-1979)
Dan Aykroyd's brand of comedy is intense, eccentric, expertly well-timed and thoroughly unique. When Eric Idle of Monty Python hosted SNL back in the day, he said that Aykroyd was the only cast member capable of being a Python, due to his comedic chops.
Aykroyd was the star of many recurring SNL bits, from the iconic "Coneheads" saga all the way to The Blues Brothers, a recurring sketch so popular that it turned into an actual performing musical act (and made for one hell of a movie). Aykroyd also belongs to SNL's U.S. Presidents Hall of Fame, for playing Jimmy Carter throughout his presidential tenure, not to mention his hilarious recurring Nixon impression.
6. Dana Carvey (1986-1993)
Due to the fact that my upbringing included Wayne's World (1992) and Wayne's World 2 (1993) but not Saturday Night Live, I always saw Dana Carvey as the sidekick to the more charismatic and iconic Mike Myers. And so, when I began to acquaint myself with SNL history in recent years, I was surprised to see that Carvey was by far the more influential and legendary comedian of the two in the context of this show (no offense to Mr. Myers, who wasn't far from making it onto the list himself).
Carvey is undoubtedly one the greatest celebrity impersonators I have ever witnessed, from his legendary tenure as SNL's George H.W. Bush throughout his presidency to his hilarious take on It's a Wonderful Life's George Bailey (James Stewart). He was also prolific in the creation of original sketch characters - who could forget the hysterical Church Lady, not to mention Garth Algar (like The Blues Brothers, Wayne's World also originated as an SNL sketch)?
5. Tina Fey (2000-2006)
I wanted to rank her even higher - between her work on this show, her writing, producing and starring in 30 Rock (2006) and her autobiography Bossypants (2011) being the hands-down funniest book I've ever read, I sincerely believe that Tina Fey is one of the most hilarious people on this earth. But when looking purely at her work on SNL, she's barely edged out by a few others - while still making it into the top five!
While her biggest SNL strength was as a writer, she did become a valuable and memorable castmember due to her tenure as Weekend Update co-host. When the segment was hosted by her and Jimmy Fallon, it was a delight to watch, but when Fallon left and was replaced by Fey's partner-in-crime Amy Poehler, the segment became a thing of perfection. While the dynamic duo complemented one another with their different strengths, I've always found Fey to be the funnier of the two with her well-written and perfectly timed jokes. She also gains extra points for everything she's done on SNL after her duration as an official cast member - not only has she returned to host several times with each monologue being greater than the last, but her recurring guest role as Sarah Palin is, in my opinion, the single greatest political impersonation in SNL history.
4. Seth Meyers (2001-2014)
Speaking of Weekend Update hosts - from Chase and MacDonald, through Fey and Poehler, all the way to Che and Jost, there have been many great hosts of this segment. But in my mind, there is only one right answer to who was the best of them all. After all, Meyers is one of the top 3 longest-tenured cast members of all time, and much of this can be credited to the fact that he became so synonymous with the Weekend Update segment that people didn't want to see anyone else in his place.
It makes such perfect sense that while many SNL stars get their own fictional TV series to produce and star in after leaving (ever wonder how 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation or Brooklyn Nine-Nine were born?), Meyers was given a deal for his own late night talk show when he left - after all, sitting behind a desk telling jokes was clearly his largest area of expertise, so why not continue doing it? Meyers may not be the best celebrity impersonator or character-creator of his SNL era, but he sure rocked Weekend Update like no other.
3. Andy Samberg (2005-2012)
There are so many things that Andy Samberg did right during his time on SNL. From chemistry with other castmembers (whenever he'd team up with Bill Hader or Seth Meyers, the results were amazing) to spicing the show up with his unique, chaotic and juvenile brand of humor (Andy going Full Andy in the "Smorgasboard" skit is a delight to fans of the comedian, as is every instance of him breaking out his purposefully terrible celebrity impressions), he made the show better in so many ways. I always crack up whenever I re-watch Seth Meyers's emotional final Weekend Update appearance, as Samberg (who had left the show two years prior) appears, only to remark "Wait, it's your last show??" when Meyers is moved by him showing up. And let's not forget the time Samberg played the role of Mark Zuckerberg, next to guest host and Social Network (2010) star Jesse Eisenberg doing his Zuckerberg impression, and the real Zuckerberg showing up to perfect the trio!
Also, Samberg was instrumental in the popularization of SNL digital shorts, which are modern classics in their own right. The Shooting AKA Dear Sister is not only a hilarious skit, but many experts see it as one of the most influential and game-changing pieces of media in the birth of "Millennial comedy" - while I'm generation Z myself, my cultural influences come more from the millennial generation, and I can definitely see how this skit helped shape the type of humor that has clicked the most with my generation.
2. Eddie Murphy (1980-1984)
At the turn of the decade from 70's to 80's, Saturday Night Live had passed its initial momentum and viewership was declining. The addition of a young, fresh and energetic Eddie Murphy to the main cast is seen as the largest individual reason for the show's subsequent revitalization and the new wave of fans that came in the 80's. Murphy brought something thoroughly new and fresh to the show, with his wild, erratic and charismatic comedy chops that sat very well with audiences while being properly edgy for the show that SNL has always strived to be.
Many of the clips from Murphy's heyday in Saturday Night Live are all-time classics - from individual skits like the surreal Oscar Statuettes and the expert-commentary-on-race-relations-in-America White Like Me, all the way to recurring characters such as Mr. Robinson (a fantastic twist on beloved television host Mr. Rogers) and the inexplicably hilarious Gumby, Eddie Murphy did it all. One of the show's highlights from the last few years was Murphy's long-awaited return as he finally hosted in 2019, and it was great to see him returning with all his firepower (both Mr. Robinson and Gumby returned in a hysterical fashion during the episode).
1. Bill Hader (2005-2013)
My all-time favorite comedians can be boiled down to a top three. And while Donald Glover has hosted SNL (not to mention the fact that he auditioned for the show but somehow didn't get in), and John Mulaney has worked as a writer on the show in addition to hosting several times, Bill Hader is the only member of this exclusive trio who has been a cast member on SNL. And while there are many reasons for Hader being my (possibly) favorite comedian of all time - his movie roles, his work on HBO's Barry (2018-Present) and his personality being authentically hilarious in its own right whenever he's interviewed - his work on SNL is the biggest individual reason for why I'm such a fan, and the biggest individual reason for why I see that particular era as the show's best.
Hader's style of comedy is one of a kind. As a mixture of his unfortunate dealing with anxiety, his genuine personality, and his bizarre creativity, his SNL moments always have a mixture of chaos, warmth and absurdity to them. He's an impression mastermind, ranging from a perfect Al Pacino and a hilarious John Malkovic to a legendary Clint Eastwood and a laugh-out-loud-worthy take on Snape (Alan Rickman) from the Harry Potter movies. It's hilarious to watch the Weekend Update clip from 2005 where young, largely unknown cast members Bill Hader and Andy Samberg are introduced, and they battle in impressions with Hader's work being perfection and Samberg's being purposefully sloppy - they even returned to this tradition in 2014 when Samberg hosted, as Hader made an amusing guest appearance to show off his actually good impressions.
Hader's work together with writer John Mulaney lead to the creation of the best-ever Saturday Night Live recurring character, Stefon. Stefon is a work of art, especially when knowing the behind-the-scenes concept: Hader would read his lines for the first time live on air, and Mulaney wrote the lines with the sole intention of trying to make him break on camera and burst out laughing. Re-watching all of Stefon's appearances with this in mind, and following Hader fighting to keep a straight face while reciting lines so absurdly hilarious that only a Mulaney-Hader combo could give birth to them, is comedy gold.
When Hader hosted the show in 2018, the bombastic amount of applause from the audience as he walked in was a touching testament to how beloved he remained for his time on the show. This was followed by one of the funniest monologues I've ever seen on the series, which in turn was followed by a myriad of funny sketches and a memorable Weekend Update segment where Stefon made his grand return.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I celebrate the 30th anniversary of Twin Peaks's original finale by doing something any ordinary fan would do - ranking every episode of the whole series.
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