The ‘Saturday Night Live’ Stars Who Lasted, and the Ones Who Flamed Out
Eddie Murphy, who kept “Saturday Night Live” kicking through four of its bleakest seasons, will return on Dec. 21 to host the show for the first time in 35 years. Murphy has kept his distance from Studio 8H ever since David Spade, then a cast member, made a joke in the 1990s about Murphy’s faltering career. In light of Murphy’s long-awaited homecoming, we plotted the tenures of all 153 comedians who have been officially credited as ‘S.N.L.’ cast members.
From the choppy early seasons, rife with backstage drama and cast refreshes, to the relatively stable lineups of recent years, “S.N.L.” has long served as an incubator for comic talent. Who did the show, and the executive producer, Lorne Michaels, nurture? And who struggled to find a voice? Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.
Every ‘S.N.L.’ cast member’s tenure
Male cast member
Female
- 1975–76
- ’80–81
- ’85–86
- ’90–91
- ’95–96
- ’00–01
- ’05–06
- ’10–11
- ’15–16
The Big Bang 1975–80
A mix of money, cocaine, adulation and all-night writing sessions led to explosive success and burnout for the show’s original cast and writers. Five seasons after “Saturday Night Live” began, amid its highest ratings ever, the last of the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players departed, along with the executive producer, Lorne Michaels.
Sophomore Slump 1980–86
A wunderkind, Eddie Murphy, along with one-year hires Martin Short and Billy Crystal, kept “S.N.L.” alive for the next few years. But the show didn’t begin to stabilize until a year after Michaels returned to the helm in 1985.
Easy Laughs 1986–95
With a boost from the sketch-turned-movie “Wayne’s World,” the show enjoyed a run of popularity in the early ’90s. Skits by Adam Sandler and Chris Farley kept the streak going for a couple of years, until network executives soured on their brand of broad humor. Farley and Sandler were fired, and Michaels set out to rebuild the show once again.
Sobering Up 1995–2011
Twenty years after “S.N.L.” began, a less volatile culture emerged at Studio 8H. “There’s no drugs and there’s no sex at the show now,” Tina Fey told the authors of “Live From New York.” Female representation behind and in front of the camera ticked up, and Amy Poehler and Fey became the first female co-hosts of “Weekend Update.”
New Voices 2011–19
The most recent iteration of “S.N.L.” — starting with Kate McKinnon’s hiring in 2011 — has found itself in the news for more than the edginess of its humor. Racist jokes from Shane Gillis and Melissa Villaseñor that surfaced on Twitter disrupted the tenure of some new hires before they began. The show has also responded to widespread pressure to feature a more diverse set of comedians.
Boys’ Club
Hiring on “S.N.L.” has become increasingly diverse — six of the 10 new players in the past five years have been women or people of color. But looking at the casts over the long run, no season has featured more women than men.
Men
Women
Main cast
Featured cast
1980–81
’90–91
’00–01
’10–11
1980–81
’90–91
’00–01
’10–11
Women
Men
Main cast
Featured cast