SNL: The Current Cast Discussion

[Princess Sparkle]

Bobby as Drunk Uncle is wonderful, he walks the line between silly and pathos, I think he has a great actor in him and he will be able to move on to other kinds of roles, like Bill Hader (who astounded me in The Skeleton Twins). My favorite Drunk Uncle bit was the one with Peter Dinklage, who was awesome. "You wanna know what's in my Tumblr? Regret."

Hee - I love that one!  Whoever writes all those little asides of his, be it Bobby or whomever he writes the bit with, are always so freaking funny, because they're simultaneously sad and random.  "Yeah I'm a hoarder!  I hoard 1950s Playboys and dignity."  Gah, I just love Bobby.  

Edited February 10, 2015 by Princess Sparkle

[cpcathy]

OK, so Bobby was on Late Night last night and I learned that he wrote Drunk Uncle with....wait for it...Colin Jost.

[helenamonster]

Colin could very well be a good writer, but he's got the onscreen personality of a teaspoon [/Hermione Granger, kind of].

[Miss Scarlet]

It actually doesn't surprise me that Colin Jost wrote Drunk Uncle. Cecily wrote the Girl at the Party character with Colin and when I listen closely I can see there are a lot of similarities in the characters' rambles.

[Princess Sparkle]

I couldn't decide if this was more "40th anniversary" or just strict cast discussion, but I think it goes here more. I just got the new issue of Rolling Stone, and in honor of the 40th Anniversary, they ranked all 141 cast members to ever be on SNL (I'm on my phone or I would link to the online article). Their top 10 are:

1. John Belushi

2. Eddie Murphy

3. Tina Fey

4. Mike Meyers

5. Dan Aykroyd

6. Bill Murray

7. Phil Hartman

8. Amy Poehler

9. Gilda Radner

10. Chevy Chase

I can't really argue much with that top 10, though I am surprised that Mike Meyers made it so high.

Of the current cast, Kate McKinnon is ranked the highest (at 37), which I also agree with. Some of the cast members are ranked as oddly high to me (Vanessa Bayer being higher than Jane Curtain is a big ole WTF to me), and some are crazy low (Norm McDonald is ranked 135, Bobby is the lowest rated of the entire current cast including the featured players), but at the very least, it's a good conversation starting place.

And if you're wondering, they chose the lowest ranked cast member as Robert Downey Jr.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Princess Sparkle

[Slade347]

A link to that list.

 

If you flipped Meyers out for Will Ferrell, ranked No. 12, that would result in a top 10 that I think would be pretty damn good, if not necessarily the order I would rank them. Although that said, I'm not sure what to make of Fey, since she really only did WU as a performer. I think it's a little unfair to factor in her work as Palin since she was no longer a cast member at that point. Still, you can't deny her importance to the history of the show, so again, hard for me to figure where I would rank her.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Slade347

[opus]

I couldn't decide if this was more "40th anniversary" or just strict cast discussion, but I think it goes here more. I just got the new issue of Rolling Stone, and in honor of the 40th Anniversary, they ranked all 141 cast members to ever be on SNL (I'm on my phone or I would link to the online article). Their top 10 are:

1. John Belushi

2. Eddie Murphy

3. Tina Fey

4. Mike Meyers

5. Dan Aykroyd

6. Bill Murray

7. Phil Hartman

8. Amy Poehler

9. Gilda Radner

10. Chevy Chase.

No Kristen Wiig= pissed off Lorne.

[vb68]

I'm reading the list now from end to beginning.  My first thoughts are that it is kinda screwy.  Brooks Wheelan 25 places ahead of Bobby?  WTF? I would love for anybody to tell me how that makes any type of sense.   And for Robert Downey, Norm, and Colin Quinn to be rated below  people who did just one episode is just really silly.  

 

Edit:  Beth Cahill at 62?  Seriously?   If anything, she needed to be grouped with the '90s one-noters and Melanie Hutsell  get her single spot.  I always thought you could either credit or blame Melanie respectfully for those Brady Bunch movies in the '90s.   

 

I have to agree that if anybody in the Top 10 is overrated, it's Mike Myers.  He floats by because Wayne became such an iconic character, but  I didn't care for most of his stuff outside of that. I didn't see that big of a range either.  Both Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell easily deserve the top ten more than him IMO.

Edited February 12, 2015 by vb68

[Princess Sparkle]

I'm reading the list now from end to beginning. My first thoughts are that it is kinda screwy. Brooks Wheelan 25 places ahead of Bobby? WTF? Ii would love for anybody to tell me how that makes any type of sense.

I meant to mention the Brooks Whelan thing in my last post! I'm confused on why Aidy is grouped together with the rest of the featured cast (including those already gone from the cast like Noel, John M, and Tim & Mike, who went back to the writers room), but somehow, Brooks Whelan makes a mildly funny tweet, and is placed 10 spots above them. Especially because they were ranking them by what they did on-screen only. Edited February 12, 2015 by Princess Sparkle

[helenamonster]

I can't argue with the Top 10 (though I do agree that I'd switch Myers out for Ferrell). I always say that Tina is my favorite cast member, but then feel like I have to clarify it because she was mostly only on Update. However, I think now I stand by it without any caveats because she did more simply reading the news every week than many cast members did with a variety of opportunities in sketches. Even taking out the Palin stuff, I think Tina is a genius and I'm really happy that both she and Amy made the Top 10.

 

But I also pretty much agree with everyone on the other wtf moments. Bobby should not be that low...not below the cluster of newbies and definitely not below Brooks fucking Wheelan and Horatio fucking Sanz. Also, I don't understand the writer's issue with Jane. What, because she didn't snort coke and mate like bunnies with everyone else, she gets knocked back? What a crock of shit.

[ajsnaves]

How the hell was Denny Dillon, who I generally like so much higher than say, Bobby?  I do like that he seems to have some respect for the early 80's cast, particularly one of my favorites, Tim Kazurisnky, who I always enjoyed.  He is the only reason I remember Soviet leader Yuri Andropov ("Bury Yuri in a Hurry!")

[vb68]

The writer seems wholly dismissive of Bobby for some reason.  OK, so he doesn't like Drunk Uncle, but  it's either disingenuous or willfully ignorant to suggest that's all he brings to the show.

[WendyCR72]

I think Phil Hartman deserved to be in the Top 5, frankly. He was so damned versatile and so well liked by the cast. I think it said something about his talent (post SNL) that, when he died, his Simpsons characters were retired.

 

But yeah, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, Anal-Retentive Chef, Bill Clinton, Frank Sinatra, the senile Admiral that Dana Carvey's George H. W. Bush tried to drive off a cliff, Jim Bakker, there was no one the man couldn't do.

[ChromaKelly]

Bobby Moynihan is one of my favorites of the current cast. He elevates every sketch he is in, and makes so much of the material, even when it's shit. He can make me laugh just with his facial expressions. He deserves to be much higher on the list.
The Top 10 is very heavy on the original cast, who I think are a little overrated. Although from the originals, Jane Curtin is probably my favorite. She should have been higher up.
I'm mixed on Tina Fey being so high up too. She was great of course, but she wasn't in many sketches. She did write a hell of a lot o funny stuff, but this wasn't really a writer list.

[absnow54]

I mostly agree with their top 30, but not necessarily in that order. It's tough to rank the entire cast without some polarizing opinions (Norm being the prime example, and Bobby Moynihan being a surprising one... I didn't realize it was possible to dislike him!) but the one that's throwing me off is Cecily Strong. What has she done on the show that's so remarkable? I think it's because she's ranked just above Molly Shannon, who had such an iconic presence on the show, while Cecily has yet to make an impression beyond, "sucks to lose that Weekend Update desk."

[VCRTracking]

 

the senile Admiral that Dana Carvey's George H. W. Bush tried to drive off a cliff

 

It was Admiral Stockdale and H. Ross Perot. Stockdale was Perot's VP running mate when he ran for the Presidency in 1992. Stockdale had a disastrous showing at the Vice Presidential debate where he came off senile and it inspired the sketch. It was a shame actually because he was a hero and remarkable man.  Dennis Miller had already left SNL at that point and even though he may not be ideologically in synch with a lot of people here he was right when he said after the election:

 

"Now I know [stockdale's name has] become a buzzword in this culture for doddering old man, but let's look at the record, folks. The guy was the first guy in and the last guy out of Vietnam, a war that many Americans, including our present president, did not want to dirty their hands with. The reason he had to turn his hearing aid on at that debate is because those f***ing animals knocked his eardrums out when he wouldn't spill his guts. He teaches philosophy at Stanford University, he's a brilliant, sensitive, courageous man. And yet he committed the one unpardonable sin in our culture: he was bad on television."

Edited February 15, 2015 by VCRTracking

[DXD526]

It was a shame actually because he was a hero and remarkable man.

 

Yes, and though it was a funny sketch, it always irks me when that "Who am I and why am I here" line is interpreted to make him look senile. He meant it as, since he wasn't very well known in politics, people tuning-in to the debate may not know who he is. So it was a rhetorical question that got twisted into the old man losing touch with reality. It was no way to treat a decorated war hero.

 

I know I'm in the minority, but I can't agree with number one on the cast list. John Belushi was wildly overrated, IMO. He really only had one act, and I never found his schtick to be amusing. Of the original cast, both Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner were far more versatile and funny, as was Jane Curtin, for that matter. 

[cpcathy]

I don't agree with John Belushi as number one either. I might even go as far as to say it should be Gilda. But if it's my very own tastes, right now I'm on a Bill Hader kick, I think everything he does is marvelous.

[VCRTracking]

Yeah, I like him but I just don't get it when I read somebody like Drew on HitFix going on how amazing and remarkable he was. I guess you had to grow up with him. The things I really loved was the Samurai, Beethoven singing Ray Charles, his Joe Cocker impression, and the Dueling Brandos routine. Of the old cast my favorite was always Bill Murray.

Edited February 15, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Inquisitionist]

Three words:  Samurai Night Fever.  I had forgotten that OJ Simpson played the brother. 

[WendyCR72]

It was Admiral Stockdale and H. Ross Perot

 

Damn, you're right. That came back to me. But it was still funny, although now reading the history, I can see why it would irk.

[Bees]

Rolling Stone's list was moronic but I have to say I'm actually kind of impressed with their ballsiness of ranking Norm MacDonald that low. I'm not a huge Norm lover (I find him wildly overrated) but I would've at least put him in the middle of the pack. Also Chris Rock was way too damn high. He had a successful post SNL career but on SNL, he didn't make as much of a dent as he should've.

 

My Top 10 would've been Hartman, Murphy, Aykroyd, Murray, Carvey, Belushi, Ferrell, Fey, Hader, Hooks

 

Though my Hooks pick for number 10 is debatable. 

[absnow54]

The bit in the 40th Anniversary Show where Tim Meadows refers to the Rolling Stone article, has me wondering how the cast members' egos are handling the rankings. I'm surprised Norm MacDonald didn't sneak in a jab. 

[Kromm]

Okay, rather than going from some magazine's list of who mattered, going based on my OWN impressions of them on the 40th anniversary special (and note this DOES rely on Lorne having allowed them screentime--something out of their control), I won't RANK them as much as have two columns.  "Still got it" and "wonder if they still got it" (no 100% decision on those, just an expression of disappointment).

 

Still Got It:

--------------

Jon Lovitz - made so much of just a moment

Norm Macdonald - so hated by many, so loved by me

Will Ferrell - when he's doing SNL type stuff vs. his moronic movies

Dana Carvey - hasn't missed a step

Mike Meyers - uneven with his post-SNL career, but can clearly still be hilarious when he wants to be

Bill Murray - the goddamn king, I say. the king

Tim Meadows - another person who just had a TINY bit and made a lot of it. The man has never lost his timing.

Darrell Hammond - I actually FORGOT him, but then thought about the Celeb Jeopardy skit, and while Ferrell was the glue on that, and Macdonald a bit of fancy trim, Hammond as Connery was just as good as ever too.

 

Wonder if they still got it:

-------------------------------

Chevy Chase - senile?  bored?  drunk? who knows

Dan Ackroyd - tried to show a little joy in the bass-o-matic thing, but failed

Eddie Murphy - do we have to say more?

Joe Piscopo - I was a HUGE defender of his right to appear on this special in a skit and now feel like a goddam fool--he squandered that TOTALLY

Fred Armisen - only a mild disappointment, but frankly the little he did bored me

Kristen Wiig - ditto of above

Martin Short - I've been "over him" for a few years now.  Last night actually wasn't him at his worst, but it wasn't that great either.

Maya Rudolph - I've seen raves on her Beyonce in the special, so maybe this is just a taste thing, but I didn't love it.  Like her sketch partner, Martin Short, she's always been one to rely too much on "pulling faces" and that kind of comedy doesn't age well--it starts to seem insincere at a certain point and she may have reached that point.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Kromm

[VCRTracking]

The new Ghostbusters:
 

Edited February 16, 2015 by VCRTracking

[helenamonster]

Jane Curtin has definitely still got it. I guess being a "square" in the '70s paid off.

[methodwriter85]

Jane Curtain also still resembles herself and not some plastic caricature, which can't be said of a lot of women who survived Hollywood. Man, I hope she comes back for another cameo. I mainly remember her for 3rd Rock from the Sun and the Coneheads movie, so it was cool to see her do Weekend Update.

 

In other news...seriously, why is Keanan still here? He's getting close Darrell Hammond-levels, who was another utility player that refused to leave. He's like that Cats chorus line dancer who gets comfy and doesn't want to do anything else.

[Maverick]

Jane Curtain also still resembles herself and not some plastic caricature, which can't be said of a lot of women who survived Hollywood. Man, I hope she comes back for another cameo.

As far as I'm concerned, the can replace Host and Che with her.

[helenamonster]

Her, Tina, and Amy doing Update like they did (for way too short!) in the anniversary special is the stuff of my dreams. There's obviously no chance of it happening but man, imagine the possibilities.

[Trick Question]

Ha, Wiig looks drunk as hell in that picture.

 

Rolling Stone's list was terrible.  It's probably impossible to properly write a list like that without having your own personal opinion seem into it, yet it was very clearly "Rob Sheffield's list" rather than any objective listing of the cast.  I had a couple of issues with Grantland's "pick the best SNL cast member ever" bracket from last year, yet even that crowdsourced vote resulted in a final eight of Ferrell, Murphy, Hartman, Hader, Murray, Fey, Farley and Wiig.  Pretty solid bunch and not a Beth Cahill inexplicably to be found.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Trick Question

[BatmanBeatles]

I honestly forgot Victoria Jackson was on SNL until I read that list.

[Kromm]

I honestly forgot Victoria Jackson was on SNL until I read that list.

I'd say Jackson was very memorable and plenty of people recall she was on SNL.  But...  for all the wrong reasons.

 

Whereas there are plenty of people where you're totally either "who the fuck are they" or "oh, I barely remember them from some shitty movie where they had a bit role... were they REALLY on SNL for 2 seasons?"

[BatmanBeatles]

 

I'd say Jackson was very memorable and plenty of people recall she was on SNL.  But...  for all the wrong reasons.

Do you suppose that's why she wasn't recognized on the special?

Edited March 6, 2015 by BatmanBeatles

[VCRTracking]

To be fair, I think Victoria did a very good Roseanne impression when she was in the cast.

 

Comedian Rich Hall was only on one season, the "ringer" one(1984-1985). He's the guy who looks like a live action Moe from The Simpsons. The one thing I remember most about him is in the opening credits where it was live action combined with animation and he lit his cigarette by flipping opening the Chrysler Building revealing a lighter. And he also played David Byrne from the Talking Heads wearing the enormous suit. Recently he appears on the British panel show QI hosted by Stephen Fry. My favorite standup bit of his though is the one where he points out that every Tom Cruise movie has the same plot:

 

Edited March 6, 2015 by VCRTracking

[LADreamr]

Not only that, but his Sniglets were brilliant, and very funny.

[Kromm]

Comedian Rich Hall was only on one season, the "ringer" one(1984-1985). He's the guy who looks like a live action Moe from The Simpsons. 

There's a reason for that--Moe allegedly was actually based, in part, on Hall (at least Hall claims Matt Groening confirmed that to him).  Hall was friends with Simpsons writer George Meyer, so that's supposedly the genesis of that. Moe is allegedly part Hall and partly a former boxer/bar owner named Louis Deutsch--who's link to Moe is that he's a bar owner famous for being dumb enough to fall for repeated prank calls getting him to say stupid things out loud like "is anyone here named Jack Azz?"

 

Beyond QI, apparently Hall is actually now pretty well known in the UK (far more than he is in the US, even with those Sniglets books in his back pocket).  At some point he moved his entire career there, and apparently it's worked out well for him.  Aside from constant successful touring there, he gets regularly paid by the BBC to come back to the US and make BBC documentaries on various aspects of US culture (about 1 documentary per year for each of the past 7 years or so). They're all up on YouTube (apparently the BBC doesn't mind?). If you search his name you won't have any trouble finding them--literally search "Rich Hall" on YouTube and the documentaries will all be on the first page of results. And they're actually all pretty entertaining. 

Edited March 6, 2015 by Kromm

[peeayebee]

Interesting stuff about Rich Hall. That standup clip is hilarious. I'd forgotten about Sniglets. I think I have a couple of books packed away in the garage. And now I'm going to have to check out Hall's BBC documentaries.

 

 

To be fair, I think Victoria did a very good Roseanne impression when she was in the cast.

I wasn't regularly watching SNL during her time, but I've seen a few sketches where I thought she was good, like The Sinatra Group, where she was Edie Gorme.

[BatmanBeatles]

According to an article I read, Victoria wonders if Lorne Micheals was ashamed of her.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/snl-actress-victoria-jackson-political-775080

[Kromm]

According to an article I read, Victoria wonders if Lorne Micheals was ashamed of her.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/snl-actress-victoria-jackson-political-775080

It's a self-serving deliberately pot stirring question by her.  She knows damn well he's ashamed of her, and she's trumpeting it to the press to get column inches.

I wasn't regularly watching SNL during her time, but I've seen a few sketches where I thought she was good, like The Sinatra Group, where she was Edie Gorme.

Being a conservative nut doesn't mean she didn't have good comic timing or impression skills.  She did.  Just like Dennis Miller, for example, to this day, is capable of being pretty witty/funny, if you close your eyes and pretend he isn't spending half his time ranting about Obama.

Interesting stuff about Rich Hall. That standup clip is hilarious. I'd forgotten about Sniglets. I think I have a couple of books packed away in the garage. And now I'm going to have to check out Hall's BBC documentaries.

I haven't seen the one about California yet, so that's on my agenda.  The one about Texas is great, as is the one about the Indians and the one about the American South.  I believe there are a few older ones beyond that list as well, but I haven't seen them.

Ah, there's one I just found I haven't seen before (besides the California one).  "Rich Hall's Continental Drifters", which from the intro seems to be about American Road Movies.  Good topic.

[helenamonster]

According to an article I read, Victoria wonders if Lorne Micheals was ashamed of her.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/snl-actress-victoria-jackson-political-775080

 

I think I was most struck by how she seems to want a gold star for complimenting Alan Cumming despite his sexuality.

[A Boston Gal]

Go away, Victoria. I don't really care if you were in an overflow room or not: a real star would have acted only graciously, while being savvy enough to let others do the complaining for her. Calling Lorne out on it yourself doesn't count.

 

I could go on, but I've wasted enough energy on this sad woman.

Edited March 6, 2015 by A Boston Gal

[vb68]

I think she was always hell to work with on the show.  I've mentioned it before, but I remember Jan's veiled dig that one of the best things about moving on to Designing Women in the early '90s was that there were no crazed loons jumping up and down on the sofa calling her the devil.   And I don't think Jan would have been so vocal that she couldn't stand Victoria without just cause.

[opus]

Wasn't quite sure where to put this, so I'll stick it here. Despite all the love round these parts, I really don't find Leslie Jones funny at all. (Sorry, Leslie, if you pop in here).

[pythonite]

I think Leslie's funny! ( but I'd like to see her dial it down a notch occasionally. )

[Fostersmom]

I like Leslie in sketches well enough, but she is hit or miss in the Update bits. She's usually intense, but got scream-y last night. I like intense, scream-y not so much. I  do like the combo of Leslie and Colin Jost on Update though. You have her intensity and his milquetoast persona and something about it just works so well for me. 

[WendyCR72]

I wasn't regularly watching SNL during her time, but I've seen a few sketches where I thought she was good, like The Sinatra Group, where she was Edie Gorme.

 

To me, she was just an accessory there. Someone to sit on "Steve Lawrence's" lap and agree with Frank or, in the rare case, whine about how he was unfair. (Not that I minded. Jackson often irritated me.) In that vein, Mike Myers was similarly wasted there, but he did get to get beat up by Sting's Billy Idol, so it was something.  :-)

 

Still, the skit was gold.

[Bruinsfan]

I know I'm in the minority, but I can't agree with number one on the cast list. John Belushi was wildly overrated, IMO. He really only had one act, and I never found his schtick to be amusing. Of the original cast, both Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner were far more versatile and funny, as was Jane Curtin, for that matter. 

I'm in the same minority. For my money, it's a flip of the coin whether Gilda or Phil Hartman should get the #1 spot.

[opus]

Wasn't quite sure where to put this, so I'll stick it here. Despite all the love round these parts, I really don't find Leslie Jones funny at all. (Sorry, Leslie, if you pop in here).

 

I probably should have added, " but I liked Gilly, so what do I know?"

[LADreamr]

Gilly. I like Kristen Wiig a lot as a person. I loved Bridesmaids, and thought she was fantastic in The Skeleton Twins. But for most of her SNL characters, I never got the appeal.

[methodwriter85]

I loved Kristen's impressions. I didn't love any of her original characters.

Edited March 9, 2015 by methodwriter85