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List of Saturday Night Live cast members

The original cast of SNL posing for the camera
Original cast (left to right): Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, and Chevy Chase

As of September 2024, the late-night live variety series Saturday Night Live (SNL) has featured 167 cast members. The ensemble was originally referred to as the Not Ready for Prime Time Players.[1]

List

As of 2024, 167 comedians have served as cast members on the show. Sid Caesar is the only person to be named an honorary cast member. Caesar was presented with a plaque during the goodnights of his hosting stint in 1983.[2]

Table

Timeline

Lighter colors denote "featured players" versus repertory cast members.


Tenures

Longest tenures

The following comedians have served as cast members on the show for more than 9 seasons:

Shortest tenures

Two people have been publicly announced as having been hired to the cast, but never performed as cast members:

One person was credited as a cast member but did not actually appear on the show as such.

The following cast members spent less than a full 20-episode season on the show.[13]

President of the United States impressionists

Darrell Hammond had the longest tenure portraying a U.S. president, portraying Bill Clinton from 1995–2001 and George W. Bush during 2003. He, Joe Piscopo, and Phil Hartman are the only cast members to have portrayed two sitting presidents. Jason Sudeikis portrayed two sitting presidents, but the portrayal of the second president was performed as a host, rather than a cast member. Dana Carvey also portrayed two sitting presidents, with the portrayal of the second president performed as a recurring guest.

George H. W. Bush grew fond of Dana Carvey's impersonation of him. Carvey was invited to headline a White House Christmas party in 1992, during the lame duck period after Bush had lost the election.[14] Two years later, on October 22, 1994, when Carvey hosted the show for the first time, Bush appeared in pre-recorded videos, in both the cold open and the opening monologue, critiquing Carvey's impersonation of him.[15][16]

Presidents are not usually portrayed on Saturday Night Live after they leave office. Exceptions are limited to the portrayal of former president Richard Nixon who left office prior to the launch of the show in 1975, Bill Clinton who appeared in sketches related to the presidential campaigns of his wife, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump who continued to be politically active after leaving office. Dan Aykroyd portrayed Nixon from 1975–79, and Darrell Hammond portrayed Nixon on episode 12 of season 34. James Austin Johnson portrayed Trump in several episodes of seasons 47-50.[17]

Impersonation of Donald Trump

Donald Trump, having been a public figure before being president, was portrayed by several cast members over the years. He was portrayed by Phil Hartman (1988–1990), Darrell Hammond (1999–2011, 2015–2016), Jason Sudeikis (2012) and Taran Killam (2015). Alec Baldwin started impersonating Trump as a guest during the 42nd season of SNL in late 2016, when Trump was the Republican nominee during the 2016 United States presidential elections. Baldwin continued with the guest impersonations of Trump after the elections when Trump was president-elect, as well as after Trump was sworn in as president. Baldwin continued to impersonate Trump throughout Trump's presidency.

Alec Baldwin's impersonation of Donald Trump earned him an Emmy award in 2017, in spite of his public declaration that he "loathes the role." At the end of Season 44, Baldwin publicly announced that he will cease impersonating Trump, but changed his mind prior to the beginning of Season 45 after SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels convinced him to continue with the impersonation.[18][19] Following the 2020 presidential elections in which Trump lost re-election, Baldwin tweeted "I don't believe I've ever been this overjoyed to lose a job before!"[20] As of 2024, Baldwin’s recurring guest appearances during Trump's presidency makes Trump the only sitting U.S. President in the show’s history who wasn’t portrayed by a member of the show’s principal cast.

Trump has criticized Baldwin's portrayal on multiple occasions. In response, Baldwin taunted Trump with statements such as "release your tax returns and I'll stop."[21] In June 2021, after Trump had left office, it was reported that while Trump was in office he had inquired if the Federal Communications Commission or the United States Justice Department could force SNL to stop portraying him. Trump denied that he has ever made such an inquiry, but claimed that his portrayal by SNL "should be considered an illegal campaign contribution from the Democrat Party." He also criticized Baldwin's portrayal of him, but praised Darrell Hammond's portrayal of him.[22]

Returning to host

Over three dozen former SNL cast members have returned to host the show. The first former cast member to come back and host the show was Chevy Chase in February 1978. While the majority of cast members who also hosted the show were first cast members and then hosted after leaving the show, there have been two cast members who have hosted the show prior to joining the cast: Billy Crystal (he hosted the show twice during the ninth season prior to joining the cast in the tenth season) and Michael McKean (he hosted the show in the tenth season and joined the cast in the nineteenth season). McKean is also the only eventual cast member who first appeared as a musical guest (with Spinal Tap, May 1984).

Eddie Murphy is the only cast member to have hosted the show while still a cast member. He also holds the distinction of having the longest gap between successive hosting of the show. There was a 35 year and 6 day gap between his second and third hostings of the show.

Adam Sandler and Dan Aykroyd tie the record of the longest gap between leaving the show as a cast member and returning as a host. Both hosted the show for the first time nine days shy of 24 years from last appearance as cast. However, both made appearances on the show during the gap. On the flip side, Bill Murray holds the record for having the shortest gap between leaving the show and returning to host at 287 days after leaving the cast.

The "SNL Curse"

Although SNL is best known as the launchpad for many successful careers, eight former cast members have died before the age of 60. This has given rise to[failed verification] a superstition known as the "Saturday Night Live Curse".[24][25]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Not Ready for Prime Time Players.

Notes

  1. ^ This list includes both repertory and featured players past and present, but omits SNL writers and others who were not listed as cast members during the show's credits. The dates given are those of the years they were part of the cast. The chart also shows whether the cast member has served as a guest host, appeared as the anchorperson of the "Weekend Update" segment (by any of its titles), or has been the subject of their own "Best of" home video collection. Many of the cast members were writers as well. "Middle group" performers are introduced after the main cast by the announcer saying "...with" and reading off these performers before ending with featured players.
  2. ^ For cast members who are still active on the show, the number of seasons assumes that the cast members will continue to serve in that role through the end of the current season
  3. ^ a b c d e ½ season is used to indicate a portion of a season, not necessarily 50% of the episodes of the partial season
  4. ^ a b Strong is listed ahead of McKinnon because Strong appeared in 9 episodes in her partial season, whereas McKinnon appeared in 5 episodes in her partial season
  5. ^ Franken was a cast member in 11 seasons. He was a cast member in the last episode of the 11th season, and in his third stint as cast member, departed the show at the second to last episode of the 20th season
  6. ^ Performed once when Williams hosted the show, on November 22, 1986.
  7. ^ a b Impersonation performed as a recurring guest.
  8. ^ Performed once when Sudeikis hosted the show, on October 23, 2021. During his time as cast member, Sudeikis portrayed Joe Biden when Biden was a candidate for president during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, as well as Vice President after the election.

References

  1. ^ Marx, Sienkiewicz & Becker 2013, p. 6.
  2. ^ Lloyd, Robert (February 13, 2024). "Sid Caesar, an appreciation: Making light of civility's fragility". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 7, 2024.
  3. ^ "Kenan Thompson: Saturday Night Live repertory-player". NBC.
  4. ^ White, Peter (October 23, 2021). "'SNL': Colin Jost Breaks Seth Meyers' Weekend Update Record". Deadline. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Saturday Night Live". NBC.com. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  6. ^ a b "Miles Teller/Kendrick Lamar". Saturday Night Live. Season 48. Episode 1. October 1, 2022. Event occurs at Closing credits. NBC.
  7. ^ a b White, Peter; Grobar, Matt (October 4, 2023). "'SNL': Pete Davidson & Bad Bunny Among Hosts As NBC Show Sets Returns With SAG-AFTRA Blessing, Full Cast Comes Back For Season 49 & Chloe Troast Joins". Deadline. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  8. ^ "Interview: Kate McKinnon on Saying Good-bye to SNL". August 11, 2022.
  9. ^ "Aidy Bryant's 'SNL' Exit Interview: 'I Was Worried I Was Going to be Fully Crying'". June 21, 2022.
  10. ^ Haring, Bruce (January 27, 2024). "Catherine O'Hara Confesses Why She Left 'Saturday Night Live' Cast After One Week".
  11. ^ Otterson, Joseph (September 16, 2019). "Shane Gillis Out From 'Saturday Night Live'". Variety. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  12. ^ Deggans, Eric (February 25, 2024). "Shane Gillis struggles in a 'Saturday Night Live' monologue that avoids the obvious". NPR. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  13. ^ Graham, Mark (September 10, 2009). "21 SNL Cast Members Who Only Lasted a Season". Vulture. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  14. ^ Rosenwald, Michael S. (December 2, 2018). "'Wouldn't be prudent': George H.W. Bush's unlikely friendship with Dana Carvey". The Washington Post.
  15. ^ "Bush Cold Open". NBC.
  16. ^ "George H. W. Bush Supports Dana Carvey Cold Open". NBC.
  17. ^ Garber, Megan. "Saturday Night Live Can't Resist Donald Trump". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  18. ^ Kreps, Daniel (June 7, 2019). "Alec Baldwin 'So Done' With Portraying Trump on 'SNL'". Rolling Stone.
  19. ^ Schaffstall, Katherine (October 21, 2019). "Alec Baldwin on Why He Returned to 'SNL' as Trump". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  20. ^ Hibberd, James (November 8, 2020). "Alec Baldwin 'overjoyed' to lose SNL job playing Donald Trump". Entertainment Weekly.
  21. ^ Butler, Bethonie (June 7, 2019). "All the times Alec Baldwin has suggested he's done playing Trump on 'Saturday Night Live'". The Washington Post.
  22. ^ Johnson, Ted (June 22, 2021). "Donald Trump Denies That He Asked Justice Department To Go After 'Saturday Night Live'". Deadline Hollywood.
  23. ^ "SNL Archives | Cast | Chevy Chase". SNL Archives. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  24. ^ "Is There A 'Saturday Night Live' Curse?". HuffPost. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  25. ^ Caroline Donnelly (28 May 2008). "7 Tragic SNL Deaths". Mental Floss.
  26. ^ "SNL Transcripts: Steve Martin: 04/22/78: Dancing In The Dark". SNL Transcripts Tonight. October 8, 2018.
  27. ^ "Michael O'Donoghue Tribute". snltranscripts.jt.org. 8 October 2018.
  28. ^ "SNL Transcripts: Miskel Spillman: 12/17/77: Least-Loved Bedtime Tale: The Soiled Kimono". snltranscripts.jt.org. 8 October 2018.
  29. ^ Aaron Crouch (11 Oct 2014). "'SNL' Remembers Jan Hooks With Emotional Tribute". Hollywood Reporter.

Bibliography

External links