Top 25 SNL Cast Members of All Time
I recently had a conversation with my Keeping it Real Sports co-host Ed Easton about who I felt was the greatest Saturday Night Live cast member of all time. Without thinking, I threw out a name, the first name that popped into my head and while I didn’t think I was wrong, it sparked a debate…a debate that I’m sure has been had by SNL fans for decades. Who is the greatest cast member of all time? So I did some research and put together a list of the top 25 SNL cast members of all time. This list comes from a purely analytical point of view. I didn’t factor in any emotion or favorites. The only factors I considered in the making of this list was versatility, tenure, original characters, legacy and impressions. This list, I hope, will be the spark to yet another great debate and I appreciate any feedback.
Honorable Mentions – Jim Breuer, Ellen Cleghorne, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Taran Killam, Norm McDonald, Kate McKinnon, Tim Meadows, Chris Rock, Seth Myers, Bobby Moynihan, Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz, Maya Rudolph, Dennis Miller, Al Franken, Chris Kattan.
25. Jon Lovitz – There can’t be a list of the best SNL cast members without Jon Lovitz. Even though his tenure on the show ended on awkward terms, his characters remain some of the most memorable of all time. His “Pathological Liar” character will always pop into my brain whenever I hear someone say, “Yeah, thats the ticket!” even though no one really says that anymore because its not 1934.
24. Rob Schneider – Rob Schneider tends to get flack for his shitty movie career but his six years on SNL were very good. He had a great combination of impressions and original characters, the best of which include Richard Laymer, the Copy Guy, Tiny Elvis and Orgasm Guy. Schneider also gets credit for being a very good writer in his first two seasons on the show.
23. Jason Sudeikis – Jason Sudeikis is one of my personal favorites in the show’s history. Whether he’s playing a strip club DJ, Officer Sikorsky, Pete Twinkle or impersonating Joe Biden, Sudeikis always does a great job. How can we ever forget his dancing in the red and white Adidas tracksuit with a perm? Or Judge Marshall T. Boudreaux in Maine Justice?
22. Kevin Nealon – All the Weekend Update hosts hold a special place in my heart and Nealon is no exception. His subliminal messages were a joy to watch and my personal favorite moment was when he “sang along” with Adam Sandler in Red Hooded Sweatshirt.
21. Amy Poehler – Amy Poehler might have been the first cast member that I had already been aware of before she joined the cast because of her work from the Upright Citizens Brigade. I loved the dynamic she had with Tina Fey when she replaced Jimmy Fallon on Weekend Update. She didn’t really have many characters but she made Hillary Clinton her own.
20. David Spade – Hollywood Minute kept him on the show but Spade’s impact reaches much farther than that. Most people will remember his sarcastic flight attendant character for his signature line, “Buh Bye” and most of his success came after he left the show in 1996.
19. Chevy Chase – I know what you’re thinking. I put the great Chevy Chase under Kenan Thompson? You’re fucking right i did. Had Chevy Chase been on the show for more than one season, he’d surely be higher. According to Lorne Michaels, the show may have even become The Chevy Chase Show if he had stayed. He was that good. Ultimately his ego got in his way.
18. Kenan Thompson – Kenan is a rock. He’s the longest serving African-American cast member, currently in his 11th season, passing Tim Meadows. Oddly enough, his long time partner and friend, Kel Mitchell also auditioned in 2003 but only Thompson made it. Thompson’s characters include Al Sharpton, Steve Harvey, Charles Barkley, David Ortiz and one of my favorites, Jean K. Jean. ZUT ALORS!!!!
17. Ana Gasteyer – Ana Gasteyer still shows her comedic chops as Sheila Shea (or is it Shay?) on Suburgatory (oddly enough her tv husband is SNL alum Chris Parnell) and she’s every bit as sharp and funny as she was when she played Bobbi Mohan-Culp, Martha Stewart, and Celine Dion.
16. Jimmy Fallon – Jimmy Fallon might be the guy that giggled through sketches and made his name with his Adam Sandler impressions but he held his own as a Weekend Update anchor, as well as being a part of some memorable sketches like the Cork Soaker sketch. His impression of Barry Gibb isn’t just accurate, its over the top and really funny. He also had his fair share of original characters like Nick Burns: Your Company’s Computer Guy, Sully the Boston teen, Joey Mack the radio DJ (AND WE’RE BACK!) and the Jarrett’s Room sketches.
15. Darrell Hammond – The list of impressions that Darrell Hammond had in his repertoire is unreal. The master impressionist was also the show’s longest serving cast member after performing for 14 seasons. Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Donald Trump, Chris Matthews and my personal favorite Sean Connery were just a few of the impressions that Hammond brought to the table. The only reason he’s not higher on this list is because he didn’t really have an impact with original characters but who needs them with a list of impressions like his?
14. Kristen Wiig – Kristen Wiig really had a huge impact and was extremely versatile. The Asshole sketches with Jason Sudeikis were always underrated, in my opinion and even though you know what to expect from the Gilly sketches, they always killed. And her Dooneese character in the Lawrence Welk cold opens was nothing short of spectacular. She also had a long list of impressions like Lana Del Rey and Michele Bachmann.
13. Tracy Morgan – Morgan was one of the guys that I was afraid would underutilized on the show like Chris Rock or Jay Mohr but Tracy really held his own on the show with characters like Dominican Lou and Brian Fellows. His Star Jones might not have been spot on but it was still really funny.
12. Bill Murray – Maybe Bill is a little low here and he does deserve some credit for essentially replacing the almost irreplaceable Chevy Chase but outside of the lounge singer, its difficult to remember his memorable characters and sketches. Love the guy but do you remember him as Frankie Avalon? I barely do and I’m a huge fan.
11. Adam Sandler – Adam Sandler’s impact CANNOT be understated. Opera Man, Cajun Man and Canteen Boy are iconic. His talent on the show ultimately meant he had to leave after five seasons but his tenure on the show was extremely memorable.
10. Andy Samberg – There are people that will disagree with this and if you do, think about this. Who else was going to revolutionize the digital shorts? Samberg made SNL cool again with his music videos and don’t forget about Blizzard Man. I always loved his impressions of Nicholas Cage, Mark Zuckerberg and Keanu Reeves but Samberg’s impact is really attributed to reaching out to a much younger audience and widening SNL’s fan base.
9. Mike Myers – Myers was one of the first to have major success in movies based on an SNL character but he was much more than just Wayne Campbell. Between Linda Richman on Coffee Talk, Simon and Dieter, Myers always showed great versatility…and did you know that his few couple of seasons on the show, he didn’t even have an office or a dressing room?
8. Eddie Murphy – I feel like Eddie should be higher on this list because he’s easily one of the more popular cast members ever but I get the sense that Eddie doesn’t acknowledge his time on SNL so why should I? He’s never hosted and he rarely talks about his experiences there. Even Chris Rock attributes his success to SNL and he was so underused. Still, Eddie gave us impressions like Bill Cosby, Stevie Wonder and Sammy Davis Jr. He also gave us characters like Buckwheat, Gumby, Velvet jones and Mr Robinson. My personal favorite was a little sketch called White Like Me.
7. Bil Hader – If we’re talking about characters, impressions and versatility, we have to talk about Bill Hader. His dead on impressions include Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Dr Oz, James Carville, Vincent Price, just to name a few and where would we be without characters like Herb Welch and Stefon?
6. Phil Hartman – Initially this was my choice as the greatest cast member of all time. He was THE glue guy in one of the greatest eras on the show and he was taken from us way too soon. He didn’t have many original characters but was always willing to put himself out there. He definitely made his bones with his impressions of Ed McMahon, Charlton Heston, Bing Crosby, Phil Donahue and Bill Clinton.
5. Will Ferrell – Will Ferrell’s time on SNL feels like more than it really was because he was only on for six seasons. Marty Culp, Steve Butabi, Alex Trebek, Janet Reno and two of my favorites, the cowbell guy and George W. Bush were just a few of the characters and impressions in his arsenal. He even parlayed the Dubya impression into a Broadway show. Thats impressive.
4. Dan Aykroyd – You can’t rank the SNL cast members without having Dan Aykoyd near the top. He was in the first major SNL movie, The Blues Brothers, he was one of the original writers and he was part of the template that has lasted almost 40 years. He’s played politicians, blues loving psychopaths and aliens from the planet Remulak. How many people can say they had two movies based on SNL characters?
3. Chris Farley – I recently had a debate with someone about this choice and the person I spoke to said that Chris Farley wasn’t funny and shouldn’t have been this high on the list. His argument was that he was just a fat guy doing physical comedy. I immediately dismissed his opinion because thats just not something people say. He also said that Jerry Seinfeld wasn’t funny, so that should tell you everything you need to know. Chris Farley was the second coming of John Belushi and he was much more than physical comedy. He had timing, he had execution and he lacked fear. He was a ball of energy. He was the sun. Even though he wasn’t the most talented out of the “Bad Boys of SNL” he was immensely popular and carved out his own niche in SNL history. My favorite impression of his will always be between Andrew Guiliani or MeatLoaf but Farley made his bones with original characters like Todd O’Connor of the Superfans and of course Matt Foley…who lived in a van…down by the river.
2. John Belushi – Like Aykroyd, Belushi belongs on the Mount Rushmore of SaturdayNight Live. He was immensely talented and he was taken from us (like far too many former SNL stars) too soon. His impressions of Joe Cocker, Steve Rubell and Marlon Brando were spot on. His original characters, Jake Blues and Samurai Futaba will stand the test of time. People still quote lines from Olympia Cafe. John Belushi’s impact on SNL can’t be understated and the argument can be made that he’s the greatest of all time.
1. Dana Carvey – I know what you’re thinking. And I don’t care. Dana Carvey isn’t even my favorite cast member ever but he was AWESOME. Seven years as a cast member, he hosted four times, had four more cameos and was a special guest once. There wasn’t a politician he couldn’t impersonate. He was on a short list to replace Letterman on Late Night and he was given his own sketch comedy show. His original characters include Massive Headwound Harry, Church Lady, Garth Algar, Hans from Hans and Franz, the Grumpy Old Man and Derek Stevens, who gave us the classic “Choppin Broccoli.” You can’t talk about Carvey without mentioning his talent for impersonating people like Woody Allen, Tom Brokaw, Ted Koppel, Siegfried from Siegfried and Roy, Robin Leach, Paul McCartney, Johnny Carson, John Travolta, Dennis Miller and politicians like Ronald Reagan, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, Jimmy Carter, Ross Perot and of course, Mr No New Taxes himself, George H.W. Bush. I know this will be an unpopular choice but I don’t care. His resume speaks for itself and if you totally take emotion and favoritism out of the equation, there’s no denying it.
Time will tell if this list changes in the coming years. The current cast includes talented people like Taran Killam, Jay Pharaoh, Bobby Moynihan, Kate McKinnon and Vanessa Bayer. I like the direction the show is going in and I hope this list sparks some well deserved debates. If you disagree with me, I’d love the feedback. I can be reached via twitter @FunnyManStan and I welcome all feedback.
