# 10 Worst SNL Cast Members of All Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646 "2006-03-16T20:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/41 "2006-03-16T22:25:48Z")
> [@Crown Prince of Irony](#): > > **Tim Meadows** , \*\*Jimmy Fallon \*\* and \*\*Colin Quinn \*\* belong nowhere near that list - Belushis they ain’t, but they sure aren’t rock bottom. I beg to differ… Colin Quinn’s appearance on “Celebrity Poker Showdown” was the only time he’s ever been tolerable. On SNL, he was just a black hole from which no humor could escape. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/42 "2006-03-16T22:55:27Z")
> [@woodstockbridybird](#): > > And how anyone could stand up for Colin Quinn as a performer, on the show or anywhere else, baffles me. > [@Mr2001](#): > > I beg to differ… Colin Quinn’s appearance on “Celebrity Poker Showdown” was the only time he’s ever been tolerable. On SNL, he was just a black hole from which no humor could escape. Let me explain my decision - I’m thinking of the first episode on which Quinn hosted Weekend Update. While not funny per se, his speech at the beginning of his first “Update” was a bit emotional for this devout Norm MacDonald fan: ‘You know how you go to your favorite bar, and your local bartender isn’t there? You ask, “Where’s Jeff?” “Jeff no longer works here, I’m Steve.” And you’re thinking, “Hey, who’s this idiot? I like Jeff.” But you still want your drink? And even though Steve doesn’t mix your drink the same way you’re used to, like Jeff, you still like the same bar, you don’t want to have to go to a different bar. And even Steve might feel kinda bad because Jeff trained him. Jeff showed him how to work the cash register, where the tonic was on the soda gun, who tips, who doesn’t…Well…I’m Steve. What can I get you?’ So that earns him a pass in my book. But yeah, the rest of his Weekend Update tenure su-hu-hu-hucked. Ironically enough, Norm MacDonald has nearly equaled the Quinnster in sucktitude since his firing from SNL. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/43 "2006-03-16T23:03:36Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Am I insane, or has no one mentioned Rob Schneider yet? I’m trying to block his existence from my memory. The only laughter that guy has ever inspired is in the form of parodies of his movies on South Park. “Rob Schneider burk ba durk da diddle-dee-dum-ti-doo!” ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/44 "2006-03-16T23:10:26Z")
Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, both obnoxious one-trick ponies - it was always a contest to see who sucked worse. Most of the time, Sandler won. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/45 "2006-03-16T23:22:33Z")
The recurring “Wish it was [holiday] today…” was pretty much the Beatles of Bad 21st century SNL performers to me: Fallon, Sanz, Kattan, Morgan). That’s when a masked man who looked amazingly like John Belushi should have dropped a chandelier onto the stage. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/46 "2006-03-16T23:27:04Z")
**Sampiro.** Or better, dropped from the chandlier onto the stage. **Crown Prince of Irony.** So true, which is a damned shame, because Norm McDonald is only second to Tina Fey in Weekend Update Awesomeness, eclipsing both the Jane Curtin / Dan Ackroyd duo and Roseanne Rosannadana. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/47 "2006-03-17T01:31:32Z")
No one has mentioned **Danitra Vance**? And while I was tempted to give **Mary Gross** a pass for her Alfalfa character and one killer Marilyn Monroe imitation, they don’t outweigh everything else she did. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/48 "2006-03-17T01:45:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m trying to block his existence from my memory. The only laughter that guy has ever inspired is in the form of parodies of his movies on South Park. “Rob Schneider burk ba durk da diddle-dee-dum-ti-doo!” I keep thinking he had one funny skit on SNL. You know the one, oh wait no that was Dana. Oh, oh the one where he use to, no that was Meyers. Oh that’s right, his only skit was the annoying copier guy. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/49 "2006-03-17T01:47:40Z")
Is it a greater sin to be so useless that barely anyone remembers your tenure on the show or so amazingly irritating that legions curse your tenure on the show? ---
**Author:** ![lobstermobster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobstermobster/32/10033_2.png) [@lobstermobster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobstermobster)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/50 "2006-03-17T02:32:15Z")
I love Horatio Sanz! He makes a great Elton John and does anyone remember when he was Billy Joel driving those girls out to the Hamptons? Or when he goes into Jeffery’s and defends his members only jacket to the snotty employees? or the Christmas song he does? I also love Tracy Morgan. Woodrow the homeless man who stole the mailbox because it had secrets about him and falls in love with Britney Spears? Brian Fellows? “THAT GOAT JUST SMILED AT ME!” Or Astronaut Jones? I don’t know I just think those two are undeserving of such criticism! ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/51 "2006-03-17T02:45:24Z")
I would add Christine Ebersole, but I have no evidence to back it up. I cannot remember a single sketch she performed in. I only remember her from the beginning, dancing in a somewhat low-cut gown. I also remember that she was married to an executive at NBC. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/52 "2006-03-17T02:54:46Z")
Caveat - I stopped watching SNL after about 1993, so anyone after that is an unknown to me. The bad: Adam Sandler. Hated every character he did, hated almost every appearance he had in every sketch, hated his pre-SNL stand-up, have avoided every one of his movies since. _The Wedding Singer_ and _50 First Dates_ may smell like pumpkin pie, but I’ll never know because I ain’t gonna watch the filthy animal. Rob Schneider. The humor base for everything the man has ever done has centered around how annoying he is. There’s a reason for that. Melanie Hutsell, for reasons already mentioned. Joe Piscopo. He always struck me as a one-note performer, and that one note wasn’t very impressive. Tim Meadows, Julia Sweeny and Ellen Cleghorn aren’t on my list. They never really stood out as exceptionally funny, but they never sucked the funny out of the sketch like Sandler or Schneider did. Chris Farley would be on my list if it weren’t for his motivational speaker character and the Chippendale’s sketch he did with Patrick Swayze. He could be outrageously funny when he sat still, but all too often he went into his drunken howling fratboy persona. From what I read in _Live From New York_, that’s a close reflection of how is own life was going. Sad. Victoria Jackson can not be on my list. In every interview of her that I’ve seen or read, she comes off so completely sweet and sincere that trashing her feels like beating up my best friend’s little sister. Won’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/53 "2006-03-17T05:47:27Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > [snip]I think Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, David Spade, and even Mike Myers were horribly overrated and overexposed at the time, and have never been particularly funny. Halle-freaking-lujah! I’ve defended that opinion so many times that I thought I was the only person on the planet who believed it. No list of “Worst of” is complete without Jim Brewer. That dude is a soul-sucking pit of unfunny. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/54 "2006-03-17T06:03:25Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > Farley would be on my list if it weren’t for his motivational speaker character and the Chippendale’s sketch he did with Patrick Swayze. He could be outrageously funny when he sat still, but all too often he went into his drunken howling fratboy persona. From what I read in _Live From New York_, that’s a close reflection of how is own life was going. Sad. I think, other than the aforementioned Chippendale’s sketch, I have to give Farley props for _The Chris Farley Show_. Especially when he interviewed Paul McCartney: “Remember when you were in The Beatles?” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/55 "2006-03-17T06:06:28Z")
Of course, I didn’t notice this until after I hit “submit:” According to her IMDB biography, Melanie Hutsell was _almost_ fired from SNL after the 1991 season, but was brought back due to the popularity of the Jan Brady character. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/56 "2006-03-17T08:13:02Z")
How about Kevin Nealon? He always seemed like he was nervous to be on TV, and is probably the worst Weekend Update anchor after maybe Colin Quinn. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/57 "2006-03-17T14:58:13Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > No one has mentioned **Danitra Vance**? Danitra Vance, I’m giving a pass, because she was so fucking marginalized on that show: hardly was used as an ensemble player and always cast as hookers and maids. Plus she died of cancer before I could see her other work in other contexts. She’s a big “???” for me the way Finesse Mitchell is for me now. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/58 "2006-03-17T16:58:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The recurring “Wish it was [holiday] today…” was pretty much the Beatles of Bad 21st century SNL performers to me: Fallon, Sanz, Kattan, Morgan). That’s when a masked man who looked amazingly like John Belushi should have dropped a chandelier onto the stage. Ah yes- the Phantom of the Futaba. He would’ve chopped them all in half, and I’d have paid to watch. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/59 "2006-03-17T17:03:00Z")
IMHO, sometimes being a “worst” cast member on SNL isn’t always the performer’s fault. For example: I’ll see your **Anthony Michael Hall** and raise you his partner in crime that season, **Robert Downey Jr.**. They did one funny bit that whole season (“Big Time Professional Golf”), otherwise absolutely useless. **Pamela Stephenson** – very talented, but on SNL, she never got to show it. **Mark McKinney** – Talk about a crash and burn–to go from innovative and clever to trite and unfunny that quickly should cause the “bends”. I hope it was worth the paycheck, Mark! Regarding **Tracy Morgan** : for the most part he’s not that funny, but I confess that “Brian Fellows” gave me the first good laugh I’d gotten from SNL in years. And at the risk of angering fans of his, let me state for the record that, unless he’s playing off **Cheri Oteri** , **Will Ferrell** now and forever bites major hose! I also agree with the previous opinions of **Jim Breuer**. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646/60 "2006-03-17T17:03:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Ah yes- the Phantom of the Futaba. He would’ve chopped them all in half, and I’d have paid to watch. With his Samuri Sword? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-worst-snl-cast-members-of-all-time/348646.md?page=4)