For the hell of it, and because I've watched the show since its first year and really don't think THIS particular cast is as god-awful as so many folks mention like a given throwaway line ... I started perusing old casts.
Some are incredibly great, especially the earliest years. Obviously, a smaller cast, but not a weak spot in the starting lineup. The numbers have grown over the years, so that can help the depth, I suppose.
I think these two are among the very good full lineups, looking back.
2001-2002
Rachel Dratch
Jimmy Fallon
Will Ferrell
Tina Fey
Ana Gasteyer
Darrell Hammond
Chris Kattan
Tracy Morgan
Chris Parnell (first episode back: March 2, 2002)
Amy Poehler (upgraded to repertory status: Jan. 12, 2002)
Maya Rudolph
Horatio Sanz
Dean Edwards
Seth Meyers
Jeff Richards
1994-1995
Morwenna Banks (first episode: April 8, 1995)
Ellen Cleghorne
Chris Farley
Chris Elliott
Janeane Garofalo (final episode: February 25, 1995)
Norm MacDonald
Michael McKean
Mark McKinney (first episode: January 14, 1995)
Tim Meadows
Mike Myers (final episode: January 21, 1995)
Kevin Nealon
Adam Sandler
David Spade
Al Franken (final episode: May 6, 1995)
Laura Kightlinger
Jay Mohr
Molly Shannon (first episode: Feb. 25, 1995)
Some very solid talent in each lineup, but if I had to pick, I go 1994-95 by a nose.
What's your call? And aside from the original cast (first 2-3 years, can an entire cast compete with these two?
+++
As an aside, here's the current cast. I wonder how many of these will be will become household names 5, 10 or more years down the line.
2020
Beck Bennett
Aidy Bryant
Michael Che
Pete Davidson
Mikey Day
Heidi Gardner
Colin Jost
Kate McKinnon
Alex Moffat
Kyle Mooney
Ego Nwodim
Chris Redd
Cecily Strong
Kenan Thompson
Melissa Villaseñor
Andrew Dismukes
Chloe Fineman
Lauren Holt
Punkie Johnson
Bowen Yang
Phil Hartman
Victoria Jackson
Dana Carvey
Kevin Nealon
Ben Stiller
Mike Myers
Chris Rock
Rob Schneider
Chris Farley
David Spade
Adam Sandler
Julia Sweeney
Tim Meadows
Sarah Silverman
Jay Mohr
Norm Macdonald
Chris Elliott
etc.
Except Stiller I think all those people had at least one overlapping season
John Belushi
Chevy Chase
Jane Curtin
Garrett Morris
Laraine Newman
Michael O'Donoghue (final episode: November 8, 1975)
Gilda Radner
that's why we've all said "other than the original cast..."
Yup, landslide
But I might take Farley over Ferrell straight up, and the rest of that '95 cast is just way too deep. Gotta go with '85.
i've been watching from the very beginning and i'm bullish on the current cast, although some of the righting is too obvious and formulaic these days.
Don't get me wrong, I love Farley and McDonald. But Farley's best moments were earlier seasons and McDonald's best was later.
I like the 2000-2001 cast. It's astoundingly talented.
I'll toss in '90 as a dark horse.
Miller, Myers, Hartman, Carvey, Lovitz, Nealon...
Internal squabbling and raging egos have always been a part of the Saturday Nightethos—“It was a combination of summer camp and concentration camp,” remembers Anne Beatts, one of the show’s original writers; now it’s “a cross between Love Boat and Das Boot,” says Mike Myers, the Wayne’s World star who recently left the show.
But as SNL lurches toward its twentieth birthday this October, the turmoil is producing far fewer laughs. For every bright spot—like Norm MacDonald on “Weekend Update”—there are a planeload of bombs, like an interminable October sketch in which Chris Farley and Tim Meadows simply screamed at each other. Last week, Garofalo fled SNL to make a movie. Writers phone their agents regularly, begging to escape. With ratings down 19 percent from two years ago, and NBC nervously watching the show’s weekly budget climb to an all-time high of $1.5 million, executive producer Lorne Michaels still hasn’t figured out how to put the fun back in dysfunctional.
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The people that were a part of my gang were Will Ferrell fans, but more so for his movies and not his SNL work.
Tina Fey is a very talented person though. I really like her.
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Everything beyond that pales in comparison.
that's why we've all said "other than the original cast..."
I would've loved to see some BBIers tests from when they were in school. Odd fondness for answering questions with options that aren't included within the parameters of the question. LOL.
that said .. I think SNL is pretty lame these days .and it is insane how big the cast is
they could literally split the cast in two and have two separate shows
Jeanine Garafalo left the cast after only a few months because she found the humor too sophomoric and complained it was a boys club. She probably wasn't wrong but as bad as the show was considered in '94-'95 to the point it was almost cancelled, I'll take ANY of those sketches over the utter shit that they pump out now. Also, its done a 180 from being a "boys club" dominated by frat guy humor to the women of the cast dominating the show. And none of them are funny. Sorry but Kate McKinnon is overrated and has no range in her impressions. She has the same crazed vampire grin in everything she does. Aidy Bryant can only play the desperate fat girl. I can't tell much about the male cast members because the writing is such that they can't really show what they're capable of. Micheal Che is OK, I like him. Colin Jost is a second rate Seth Myers who was a second rate Norm MacDonald on Weekend Update
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“They can’t even fake forcing themselves to care,” says a longtime SNL writer who’s saddened by the show’s decline. “When you watch the show on TV, that comes through—it really seems taken with itself. And when it’s as bad as it can be, and people still act like there’s nothing wrong, then it’s sort of like a fuck-you to the audience—‘We don’t have to be good, because we’re Saturday Night Live!’ It’s like the post office. ‘What are you gonna do, deliver the mail yourself?’”
Internal squabbling and raging egos have always been a part of the Saturday Nightethos—“It was a combination of summer camp and concentration camp,” remembers Anne Beatts, one of the show’s original writers; now it’s “a cross between Love Boat and Das Boot,” says Mike Myers, the Wayne’s World star who recently left the show.
But as SNL lurches toward its twentieth birthday this October, the turmoil is producing far fewer laughs. For every bright spot—like Norm MacDonald on “Weekend Update”—there are a planeload of bombs, like an interminable October sketch in which Chris Farley and Tim Meadows simply screamed at each other. Last week, Garofalo fled SNL to make a movie. Writers phone their agents regularly, begging to escape. With ratings down 19 percent from two years ago, and NBC nervously watching the show’s weekly budget climb to an all-time high of $1.5 million, executive producer Lorne Michaels still hasn’t figured out how to put the fun back in dysfunctional.
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My friend's mom gave me that famous issue of New Yorker trashing the show. I wish I saved it.
David Spade described everyone being blindsided by that article. The journalist who wrote it hung out with the cast for a few weeks and acted like he had no issues, laughed hysterically at Farley and then left and published that article just trashing everyone. Spade & Sandler & Farley had to be talked out of finding him and beating him up by Lorne Michaels who threatened to fire them if they did but that's how pissed they were at getting blindsided by it.
The ironic thing is that first paragraph claiming the show had a conceit to it like they didn't care if they were funny is EXACTLY what's wrong with the show NOW.
He's built like a petite teenage girl.
even the terrible trio of Spade, Sandler and Farley I'd give the average journalist a better than 50/50 chance of being fine. Bob Barker kicked Sandler's ass.
He's built like a petite teenage girl.
even the terrible trio of Spade, Sandler and Farley I'd give the average journalist a better than 50/50 chance of being fine. Bob Barker kicked Sandler's ass.
Yeah, I thought the same thing but Spade said that's how fired up they were after someone from the outside they trusted published that poison pen article lol
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Worth reading. Here's an excerpt:
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“They can’t even fake forcing themselves to care,” says a longtime SNL writer who’s saddened by the show’s decline. “When you watch the show on TV, that comes through—it really seems taken with itself. And when it’s as bad as it can be, and people still act like there’s nothing wrong, then it’s sort of like a fuck-you to the audience—‘We don’t have to be good, because we’re Saturday Night Live!’ It’s like the post office. ‘What are you gonna do, deliver the mail yourself?’”
Internal squabbling and raging egos have always been a part of the Saturday Nightethos—“It was a combination of summer camp and concentration camp,” remembers Anne Beatts, one of the show’s original writers; now it’s “a cross between Love Boat and Das Boot,” says Mike Myers, the Wayne’s World star who recently left the show.
But as SNL lurches toward its twentieth birthday this October, the turmoil is producing far fewer laughs. For every bright spot—like Norm MacDonald on “Weekend Update”—there are a planeload of bombs, like an interminable October sketch in which Chris Farley and Tim Meadows simply screamed at each other. Last week, Garofalo fled SNL to make a movie. Writers phone their agents regularly, begging to escape. With ratings down 19 percent from two years ago, and NBC nervously watching the show’s weekly budget climb to an all-time high of $1.5 million, executive producer Lorne Michaels still hasn’t figured out how to put the fun back in dysfunctional.
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My friend's mom gave me that famous issue of New Yorker trashing the show. I wish I saved it.
David Spade described everyone being blindsided by that article. The journalist who wrote it hung out with the cast for a few weeks and acted like he had no issues, laughed hysterically at Farley and then left and published that article just trashing everyone. Spade & Sandler & Farley had to be talked out of finding him and beating him up by Lorne Michaels who threatened to fire them if they did but that's how pissed they were at getting blindsided by it.
The ironic thing is that first paragraph claiming the show had a conceit to it like they didn't care if they were funny is EXACTLY what's wrong with the show NOW.
Beat me to it. Norm Macdonald said the same thing. That it seems like the guy planned to write a trashy article from the outset, since he was having a great time all week.
I love them, but I don't agree. IMHO Dana Carvey would have been the best member of that cast.
He's built like a petite teenage girl.
even the terrible trio of Spade, Sandler and Farley I'd give the average journalist a better than 50/50 chance of being fine. Bob Barker kicked Sandler's ass.
Lol according to some Hornswoggle was the meanest of the WWE locker room.
John Belushi
Chevy Chase
Jane Curtin
Garrett Morris
Laraine Newman
Michael O'Donoghue (final episode: November 8, 1975)
Gilda Radner
LOL. Now Stan can’t even read correctly...
Norm and Dennis Miller were as good as anybody.
Norm was the best ever, imho. And the last "truly dangerous" cast memebr according to Tina Fey. Not another "Seth!" playing to safe laughs.
I know we aren't allowed to admit that about Miller anymore, but he was.
Norm and Dennis Miller were as good as anybody.
Norm was the best ever, imho. And the last "truly dangerous" cast memebr according to Tina Fey. Not merely another "Seth!" playing to safe laughs.
I know we aren't allowed to admit that about Miller anymore, but he was.