SNL alumni

I know you guys don't get SNL and haven't seen a lot of their sketches but I grew up on it. I would sneak downstairs while my parents where asleep to watch it at midnight.
I grew up with many of my favourite movies in the 80s consisting of SNL alumni.
The show has had some really bad streaks of poor comedy but I think its actually got better over the last few years. A lot of folks on here like to knock the veteran skit comedy show but I think it's produced some classic skits and forwarded the careers of top comedic talent.
I thought I'd list a few that I think went on to make great careers (including the ones I disliked) season by season up till 2007:

Check out some of these names season by season:
Season 1 1975

- Dan Aykroyd
- John Belushi
- Chevy Chase
- Gilda Radner

Season 2

-Bill Murray

Season 6 1981-82

-Gilbert Gottfried
-Eddie Murphy
-Joe Piscopo

Season 7

-Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Season 10 1984-85

-Jim Belushi
-Billy Crystal
-Christopher Guest
-Harry Shearer (the guy who does a million different voices in the Simpsons)
-Martin Short

Season 11

-Joan Cusack
-Robert Downey Jr. (that's him on the top with the black hair)
-Jon Lovitz (Lovitz is to the far right)
-Randy Quaid (to the left of Robert Downey)
-Dennis Miller
-Damon Wayans (that might actually be a picture of him on In Living Colour. I don't really remember him on the show and I didn't watch ILC until reruns were on years later.

Season 12 and 13

-Dana Carvey (bottom 2nd to the right next to Lovitz)
-Phil Hartman (Top 2nd to right)
-Kevin Nealon (to the left of Hartman)
-Al Franken

Season 14

-Victoria Jackson
-Mike Myers
-Ben Stiller

Season 16 1990-1991

-Chris Farley
-Tim Meadows (in my opinion one of the most underrated)
-Chris Rock (red jacket)

-Adam Sandler (just above Rock)
-Rob Schneider (2nd row far right)
-David Spade (back row 2nd from left)

Season 19 1993-1994

-Norm Macdonald (in one of my favourite skits ever, the Celebrity Jeopardy)
-Sarah Silverman

Season 20

-Michael McKean
-Chris Elliot
-Molly Shannon

Season 21

- Jim Breuer
-Will Ferrell (funniest skit ever)
-Darrell Hammond (he's the white haired Sean Connery)
-David Koechner
-Mark McKinney (switched to SNL after Kids in the Hall ended)
-Cheri Oteri
-Chris Kattan (Right, I think this sums up the guy's career)
-Colin Quinn

Season 22
-Tracy Morgan

Season 24 1988-1989
-Chris Parnell
-Horatio Sanz
-Ana Gasteyer

Season 25
-Jimmy Fallon
-Rachel Dratch
-Maya Rudolph

Season 26
-Tina Fey (she was only a contributor and yet the only new addition worth talking about).

Season 27
-Seth Meyers
-Amy Poehler
-Fred Armisen
-Will Forte

Season 28
-Finesse Mitchell (not well known but I love his stand up!)
-Kenan Thompson

Season 31 2004-2005
-Rob Riggle
-Jason Sudeikis (one of my favourites on the show)

Season 32 2005-2007
-Kristen Wiig (my favourite woman on the show right now)
-Bill Hader
-Andy Samberg

And I'll stop there.

Quote: Curt @ June 16 2009, 11:01 PM BST

I would sneak downstairs while my parents where asleep to watch it at midnight.

View original

Dirty boy... oh wait, never mind...

How do comedians/actors end up on the show? Do SNL send football-style scouts out to comedy clubs?

Yes, I believe they do.

Have they ever had a non-American/Canadian on the show?

I think Cook & Moore did it?

Yea there are some pretty good stories of Lorin Michaels scouting the clubs.
He stole a lot from different well known comedy troops back in the day like Second City, Kids in the Hall and The Groundlings.

Quote: catskillz @ June 17 2009, 12:09 AM BST

Have they ever had a non-American/Canadian on the show?

View original

As guests there were TONS.
But yes like Leevil said there were a few I can't remember their names right now.
Morwenna Banks from comedy series Absolutely. She was on in 1994 (season 20)

Cool post thanks. I knew a lot of them but some real surprises like Robert Downey Jnr! I'm following an impressionist on YouTube who details his experience of going to a SNL audition after being spotted on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MXBygaetgQ

I love those jeopardy sketches, I watched through them all the other day on FunnyOrDie.

heh the kids pretty good. I liked his John Lovitz

Billy Crystal looks young in that picture,

Nice post, Curt. We had some from two or three years ago on one of our digital TV stations, but they stopped showing it. I think some of the current team are really good. Quite a few seem to be gradually filtering through to films, particulalry of the Judd Apathow variety. A great pity we've got nothing of the same ilk in this country.

Quote: john lucas 101 @ June 17 2009, 11:06 AM BST

A great pity we've got nothing of the same ilk in this country.

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BBC Three's The Wall?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/thewall/

Quote: chipolata @ June 17 2009, 11:09 AM BST

BBC Three's The Wall?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/thewall/

View original

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Bring on the wall!

Quote: john lucas 101 @ June 17 2009, 11:10 AM BST

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Bring on the wall!

View original

I'd forgot about the excellent Hole in the Wall! When we put our minds to it, we really can produce some quality TV that puts the rest of the world to shame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWDrNkiKIJ4&feature=channel

How could you leave out Adam Sandler? The sketches he did with Chris Farley were 'da shizzle'. It had that Pete and Dud feel as Sandler was on the verge of corpsing each time.

Ben Stiller's short film 'The Hustler of Money' is also worth noting, shown as an SNL Short, it also featured the Dad off Frasier.