My greatest interest outside of music is the art of comedy. I've often had a love-hate relationship with stand-up comedy, because for every stand-up comic I love (John Mulaney, Tig Notaro, Mitch Hedberg, Stephen Wright), there are a handful of dudebro comics I cannot stand (Louis C.K., Bill Burr, Doug Stanhope, Bill Hicks). After years of trying to wade through the muck of stand-up comedy, I found a format of comedy that appeals much more to me: sketch comedy. While there are sketch shows that are often funnier and more consistent than Saturday Night Live (Mr. Show, Portlandia, The Muppet Show, Chappelle's Show), no other sketch comedy show, maybe even television show, has done more for comedy than the social institution of SNL. The show has produced some of the best comedic performers in American history, and here are twenty of my personal favorite.
1. Bill Hader (2005 - 2013)
The rest of this list really has no ranking, but my number one pick is absolutely Bill Hader. He's possibly the most versatile performer in the show's history, playing (purposefully) boring straight men just as often as he played off-the-wall characters like coked-up club kid Stefon. He worked great as an impressionist as well, his Alan Alda is so beautifully specific and his Al Pacino is legendary.
2. Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett (2013 - present)
It might seem silly to group two cast members together, but Bennett and Mooney work best as a duo. They both have their individual strengths, Bennett is a great straight man and Mooney is fantastic at playing lovable losers, but their sketches as a duo are weird, purposefully stilted, and gloriously surreal. Absolute candy for anybody who watches the show past midnight.
3. Gilda Radner (1975 - 1980)
Radner is quite possibly the show's best character performer of all time. Radner completely lost herself in absurd, brash, broadly portrayed characters like Roseanne Rosannadanna and 'Baba Wawa' without ever losing the sense of pathos that made her characters entirely human. Radner was the shining light of first season already packed with comedic talent.
4. Taran Killam (2010 - 2016)
During SNL's brief lull after the loss of the powerhouse Samberg/Wiig/Hader/Sudeikis/Armisen cast, Killam soon shot up to become one of the show's best players. Like Hader, Killam was unmatched in terms of visibility. He was the shows token white dude, able to fulfill any dad or politician role as needed, but his true genius emerged when it came to the characters. Jebediah Atkinson is one of the best SNL characters of all time, full stop.
5. Darrell Hammond (1995 - 2009)
Counting Hammond's brief period impersonating Donald Trump (before the tedious Alec Baldwin portrayal), along with his announcing gig following the death of Don Pardo, Hammond has been with SNL for 23 years. He was the shows premiere impressionist during his run as a cast member, doing wonderful work as Trump, Bill Clinton, Dr. Phil, Regis Philbin, and, of course, Sean Connery.
6. Mike Myers (1989 - 1995)
Myers was one of SNL's first performers to truly tie the show back around to classic, nearly vaudevillian comedy. No one embodied and lived their characters like Meyers, he lost himself in even the most absurd roles. While most of SNL's best character performers (Murphy, McKinnon, Ferrell) gave the audience a knowing wink every once in a while, Myers completely embodied characters like Wayne, Dieter, and Linda Richman
7. Jay Pharoah (2010 - 2016)
The show never really knew how to use Pharoah during his six-year run, and that's a shame, because he's the most accurate impressionist in the show's history. Jay-Z, Kanye, Denzel Washington, Hannibal Burress, Lil Wayne, and even John Mulaney were among Pharoah's best impressions, and he perfectly captured all their voices and mannerisms with just the right amount of broadness.
8. Vanessa Bayer (2010 - 2017)
Bayer was never a star player during her tenure, but she was one of SNL's most committed and reliable cast members. Cast members on the show have always fallen into two groups—cynical TV performers and outlandish theatre performers, and Bayer fit snugly in the latter characters. Her characters were broad and often laugh-out-loud funny
9. John Belushi (1975 - 1979)
Belushi was the volatile, versatile, effortlessly cool performer SNL needed to truly get off the ground during it's first couple years. He was a true showman, willing to do anything for a laugh yet still able to put real heart and soul into his characters.
10. Tina Fey (2000 - 2006)
The best Weekend Update host in the show's entire history. Just watch the clip above, see how comfortable, funny, and witty Fey is compared to the perenially giggly Fallon. The entire show rebranded during her tenure as Update host and head writer. It got more political, it got more biting, and it started really embracing the new milennium.
11. Will Forte (2002 - 2010)
Forte is so good at playing stupid characters who have absolutely no idea how stupid they really are. This may be best exemplified by his bumbling MacGruber, but no matter what sketch he was in he was always fantastic at playing the lovable idiot.
12. Maya Rudolph (2000 - 2007)
One of SNL's most bombastic, unforgettable performers. Her versatility was completely unmatched, she's one of the best impressionists in the show's history and she was able to change her appearance and entire demeanor with little more than a wig. Even if a character she was playing was making a complete fool of themselves, the audience was always laughing with her.
13. Andy Samberg (2005 - 2012)
Samberg's forte on SNL was not live sketches, but he absolutely excelled in Digital Shorts, which he created alongside Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. Whether they were more elaborate sketches or showcases for The Lonely Island, these digital shorts were always incredibly funny, and they effectively forced SNL into the age of social media. Plus, what other SNL star has had a top 40 pop hit?
14. Rachel Dratch (1999 - 2006)
Dratch was one of the most fearless performers on SNL history. She wasn't typecast at all, she played roles across the entire spectrum of human emotion. Despite all her versatility, she will likely be remembered for one role, the incomparable Debbie Downer.
15. Dana Carvey (1986 - 1993)
Along with fellow Wayne's World cast member Mike Meyers, Carvey was an absolute master of characters. A leg up he had on Meyers were his impressions, which put him among SNL's pantheon of great impressionists, without a doubt. He did what any good impressionist should do, make the people he's impersonating about a hundred times more interesting.
16. Cecily Strong (2012 - present)
One of the brightest lights in recent memory. Incredibly good at playing incredibly abrasive characters, Strong always brings a sense of theatricality to the show, and she's easily one of the most skilled actors in the show's entire history. And even though sketches may be where she shines, she was much better on Weekend Update than Jost and Che.
17. Kristen Wiig (2005 - 2012)
She may have been a bit too overutilized towards the end of her run, but she had a knack for characters. She was yet another SNL performer perfect at giving her outlandish, absolutely demented characters a sense of heart, and she always had perfect command of the audience.
18. Eddie Murphy (1980 - 1984)
The only shining light SNL had during the '80s. SNL's brief period without Lorne Michaels practically turned into the Eddie Murphy Show, and he absolutely deserved it. His characters were interesting, his energy was off the wall, and he was one of the first performers to mock and call out the show's issues with race.
19. Fred Armisen (2002 - 2013)
Armisen might fit better among the hip digs of his own Portlandia, but his work on SNL was absolutely brilliant. He managed a perfect mix of broad, mass-appeal comedy and brilliantly weird alternative comedy.
Will Ferrell (1995 - 2002)
Ferrell might be the only SNL performer to get funnier after their tenure on the show, but that's not to say that his run on the show wasn't equally as brilliant. His characters and impressions were broad, loud, unsubtle, and insanely, insanely funny.
