I vould like to feed your fingerteeps to the volver-eenes

August 25, 2014 6:56 PM

In honor of Saturday Night Live's 40th season, Grantland has been publishing an ongoing series of essays, remembrances, podcasts, and interviews, as well as asking you to cast your votes in The Battle for the Best SNL Cast Member. (They're already down to the final eight; sorry, your favorite cast member has already been eliminated.)
posted by not_on_display (85 comments total)

My friend Michael was Bill Hader's dresser and was mentioned in this Entertainment Weekly Article about his departure.

I have absolutely no un-self-serving reason to link that and mention it except I think it's incredibly cool that I know someone who works for SNL.
posted by xingcat at 7:05 PM on August 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Bill Murray vs Eddie Murphy? Eddie better hope the voting isn't based on post-SNL careers.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:12 PM on August 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

It's going to be Tina Fey vs Bill Murray and..... wow, I don't know who I'd want to win that one.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 7:23 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

I always thought of Tina Fey as more like head writer + weekend update. But I guess she was Sarah Palin.
posted by 2bucksplus at 7:25 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm still rooting for Harry Shearer.
posted by boo_radley at 7:35 PM on August 25, 2014

That west bracket is a killer, I'd take everybody on there in front of anyone but Fey from the East.
posted by Sphinx at 7:39 PM on August 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

No Michael O'Donoghue? No peace.
posted by delfin at 7:40 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Bill Murray vs Eddie Murphy? Eddie better hope the voting isn't based on post-SNL careers.

That may be a matter of taste. A lot of the films that might get dismissed by some are classics to others. Raw, Delirious, Coming to America, Boomerang, 48 hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Harlem Nights, Trading places, his voiceover work. I mean lets not act like he's just trash.
posted by cashman at 7:45 PM on August 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

better hope the voting isn't based on post-SNL careers.

Which raises an interesting point -- there are some cast members who were relatively unmemorable as such but comedy giants in their overall careers. All three Spinal Tap members for example.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:49 PM on August 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

to say nothing of Victoria Jackson, if unintentionally funny counts
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:53 PM on August 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

I predict it will come down to Phil Hartman vs. Will Ferrell, and Hartman will take it in a squeaker.
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:55 PM on August 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Looking over that list, it's interesting how some people were able to use their time on the show as a springboard to a longer, more successful career, and how others of them vanish from sight. (Who the heck is Tim Kazurinsky?)

It's also sad how many of them died tragically: Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Phil Hartman.

I only watched the show for the first couple of seasons, and then I lost interest, so most of those people I only know from their later careers -- if they had any.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:58 PM on August 25, 2014

If it's based just on what they accomplished during their SNL careers, then I agree Hartman and Ferrell have a big edge over the other competitors at this stage. But people voting will probably be influenced by the extra-SNL successes of the candidates, as well as sentiment. I predict Bill Murray wins it, even though IMHO he was always something of a B-Team player on the original SNL shows and only really bloomed later, in his movie career (and that he did in extraordinary, unpredictable ways, I might add).
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 8:03 PM on August 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

Not to mention Farley, Danitra Vance (40, of breast cancer), Tom Davis (also cancer), the aforementioned O'Donoghue, and Charles Rocket.
posted by uberchet at 8:04 PM on August 25, 2014

sorry, your favorite cast member has already been eliminated

Actually, I'm now stunned at how close to my own tastes the voting has been. I'd have picked Chris Rock over Adam Sandler, but that's about it.

We'll see whether that trend continues... Hartman vs Murray is going to be tough.
posted by roystgnr at 8:06 PM on August 25, 2014

If we were to judge it purely on the person's performance as a member of the cast on the actual show, you really do have to give it to Hartman. Bill Murray is hilarious, but Hartman just elevated everyone's game.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 8:09 PM on August 25, 2014 [22 favorites]

Hartman vs Murray is going to be tough.

Hartman in a walk, if we're talking about their time on SNL.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:10 PM on August 25, 2014 [8 favorites]

For reference, Phil Hartman's SNL audition.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:12 PM on August 25, 2014 [14 favorites]

If we were to judge it purely on the person's performance as a member of the cast on the actual show, you really do have to give it to Hartman.

I dunno... I mean, he's just a caveman.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:14 PM on August 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi are already out?

Ok, I'll catch you kids later...
posted by freakazoid at 8:15 PM on August 25, 2014 [7 favorites]

Bill Murray beat Gilda Radner? There is no hope for this world.
posted by Mizu at 8:19 PM on August 25, 2014 [14 favorites]

SNL has always been the major league for Chicago improv comedians coming through Second City, which is really a theater company that teaches comic acting. Some of the "yuck-yuck" schtick that makes a quick hit on the show is inconsistent with the actor's training that makes the real stars of that show excel. Character development, nuance, humanity and heart; those are the hallmarks of the most successful SNL stars, not just pure white-hot wit and laugh inducement (although that, too). The actors of SNL most definitely are not stand-up comedians, or at least didn't get there based on that sort of talent (although obviously some of them like Murphy and Rock have real stand-up chops, too).

It's also worth noting that some of the greats from the original cast -- Belushi and Aykroyd in particular -- were only on the show for a three or four seasons. Cast members in later generations have stuck around much longer. Hartman was on for eight seasons, and he was a writer before that. Ferrell was on the show for seven seasons. Also, the bit about standing on the shoulders of giants. That said, I still think Hartman beats all those guys, just IMHO.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 8:22 PM on August 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

No Ellen Cleghorne?
posted by ill3 at 8:23 PM on August 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

It's also sad how many of them died tragically: Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Phil Hartman.

It used to be called "The Saturday Night Live Curse," but I don't think it is anymore because, you know, out of 139 cast members over a forty year span, only nine have died.

(The others are one-season-wonders Danitra Vance and Charles Rocket; original head writer Michael O'Donoghue; Tom Davis of Franken & Davis; and announcer Don Pardo, who died last week aged 96.)
posted by Sys Rq at 8:29 PM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

That may be a matter of taste. A lot of the films that might get dismissed by some are classics to others. Raw, Delirious, Coming to America, Boomerang, 48 hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Harlem Nights, Trading places, his voiceover work. I mean lets not act like he's just trash.

Certainly not, but Bill Murray has been able to take a similar string of hits in his early film career and grow as both an actor and a comedian while Murphy... hasn't.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 8:33 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

(...and Chris Farley makes nine.)
posted by Sys Rq at 8:45 PM on August 25, 2014

Say, Fella- I think Hartman has this thing locked up. At least, if there's any sense in this crazy world, he should be the man to beat, and you can take that to the bank.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:46 PM on August 25, 2014 [8 favorites]

Watching early to mid 90s Simpsons episodes in the marathon over the weekend has only strengthened my appreciation of Hartman.
posted by aaronetc at 8:48 PM on August 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi are already out?

Nooooo!

(seriously, Belushi dwarfs almost all who came after)
posted by jonmc at 9:30 PM on August 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Chevy Chase all the way and eff the h8ers!
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:41 PM on August 25, 2014

Phil Hartman and Chris Farley are my top two. Though I do think Will Ferrell is hilarious.
posted by JenMarie at 9:41 PM on August 25, 2014

Just because it needs to be done, I will put forth Martin Short, whose talent was and is absolutely stunning. He never had a the cache of cool, though, that SNL was so good at trafficking in but for sheer crazy levels of skill, he was good as anyone in the entire history of the show.
Just my very subjective opinion.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 9:42 PM on August 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Wiig vs Hader is rough because they're been most of the show for the past 10 years.
posted by maryr at 9:50 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Bill Murray beat Gilda Radner? There is no hope for this world.


*incoherent rageful noise crashing and breaking things*

If there were any sort of justice or sense they would both still be in contention but as much as I adore Bill Murray, Radner made the greater impact. I say this as someone who started watching the show as a very young child, sneaking into the living room when the players were still not ready for prime time. Murray was incredibly funny, but Radner's performances were absolutely iconic. She was a powerful, defining force on the show because her style was so unique. She had a compelling physicality about her - an instinctive athleticism that was just this side of unbeautiful. After watching some of the old shows again, I think that she's incredibly underrated.
posted by louche mustachio at 9:54 PM on August 25, 2014 [13 favorites]

(Who the heck is Tim Kazurinsky?)

He's that little squeaky sort of fellow from all of the Police Academy movies.
posted by readyfreddy at 10:04 PM on August 25, 2014

Wiig has a huge following. It'll be Wiig vs Hartman and Hartman will take it.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:12 PM on August 25, 2014

Looking at the brackets- I mean, I know they had to break them up somehow, but doing it by date/era was definitely not the best way to determine the best cast member ever, since the quality of the seasons and the performers varied so wildly.
posted by louche mustachio at 10:14 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Wiig has a huge following. It'll be Wiig vs Hartman and Hartman will take it.


Wiig might have a huge following, but Hader is a more diverse performer and is much funnier. If Hartman takes it, it will be on the strength of his post-show work (which is VERY impressive) and that does appear to be how the game is to be played.
posted by louche mustachio at 10:18 PM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Post-show work?

Robert Downey Jr.
posted by maxsparber at 10:19 PM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Disappointing to see both Tim Meadows and Kevin Nealon knocked out so early. But these are some decent choices for the last 8.

It's gotta be Hartman, no contest.
posted by equalpants at 10:23 PM on August 25, 2014

Radner made the greater impact

It is my opinion that Gilda Radner was Saturday Night Live. It wouldn't have lasted a month without her, let alone 40 years. Most of the rest of the show was a shambles in the early days, but her segments were always impeccable.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:28 PM on August 25, 2014 [8 favorites]

Looking at that bracket makes me marvel how much raw comedic genius is/was embodied in four generations of SNL cast.

Crazy, tortured, and cursed as they may have been and continue be, they are also to be admired for their accomplishments and for striving to bring the gift of laughter to their audiences.

I LOVE SO MANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THAT BRACKET.

I wish Andy Kaufman were among those listed.
posted by mistersquid at 10:32 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

This is awesome. And by awesome I mean it pisses me off more than any list thing ever.

Grantland has outdone themselves by reinventing the listicle, categorized it by generation and presenting it in bracket form.

Seriously, this is genius.
posted by vapidave at 10:44 PM on August 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

I think the voting mostly reflects what was famous when you first discovered SNL and when you stopped watching SNL the same way that people prefer the music that they found in their teens.
posted by vapidave at 11:22 PM on August 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Looking at that bracket makes me marvel how much raw comedic genius is/was embodied in four generations of SNL cast.


And that is not including cast members who didn't even make the bracket. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Michael McKean, Randy Quaid, Robert Downey Jr....
posted by louche mustachio at 11:30 PM on August 25, 2014

And by awesome I mean it pisses me off more than any list thing ever.


Yeah like I am ready to FIGHT.


But I am more ready to watch old episodes of SNL. For some reason I want to see some episodes from the really bad seasons, like 6 and 11.


Like, I understand that Brian Doyle-Murray ruined my childhood somehow, but I want to know how much.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:36 PM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Seasons 6-25 are available on the torrents, as are more recent seasons. Seeing Anthony Michael Hall as Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant ws so much more rewarding than it should have been.
...Rich Hall, Anthony Michael Hall, Brad Hall...
posted by not_on_display at 11:37 PM on August 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

"But I am more ready to watch old episodes of SNL. For some reason I want to see some episodes from the really bad seasons, like 6 and 11."

Well, 6 through 11 will never be seen as the heyday and it's hard to compare era's. I first started watching in 1977-78 with

Dan Aykroyd
John Belushi
Jane Curtin
Garrett Morris
Bill Murray
Laraine Newman
Gilda Radner
Tom Davis (F)
Al Franken (F)

and at that point in time it was oddly and stupidly inventive. I'm thinking Snake Handling O'Sheas and other WTF. Single premise skits but they were weird for the time. That got worn. I remember the Monical Seles grunting skit as the nadir.

There were definitely some great performers and quality skits in later years but I think as the cast grew the show somehow shrunk. It became less new. I might have become interested in other things and I certainly became older. The Jeopardy! sketches crack me up every time. Schwetty balls no so much.

Reading a list of the cast of characters from SNL from most of the years is a litany of quality comedic performers.
posted by vapidave at 12:24 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

Who the heck is Tim Kazurinsky?

Perhaps you've heard of .... The Iguana?!?!
posted by Chitownfats at 1:05 AM on August 26, 2014 [7 favorites]

Tough call, but it's got to be Phil Hartman.

I'm a little annoyed that this sort of thing makes it hard to recognize the more actorly talents of people like Jan Hooks and Maya Rudolph.
posted by cotton dress sock at 1:11 AM on August 26, 2014 [3 favorites]

Looking at the lists, my first thought was "Hartman," but my second thought was "Ferrell," which surprised me until I pondered how many of his sketches still reduce me to helpless peals of laughter. I can't explain it. I think Ferrell takes the day.

And your mother, Trebek
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:10 AM on August 26, 2014

I can't imagine anyone but Belushi winning but I haven't really been a regular viewer since that era.
posted by octothorpe at 3:22 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

OK, I guess she wasn't even in contention, but I STILL love Larainne Newmann (sp?). Very funny and the uber-hottest woman in SNL history.
posted by lometogo at 3:26 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

If you dug up Phil Hartman's carcass and gave it a vote I bet he'd give it to Jan Hooks, the best and most criminally forgotten cast member in every fucking remembrance session. She was the Scotty Pippen to Hartman's Jordan.
posted by any major dude at 4:49 AM on August 26, 2014 [10 favorites]

Jane, you ignorant slut!
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:53 AM on August 26, 2014

Well, at least Hartman's still in play (so far).
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:53 AM on August 26, 2014

better hope the voting isn't based on post-SNL careers.

if we're talking about their time on SNL.

Yeah, it is odd -- I think we are supposed to go based on their time on SNL, because that certainly seems to be the qualification to get them in. If not, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has to be in contention for performers whose post-departure careers tower over their SNL time. I am not a great student of the show and there are probably entire seasons where I have never seen a single episode but I don't see any of the single-season players here making it past the second round. But even then, longevity is no assurance: journeyman Tim Meadows put in ten years of solid work and lost in the first round to Molly Shannon, whose impact on pop culture has not been huge.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:39 AM on August 26, 2014

Yeah...I'm officially old. I remember sneaking out of bed and "hiding" behind the couch to watch SNL. Now that I'm a parent, I'm absolutely sure my folks knew I was there...because how do you miss the snortling child trying to muffle her laughter less than 4 feet away? But it gave us all plausible desirability; they weren't bad parents for letting me stay up all night watching comedy for which I had no context, and I certainly wasn't disobeying them by being out of bed at all hours.

I have the first season (or 3?) in a massive CD collection that someone gave me years ago. I recently went back and watched some of them, and I have to say that I was astonished at how much of the humor still worked. (And sadly, how much of the politics was the same as it ever was.) I'm not sure that any cast will replace the first cast in my list of "Best SNL Evah", even though I think Hartman did more to keep that show alive than anyone in the history of the show.
posted by dejah420 at 6:28 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

If you're talking about time since SNL Chris Rock has got to be in that conversation. Al Franken's career hasn't been too shabby either.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:28 AM on August 26, 2014

The Jeopardy! sketches crack me up every time. Schwetty balls no so much.

Speaking of Schwetty and Mr. Baldwin's nearly-a-season's-worth of appearances, I'm curious if there's a rundown like this out there for exceptional SNL hosts/guests.

this sort of thing makes it hard to recognize the more actorly talents of people like Jan Hooks and Maya Rudolph.

Away We Go, which nobody saw and which is perhaps one of my favorite movies from the past decade, showcased Rudolph as a solid dramatic lead and I'd love to see more from her in that vein. By contrast, people made a big deal about Will Forte in Nebraska, but I really didn't get much beyond "exasperated and reluctant" from him.
posted by psoas at 6:55 AM on August 26, 2014

The list of talent here is astonishing. I can't think of anything remotely comparable unless you did something like "best Tonight Show guests."
posted by straight at 7:01 AM on August 26, 2014

Of the current cast, I think both Kate McKinnon and Vanessa Bayer are going to end up on the short list of long-remembered cast members. So many of their performances have been pretty damned hilarious.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:06 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm curious if there's a rundown like this out there for exceptional SNL hosts/guests.

Miskel Spillman FTW.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:55 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ah that was the infamous Elvis Costello episode. I found this from your link:

"In a 1989 interview with People at the age of 92, Spillman stated that she still watched the show and was a fan of the current cast, "especially that fella in the dress" – referring to Dana Carvey's Church Lady character. Spillman further expressed an interest in hosting again, noting that she still had thirteen years left to live."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:29 AM on August 26, 2014

The list of talent here is astonishing. I can't think of anything remotely comparable unless you did something like "best Tonight Show guests."

Well, there's this.

That said, while SNL has a reputation for launching people into stardom, there are a ton of cast members who disappeared into oblivion.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:32 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

In related news, Phil Hartman is FINALLY getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today.
posted by scody at 8:45 AM on August 26, 2014 [9 favorites]

Alls I can say is it is surprising how Victoria Jackson became the very thing she would have parodied during her time on the show.
posted by Nevin at 8:53 AM on August 26, 2014

I like Tina Fey, but I love Amy Poehler. Amy deserved to be the winner. I can't forget when Amy, so heavily pregnant, did that Sarah Palin rap. She was always game and had lots of funny characters.
posted by discopolo at 10:30 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

The hardest current matchup for me is Farley-Hartman, and I'm a huge Phil Hartman fan. Making the call of consistency versus... incandescence? I guess? Farley owned his skits so hard, while Hartman was mostly the reliable straight man who could disappear perfectly into whatever slot you needed him (with the occasional breakout Clinton or Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer).

But nearly as tough is Ferrell-Fey. As cast members, it's almost certainly Ferrell, both for consistency and incandescence, but Fey was the best Weekend Update anchor ever (not counting Norm MacDonald, who was playing a whole different game), and her Sarah Palin brought the show a mainstream relevance it hadn't seen for years, if ever.

Wiig-Hader isn't even a contest, as far as I'm concerned. Kristen Wiig is hilarious when she's being Kristen Wiig, but she kept being in painfully unfunny "Check out this freak!" bits that were recycled so hard and so unwell that I would have seeded her under Hader, Samberg, and MacKinnon in her bracket alone.
posted by Etrigan at 10:37 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wiig might have a huge following, but Hader is a more diverse performer and is much funnier

Psh, he shoulda never got past Samberg.
posted by Hoopo at 11:19 AM on August 26, 2014

Hader is a more diverse performer and is much funnier

Psh, he shoulda never got past Samberg.

Both of those things are true.
posted by Etrigan at 11:20 AM on August 26, 2014

Didn't bill hader play Shepard Smith? "I'm Shepard Smith and I come from a town full of seeeecrets." Hahahahaha
posted by discopolo at 11:35 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Alls I can say is it is surprising how Victoria Jackson became the very thing she would have parodied during her time on the show.

No, she really wouldn't. She herself wasn't a satirist and she hasn't really become anything she wasn't all along:

[...] Franken and Jackson mid-argument: “They’re sitting there steaming a little bit, and all of the sudden Al leans forward and says, ‘Victoria, surely as a Christian you care about people’s health care, surely you would believe in that.’ And Victoria says, ‘Well, if people died sooner, people will go to Heaven sooner.’

“And I start laughing because I thought she was being funny, and she says, ‘No. They will meet Jesus sooner.’”

posted by George_Spiggott at 1:23 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

Gilda, Gilda, Gilda, followed by Bill Murray for me. Andy Kaufman was also an indispensable presence on the show in the first, most experimental years. Good to hear that Hartman is getting his star.

In case you're a young'un and you're wondering about all the Gilda love above, the complete first few seasons of SNL are available on Hulu. I have Hulu Plus but I think the network TV stuff comes with a free registration.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 3:14 PM on August 26, 2014

"plausible desirability" - an autocorrect above - describes me buying clothes and choosing how to get my hair cut in my teen years. And my adult years. It also describes job hunting.

I've posted this by Gilda before Gilda Radner - Honey.

Over the years SNL became less improv and more scripted. I can forgive poor improv more easily than I can forgive poor scripts.

There is no accounting for taste of course.
posted by vapidave at 7:03 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Aw, vapidave, now I'm all sad and wistful from missing Gilda. That was really sweet.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 7:57 PM on August 26, 2014

Oh snap, Final Four! Not what I expected!
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:36 PM on August 26, 2014

i am absolutely floored (read: embarrassed) by the fact (that for all these years i didn't know) that steve martin wasn't a full time member of the not ready for prime time players. truly, honestly, i thought he was part of the cast - he's got a "Best Of" DVD!

i'm ashamed of my own ignorance.
posted by ovenmitt at 11:11 PM on August 26, 2014

I'm very happy that the hive mind rewarded 3-seed Bill Hader with a final four berth, but Kristen Wiig over Kate McKinnon was a real shame. I guess people just know Wiig better or feel that she earned it with longevity, but McKinnon is by far the better SNL player, IMHO. Sudeikis over Armisen was a pleasant surprise in that region as well.

I think Hartman knocks off Hader by a pretty healthy margin.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:25 AM on August 27, 2014

Kristen Wiig over Kate McKinnon was a real shame.

I think leaving in the current players was a mistake. MacKinnon was the only active cast member to make it out of the first round, and she had to beat another active cast member to do it. That's the Old Days Effect -- the Golden Age of SNL is always when you personally started watching it, and there aren't enough people yet who started that recently to judge them fairly.

I think Hartman knocks off Hader by a pretty healthy margin.

Ferrell beat Fey by about three times the combined margins of the other three matches and is currently up on Hader by a similar crushing amount. Hartman may be able to get the sympathy vote over Ferrell, but Hader has run up against the buzzsaw.
posted by Etrigan at 7:44 AM on August 27, 2014

Gah. That's a shame. I respect Ferrell's comedic talent, but always thought Hader was more versatile and, well, funny. I guess it's a style thing.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:54 AM on August 27, 2014

I think Ferrell deserves the win over Hader - I mean, I love Hader, but Ferrell just BECAME his characters. All of them. Sometimes all at once. It's kind of amazing. I really like Bill Hader, but I think he's more of an actor whereas Ferrell is... Will Ferrell.
posted by maryr at 7:59 AM on August 27, 2014

If you're talking about Andy Kaufman's contributions to the early SNL, you have to talk about Albert Brooks.

Originally offered the role of permanent host - but unwilling to move to NYC -- he and Lorne Michaels settled on him mailing in short films from the coast. The arrangement lasted only for the first season, but resulted in six brilliant shorts that are all available on the first season DVD collection and pretty damn hard to find otherwise.

Here's a detailed description of these and two other short films Brooks made in the 70s, one being the trailer for his film debut Real Life. I don't know of any other film trailer that previews the sensibiilty of the film, without bothering to preview any of the actual content.

It is hilarious and it is here.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:32 AM on August 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

I am glad I don't think that the show was the best when I first started watching it... IMHO it's had its ups and downs, some seasons sucked, some seasons were great, each year has had its share of edginess as well as overindulgence. Watching old episodes, some things seem dated, some things seem fresh as ever. The only season that mostly sucks is season 6, and even that has its charms -- besides watching a bumbling cast stumble through wincingly bad writing, Eddie Murphy as a featured player totally outshines the whole show those few times he's given airtime.
posted by not_on_display at 11:21 AM on August 27, 2014

SNL VOTERS REVEAL HAIR PREFERENCE

Ferrell wins. Hartman second.

Good on 'em.
posted by sylvanshine at 3:45 PM on August 30, 2014