The 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live has reminded even lapsed and casual fans of their love for the sketch comedy institution. For 50 years, SNL has helped shape culture. Even when its contributions have been as small as a sketch you don’t catch until the next day, it has offered multiple generations a rallying point for the laughter that fuels our souls. You may not even realize how powerful of a force SNL has been until someone brings up that one sketch or that one moment that made a mark on your life and left a smile on your face.
Saturday Night Live’s cast has always been the heart of it all. That rotating collection of so-called “not ready for prime time players” has defined SNL’s legacy. Along with the show’s writers – though they often performed double duty – SNL’s cast members created and performed those iconic moments that would have likely been limited to backroom theaters if it wasn’t for this remarkable show. Some went on to superstardom while others simply moved on. Each is often remembered for what they did that one Saturday night.
Today we celebrate the Saturday Night Live players by looking at the best SNL cast members ever. While a variety of factors went into these rankings, please note that they are based on each performer’s time on the show rather than their entire careers. Otherwise, you’d have to argue for names like Robert Downey Jr., and nobody associates RDJ with SNL’s greatness.
20. Jon Lovitz
Sandwiched between two beloved eras of SNL, the timeline of Lovitz’s tenure is as darkly hilarious as some of the show’s best sketches. He would have struggled to pick a worse time to join and leave the show in terms of SNL’s cultural prominence and general quality.
But from 1985 to 1990, Lovitz was one of SNL’s most reliable players. Bolstered by his stable of memorable recurring characters, Lovitz’s strange combination of awkward energy and underlying intelligence allowed him to play the punching bags and dirtbags SNL often relies on.
19. Cecily Strong
You could argue that Strong is one of the most versatile and therefore often underrated SNL cast members ever. A jack-of-all-trades (she’s even a great singer), Strong’s adaptability often led to her disappearing into her characters in ways that may send you to Google to recall which sketches she starred in.
But “the girl you wish you hadn’t started a conversation with at a party” should ultimately be remembered as the kind of true sketch comedian that SNL has sometimes pivoted away from in pursuit of star power. She’s the kind of performer that SNL was always meant to showcase, and she always delivered in even the smallest of roles.
18. Mike Myers
Myers is a weird one. On the one hand, it’s hard to ignore the reports that Myers could be difficult to work with and may have craved the spotlight. For that matter, Myers’ biggest movies are arguably more culturally significant than the bulk of his SNL sketches. Even the original Wayne’s World sketches have been overshadowed by the movies at this point.
Yet, Myers had a real gift for creating and playing the kind of big, catchphrase-based characters that SNL often looked for and needed at the time that Myers became a regular cast member. As a comedian, Myers had an earworm style that often made his segments the most talked about sketches where SNL used to matter most: water cooler discussions/sketch recreations on Monday mornings.
17. Maya Rudolph
Maya Rudolph’s recent SNL return run as Kamala Harris gave everyone a chance to realize that Rudolph was often underappreciated during her initial run as a main cast member on the show. Much like Cecily Strong, Rudolph’s absurd range meant that she leaned towards the “do it all” style of sketch comedy rather than the kind of performances that sometimes define the “before they were stars” cast members.
Yet, Rudolph always found ways to shine. Whether she was delivering a pitch-perfect interpretation of real-life figures like Oprah or giving the kind of musical performances typically reserved for Broadway shows, Rudolph had this remarkable way of adding just the right amount of sophistication and professionalism to even the material that nobody else could have made work quite as well as she did.
16. Andy Samberg
While it’s easy enough to argue for Andy Samberg’s talents as an on-screen performer, the significance of Samberg’s filmed sketches elevates him over cast members like Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis who historically often occupied similar spaces.
Even if you didn’t necessarily consider yourself a Saturday Night Live fan around the time of Samberg’s debut, you likely knew about videos like Lazy Sunday, Dick in a Box, and Best Friends. Samberg’s style of comedy arrived at the perfect time for a new online age that emphasized the kind of comedy that he was uniquely capable of delivering. He’s a vital part of the show’s evolution and continued relevance.
15. Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson’s incredible 22-year run as a Saturday Night Live cast member will never be replicated. While he deserves all the love in the world for his longevity alone, Thompson is so much more than a lifetime achievement recipient.
Along with being the best fake game show presenter that SNL has ever had (a considerable competition filled with all-time great comedic talent), Thompson has grown into the SNL style in ways that performers with shorter, brighter tenures never could. He has this truly remarkable way of fitting into every corner of the weird world SNL has gifted us while picking the perfect spots to truly stand out.
14. Adam Sandler
This may be a controversial placement, but much like Mike Myers, Adam Sandler often existed in a universe that the rest of the cast simply visited from time to time. His wonderfully bizarre style ended up making him one of the most successful comedians ever, but it didn’t always make him the most versatile Saturday Night Live cast member.
But if you got Sandler in the way that so many kids of a certain age clearly got him, then his songs, sketches, and characters were often reason enough to watch Saturday Night Live. For some, he was the embodiment of nails on a chalkboard, but Sandler’s post-SNL career has only solidified the brilliance that was often at the core of his most absurd antics.
13. Bill Murray
Bill Murray wasn’t necessarily asked to “replace” Chevy Chase in the sense that he needed to fill the same shoes, but the timing of the latter’s departure and the former’s arrival is noteworthy. Murray needed to step into the show’s second season and convince viewers that Saturday Night Live was bigger than its already beloved starting cast.
He did that by helping to pave the way for the next 10+ years of comedy. SNL wasn’t necessarily Murray at his absolute best, but that dry yet manic comedy that would eventually help Murray become a legend is often on display in these early SNL sketches that both fit perfectly into what the series was and helped show all the things it could grow to be.
12. Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig is a comedic miracle. Her star-making role in Bridesmaids showed that she is more than capable of taking on the kind of lead roles that sometimes retroactively separate the Saturday Night Live “stars” from the rest of the players. Yet, Wiig’s true gift to the world was her willingness to give her absolute best to every character and every sketch.
Wiig’s ability to go from 0-10 while playing characters that aren’t nearly as funny on paper as she ends up making them often broke her fellow cast members. She has this almost casually unassuming nature that always lures you into a lull before she unleashes her incredibly physical comedy and perfect delivery.
11. Dana Carvey
Carvey is one of those “your favorite comedian’s favorite comedian” kind of performers. Every comedian of a certain age with a podcast or platform has shared some story about how Dana Carvey once said something that made them laugh the hardest they’ve ever laughed. Quite a few have admitted to stealing one of his bits, and many more have likely stolen them without admitting to it.
As a Saturday Night Live cast member, Carvey often delivered nearly perfect comedic renditions of real-life figures or created characters that felt so lived-in the moment they appeared on-screen that they might as well have been based on real people. While his improvisational nature occasionally forced those around him to stay on their toes, it also allowed Carvey to break during the show’s darkest days.
10. Chris Farley
Farley was obviously inspired by another Saturday Night Live legend we’ll discuss shortly, though his association with that icon is more of a cultural “Did You Know?” than an asterisk on his own legacy. Farley is about as beloved as an SNL cast member can be.
A creature of pure comedic energy, Farley is best remembered for his willingness to do pretty much anything for a laugh. While that usually meant breaking things and yelling (two acts Farley excelled at), Farley’s most enduring and underrated quality was his ability to generate sympathy by playing that awkward kid in a big goofy body that he so often was even when the camera wasn’t rolling.
9. Tina Fey
While Fey isn’t necessarily known for her traditional Saturday Night Live sketches (though she’s been in quite a few great ones over the years), her work behind the desk of SNL’s Weekend Update segments made her an on-screen legend. Fey not only helped make those segments as funny as they have ever been; she helped truly revive the Weekend Update concept and make it the cornerstone of the show it’s been ever since her tenure.
But Fey’s work in the writer’s room makes her an SNL legend. Fey helped SNL move past a very star-driven time for the show and gave a ton of new names the kind of intelligent, fresh, and often pleasantly weird kind of material they needed to forge their own legacy while furthering what SNL was always meant to be.
8. Gilda Radner
Selfishly, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been for Gilda Radner had she not tragically passed away at the age of 42. While Hollywood struggled to utilize Radner following her Saturday Night Live departure, nobody who knew anything about comedy doubted that Radner was the right opportunity away from once again doing what she had always done: breaking barriers with the sheer force of the laughter she inspired.
Radner is undoubtedly one of the most influential female comedians in television history. Her work paved the way for nearly every female SNL cast member that followed and quite a few female comedians who never even stepped foot in Studio 8H. She’s more than that, though. Watch those older SNL episodes, and you may be surprised by how many of the biggest laughs don’t come from the performers who later became movie megastars but from the incorporable Gilda Radner.
7. Dan Aykroyd
Modern Dan Aykroyd is dangerously prolific, far removed from his last big comedic hit, and, let’s face it, a giant weirdo. As such, it’s easy to forget what a titan of comedy he once was and just how much he helped shape what Saturday Night Live eventually became.
As a performer, Aykroyd was the best “character” worker of the show’s early days and one of the best in the show’s illustrious history of such comedians. His ability to bring even the most outlandish character concepts to life led to The Blues Brothers and Coneheads of all things getting major motion pictures. As a writer, he helped shape that youthful, offbeat, inexplicable, yet undeniable style that SNL eventually became known for.
6. Kate McKinnon
While many Saturday Night Live cast members could certainly be described as “strange” (I don’t know if you’ve ever met a professional comedian, but…), few performers rival Kate McKinnon in that arena. It’s like the leader of some great comedic civilization realized the core of their planet was about to explode, so they sent their only daughter to Earth with the instructions to watch over us and make us laugh.
McKinnon’s willingness to explore the oddest places just to find that thing that will make you laugh is surpassed only by her ability to do so time and time again. Her almost Gollum-like lust for a smile is made all the more impressive when she is asked to portray an array of real-life figures and does so with shocking accuracy without ever sacrificing a gag. She could have stolen the show in any era of the show but happened to join the cast just when they needed someone like her most.
5. John Belushi
The aforementioned inspiration for the great Chris Farley was exactly what Saturday Night Live needed out of the gate. Amongst a cast of undeniable comedic geniuses who were nonetheless pushing a strange strange style of humor, Belushi was a wrecking ball who delivered the big laughs that anyone and everyone could immediately fall in love with.
Belushi’s “shot out of a cannon” lifestyle and performance style may have caught up with him, but he only needed 33 years on this planet to forge a legacy that often transcends any individual piece of work he participated in. Still, those early SNL episodes remain the most generous examples of the genius that made Belushi synonymous with comedy.
4. Phil Hartman
Affectionately known among the Saturday Night Live crew as “The Glue,” Hartman really did have a remarkable ability to keep the show together when everything should have been falling apart. Even when he was working with some of the greatest performers of his generation, Hartman’s unselfish nature and ability to adapt to absolutely everything made everyone around him look like the brightest stars.
Go back and watch a lot of the sketches Hartman was involved in, though, and you’ll find that he is often the sometimes subtle standout. His slick and smiling form of comedy wasn’t ahead of its time so much as it was a timeless style made to feel fresh by virtue of his presence and delivery. When Hartman allowed himself to step in the spotlight as he did in the show’s all-time great “Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer” sketch, he revealed the kind of talent that allowed him to stand shoulder to shoulder with giants. Mostly, though, Hartman elevated even the very best.
3. Bill Hader
Bill Hader has said that he occasionally suffered from panic attacks and stage fright when he was on Saturday Night Live. Look closely enough (even a glance will sometimes do), and you’ll spot signs of Hader’s nervous energy and tendency to break. Over 8 seasons as an SNL regular, though, Hader transformed that struggle into an asset that helped make him one of SNL’s most likable, versatile, intelligent, and downright funny performers ever.
Hader’s gift at perfectly impersonating the oddest collection of famous figures was more than enough to get his foot in the door. Once he was in, though, he showcased an even more remarkable ability to make the kinds of gags that comedians pull on each other when they’re trying to get a laugh on the biggest stage. Hader had the rare gift of bringing anyone into the most inside of jokes and making them feel like they always belonged there. As his career evolves, people confess that they didn’t know he had his latest accomplishment in him. Take another look, though, and you’ll see all of his considerable talents on full display in Studio 8H.
2. Eddie Murphy
You have to believe that Eddie Murphy would have eventually become a star no matter what. As one of the funniest people who has ever lived, you at least want to believe that someone would have eventually given Murphy a shot at stardom. And yet, it was the Saturday Night Live team that recognized that 19-year-old Eddie Murphy was a savant who needed to be on TV as soon as possible.
When SNL appeared to be dead in the cultural waters, Murphy’s unmissable comedic power made it must-see TV. Even when he caught flak for being the first active member of the cast to also host the show, those who knew Murphy said that he did everything in his power to share the spotlight. While Murphy’s career grew far beyond the boundaries of SNL, he’s the kind of talent that the show was always meant to offer a stage to.
1. Will Ferrell
As opposed to those often annoying comedians who are always on, Ferrell is the rare kind of comedian who is simply effortlessly funny. Watch him when he’s not even trying to perform and you’ll find the same thing that made him a remarkable performer: a calm, almost everyman demeanor that either transforms into absurdity in the blink of an eye or casually delivers the funniest thing you’ve ever heard.
“Presence” is worth a lot in comedy, and however you define it, Will Ferrell has it. Even though his physical and comedic presence made him the focal point of just about every sketch he has starred in, he is somehow able to work alongside everyone in a way that always commands attention rather than demands it. It’s hardly a surprise that Ferrell’s rise to superstardom saw him essentially play the kind of SNL characters that he blessed us with every week in a format that could both barely contain him yet often felt like the perfect home.
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