Rolling Stone's rankings of SNL Cast Members

[strummingram]

They fail miserably in my opinion.

The Top 10 are:

10- Chevy Chase
9- Gilda Radner
8- Amy Poehler (WHAT???)
7- Phil Hartman
6- Bill Murray
5- Dan Aykroyd
4- Mile Myers
3- Tina Fey (seriously???)
2- Eddie Murphy
1- John Belushi

My favorite SNL years (the ones that I watched LIVE as a kid) were the Eddie Murphy/Piscopo years and my favorite was the Martin Short/Billy Crystal/Christopher Guest season. They say you can guess a person's age by their favorite SNL era. I did start to watch it again in the early 90's. Then I bailed on it and didn't get reqcquainted till I watched reruns on Comedy Central in the 2000's. That's when I finally knew the Will Ferrell-era players.vI never thought the original cast was any better than many other great casts, but I guess since they were the first, they always get the most love. Of the original cast, Belushi and Chase rarely ever made me laugh. Murray and Aykroyd? Definitely.

Anyway, Rolling Stone sucks at ranking musical talent, so why not suck at this. Hey, if you can't actually DO what artists can do, why not make a living trying to critique them?

The List of 141 Ranked

 

[BillyL]

WOW . . . I just went through that entire list, my Lord, the number of good folks that appeared on SNL is amazing.

I don't really have a problem with the top 10 folks . .


Thanks for the share, Strum . .

 

[TarHeelMark]

I just went through it myself. I've been SNL since the first season, and pretty much remembered all those names and faces. For the most part, they did a decent job of ranking them. I'd probably have to put Eddie at no. 1 since he was phenomenal and basically carried the show during his tenure and saved it from certain death in the early 80's.

Robert Downy Jr at dead last... that's funny (and accurate). He was turrrible; good actor now, but awful on SNL.

 

[coryfly]

I was a huge Dana Carvey fan. There have been so many great ones to come through there though.

 

[prlyles]

Originally posted by TarHeelMark:
I just went through it myself. I've been SNL since the first season, and pretty much remembered all those names and faces. For the most part, they did a decent job of ranking them. I'd probably have to put Eddie at no. 1 since he was phenomenal and basically carried the show during his tenure and saved it from certain death in the early 80's.

Robert Downy Jr at dead last... that's funny (and accurate). He was turrrible; good actor now, but awful on SNL.

I agree, not a bad list. I would rank Gilda Radner higher, she was a comic genius.

 

[prlyles]

Radner's Roseanne Rosannadanna Stop Smoking skit is one of the funniest things to ever be shown on TV IMO.

This post was edited on 2/20 9:06 AM by prlyles

Link

 

[coolwaterunc]

Any top 10 without Will Ferrell in it is a joke. He saved SNL.

 

[NCAAUCoach]

Originally posted by coolwaterunc:
Any top 10 without Will Ferrell in it is a joke. He saved SNL.

Add this guy.

 

[gunslingerdick]

There have been better overall actors, but for my money, Phil Hartman was the greatest SNL actor ever. We truly lost a comedic genius too early.

I think Belushi is overrated. Funny, but overrated.

 

[Raising Heel]

Originally posted by gunslingerdick:
There have been better overall actors, but for my money, Phil Hartman was the greatest SNL actor ever. We truly lost a comedic genius too early.

I think Belushi is overrated. Funny, but overrated.

Tend to agree on both points. Hartman's greatest asset was his versatility.

 

[NCAAUCoach]

Originally posted by gunslingerdick:
There have been better overall actors, but for my money, Phil Hartman was the greatest SNL actor ever. We truly lost a comedic genius too early.

I think Belushi is overrated. Funny, but overrated.

I don't think Belushi is funny at all. I agree on Hartman. He was a good one.

 

[strummingram]

Belushi made me laugh in Animal House. That one scene when he is trying to cheer-up Flounder after they return from the road trip and trashed his brother' car... THAT was funny. Stephen Dorf has said that it took dozens of takes to get that scene because he couldn't keep from laughing.

One of my all-time favorite SNL sketches was the Jackie Rogers, Jr. 100,000 Jackpot Wad, where Billy Crystal was Sammy Davis, Jr. and James Belushi was Captain Kangaroo. Martin Short's Jackie Rogers character was hilarious. He brought a few of his SCTV characters into SNL. It's a shame that cast was only one season... it was by far the best to me.

 

[DeanFor President]

Originally posted by Raising Heel:

Originally posted by gunslingerdick:
There have been better overall actors, but for my money, Phil Hartman was the greatest SNL actor ever. We truly lost a comedic genius too early.

I think Belushi is overrated. Funny, but overrated.

Tend to agree on both points. Hartman's greatest asset was his versatility

Nailed it, bof of ya

 

[bleeduncblue]

I'm no Belushi fan either. Loved Chevy Chase, Norm MacDonald, Farley, Ferrell and Tracy Morgan.

Does anyone know of a site where you can literally watch any SNL skit from the past? I've visited the NBC site but they only have a select few skits up there, from various seasons. I'd love to have access to the entire batch.

 

[strummingram]

Originally posted by bleeduncblue:
I'm no Belushi fan either. Loved Chevy Chase, Norm MacDonald, Farley, Ferrell and Tracy Morgan.

Does anyone know of a site where you can literally watch any SNL skit from the past? I've visited the NBC site but they only have a select few skits up there, from various seasons. I'd love to have access to the entire batch.

I heard Hulu allows access to almost all the Lorne Michaels' casts. That sucks for me because my favorites are when he wasn't involved. Nothing against him, but he left the show from '80-'85/86

 

[ROYANDDEAN]

was an awesome trip through time. I watched mainly from 1995-2005. I wonder if the show today can even touch those years