Here's some stuff that happened in the past
Who Is in Your Saturday Night Live Top Ten?
One of the reasons I wanted to watch and write about every episode of Saturday Night Live for my Every Episode Ever project at Buttondown is because Lorne Michaels’ comedic institution (which is so crazy sometimes that I think it belongs in an institution) has created more superstars than any other show in television history.
That’s at least partially attributable to the show’s longevity and constant turnover. Saturday Night Live is undoubtedly the only television comedy to have hundreds upon hundreds of cast members over a nearly half-century.
It’s no exaggeration to say that twenty percent of the most successful people in comedy have a connection to Saturday Night Live. Granted, I did pull that number out of my ass but it seems right.
Sometimes, that connection is very strong. A lot of huge names got their start on Saturday Night Live. I’m talking about folks like Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, and Will Ferrell, who became big names while they were still on the show.
Then there are people who worked on Saturday Night Live and became incredibly successful despite their time there. With that in mind, I have made a list of the ten most successful Saturday Night Live alumni whose success is built upon their time at the show and ten who became ridiculously successful despite working on Saturday Night Live.
Normally, I write very long posts that get very few comments. This time around, I am going to write a short post that I hope gets lots of comments because I would love to see who is on your top ten lists.
Let the arguing (respectfully) begin!
Stars Because of SNL
1. Eddie Murphy
2. Bill Murray
3. Will Ferrell
4. Tina Fey
5. Amy Poehler
6. Dan Aykroyd
7. Mike Myers
8. Chris Rock
9. Billy Crystal
10. Martin Short
Runners up
Phil Hartman
Kate McKinnon
Kristin Wiig
Seth Myers
Fred Armisen
Al Franken
Conan O’Brien
Bob Odenkirk
Adam McKay
Michael Schur
Jason Sudeikis
John Mulaney
John Belushi
Chevy Chase
Successful despite SNL
Robert Downey Jr.
Larry David
Jim Henson/Frank Oz
Ben Stiller
Sarah Silverman
Damon Wayans
Joan Cusack
Christopher Guest
Tim Robinson
Terry Southern
Runners up
Laurie Metcalfe
11. John Swartzwelder
12. Louis CK
What do you think? Also, this is not a list of favorite or best cast members and writers, just the most successful.
THOSE lists are for another time. Depending on how this does, that time might come very, very soon.
neat, eh? Man, I LOVE this silly newsletter.
Here are my picks in no particular order, and I haven't put a huge amount of thought into this. Phil Hartman Bill Murray Kate McKinnon Dan Aykroyd Tina Fey Kristin Wiig Bill Hader Steve Martin Conan O'Brien Will Ferrell
How does Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s not appear anywhere? She should be Top 5 on the “In Spite of SNL” list.
P.S. I should also note that these are worldwide numbers, which artificially inflates the animated takes for countries that won't get any SNL voices. And it's a good reminder that Laraine Newman has been doing an insane amount of voice work since the late 90s, even though she's not in front of the camera very often anymore. She does everything from main roles to background voices for all the big studios.
Whenever I think of Martin Short, it's as a member of SCTV, not SNL, even though he did some great work at 30 Rock. I'd swap him out for Chevy Chase or John Belushi. If he hadn't died, I feel Belushi would have continued to be a comedic force, and Chase at least had a solid decade after he left the show, before his star faded drastically in the mid-'80s.
(Looks back at Chase's early filmography and sees Deal of the Century, Oh Heavenly Dog Under the Rainbow and Modern Problems ... OK, he had a spotty decade after leaving the show, but the highs - Foul Play, Caddyshack, Fletch, various Vacations, The Three Amigos - were pretty good. The less said about his talk show, the better.)
Was Robert Smigel there? I feel like he was there. It's pretty surprising to think that Dana Carvey can't be on any of these lists because he had no real success after the show.
Me would argue Chris Rock belong in "despite" list. He was on show for 3 seasons, was underused, and not enjoyed his time there. No one saw him on show and thought "this person should be movie star," as was case with Chase or Ferrell. He only had post-SNL career because he happened to be best stand-up comic of his generation, but other than bump in name recognition, me not think SNL really help much.
And me agree with distant cousin Stephen Cookie about Martin Short. Me started watching SNL in late 80s, and it was probably ten years before me knew Short had even been on show.
"What do you think? Also, this is not a list of favorite or best cast members and writers, just the most successful."
That sounds like a denial of subjectivity that's begging for a real objective answer. So, at least in terms of box office success, these are the top 10 SNL Alumni (source is https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-star-records/worldwide/lifetime-acting/top-grossing-stars):
Now that's a surprising list! It apparently includes voice acting in animated features, where certain alumni have done a lot high-grossing movies. That's why we see Newman, Hader and Slate at all, and Wiig and Stiller get a bump for starring in some big animated franchises (Despicable Me and Madagascar). Also, this is no adjusted for inflation, so recent success from RDJ beats out Murphy's hits from 30-40 years ago.