While most people might struggle to remember their contributions to the show, without these SNL talents, it’s highly doubtful the show would have earned the same avid acclaim over the past five decades.
Every time audiences tune into Saturday Night Live, they can rest assured that they’re watching some of the finest performers in the comedic field. Along with its sharp writing and topical sketches, SNL has consistently boasted some of the greatest comedic talents of their respective generations, whether discussing someone as chaotic as John Belushi or as refined as Tina Fey.
Unfortunately, for every Will Ferrell, Mike Myers, or Adam Sandler, SNL has featured a standout cast member whose tenure on the show has faded into relative obscurity. While most people might struggle to remember their contributions to the show, without these SNL talents, it’s highly doubtful the show would have earned the same avid acclaim over the past five decades.
Will Forte
In many ways, Will Forte was a comedian well ahead of his day and age. Appearing on SNL’s cast list from the early 2000s until 2010, Forte perfected the art of straight-faced delivery, no matter how absurd or outlandish his lines might be. Before The Office or Parks and Recreation popularized cringe comedy, Forte was busy making audiences wince and chuckle at the same time, as seen through his painfully awkward characters like Tim Calhoun, Greg Stink, or his breakout MacGyver spoof, MacGruber.
Molly Shannon
Few SNL comedians possessed the same comedic range as Molly Shannon. Like Gilda Radner or Kristen Wiig, Shannon could do anything and everything that was asked of her, from playing the mild-mannered host of “Delicious Dish” to frightening audiences with her psychotic Mary Katherine Gallagher. Bold, daring, and always ready to expand her horizons in terms of her on-screen roles, Shannon had the same air of utter unpredictability as John Belushi or Chris Farley before her.
Cheri Oteri
From 1995 to 2000, Cheri Oteri took the world of SNL by storm with her brash, outspoken, overwhelmingly idiosyncratic characters. Though she seldom played a convincing straight character in a sketch, Oteri handled the role of remarkably unhinged characters with gusto. Regularly grabbing our attention no matter how limited her screen-time might be, Oteri perfectly matched the same comedic energy as her foremost co-stars, making her an excellent fit for one half of SNL’s peppy Spartan Cheerleaders.
Bobby Moynihan
As with all the best SNL players, Bobby Moynihan could make you double over with laughter by a mere facial expression alone. Demonstrating unparalleled range as a comedian, Moynihan could effortlessly play a conventional straight man, as well as endlessly bizarre characters like the rambling Drunk Uncle or the flirtatious Janet Peckinpaugh. A comedian skilled in slapstick and physical comedy, Moynihan never wasted an opportunity to deliver his lines in an entertaining manner, crafting quotable dialogue out of potentially minute scripts.
Rachel Dratch
We can confidently say that nobody could pull off a role like SNL’s pessimistic Debbie Downer as gracefully as Rachel Dratch. Seizing advantage of Dratch’s unique flair for oddball characters, SNL routinely shined a spotlight on Dratch’s eminent adaptability as a performer. As further proof of her significant range, just take a look at her various roles as male characters – like her shaky-voiced version of Ron Weasley or her hopelessly out-of-touch Hollywood producer, Abe Scheinwald.
Darrell Hammond
In hindsight, Darrell Hammond’s immense list of accolades within SNL speak for themselves. After Kenan Thompson, Hammond was the longest-running cast member in SNL’s production history, appearing in a total of 14 seasons. Portraying 107 celebrities over the course of his time on SNL, Hammond demonstrated the same rigid work ethic as other breathtaking SNL impressionists, falling somewhere into the same chameleon-like category as Phil Hartman, Bill Hader, or Dana Carvey.
Dana Carvey
Like his eventual successor Bill Hader, Dana Carvey didn’t simply play characters – he became those characters every time he stepped onto SNL’s soundstage. When it came to his celebrity impressions, Carvey pulled out all the stops in recreating his real-world counterparts’ mannerisms (something best evidenced in his nasal-voiced caricature of George H.W. Bush). Yet it’s Carvey’s original characters that earn him a top spot on this list. Whether portraying a supporting sidekick like the soft-spoken Garth or taking center-stage as the jeering Church Lady, Carvey virtually left no trace of himself behind in his most famous sketches – a feat only a handful of SNL talent can properly pull off.
