SNL: The definitive cast member rating method

Cafe Society
21

I’ve heard more than one SNL’er refer to Hartman as “the glue.”

Fact is, the man could do anything asked of him. And he did it well. I can’t recall NOT laughing at something he did on the show.

As far as stock characters, have you forgotten: Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, the Anal-Retentive “whatever,” and his uncanny knack for impressions? Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra, just to name a few.

The man was Midas on that show. He could take crap, and make it watchable.

“She gave me several options…”

22

Eddie Murphy: Absolutely—if any name deserves to be here, he does. He came closer than anyone else has to carrying the entire show by himself. I can’t argue with Phil Hartman. But Chris Rock, and possibly also Bill Murray, when judged strictly by their SNL work, aren’t impressive enough; what they did there was overshadowed by their later careers.

My Hall of Fame would also include John Belushi, maybe Chase, possibly Aykroyd (Omniscient makes a good case), probably Dana Carvey and Mike Myers. Depending on how strict we want to be, maybe Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Chris Farley, Gilda Radner… If not, they’re at least Aces.

All of the current women (Pohler, Rudolph, Dratch, Fey) are somewhere between Yeomen and Aces, possibly full-fledged Aces (especially Pohler), with the chance of climbing even higher.

I agree with JThunder about Kevin Nealon being underrated; I’d put him just a notch below Aykroyd. I’ll also support Mr. Blue Sky’s nomination of Tim Kazurinsky.

Guest hosts who are Aces include Steve Martin, Christopher Walken, and possibly Alec Baldwin.

I can’t agree with any of these; all are clearly talented and, at times, extremely funny.

I think we need a new category: Performers Who, While Not Objectively Duds, Really Just Rub You Personally The Wrong Way. These are the ones whom you can maybe see why other people think they’re funny or talented but for yourself you never want to see them again. For me, this category would include Cheri O’Teri, Molly Shannon, and Chris Kattan. Rodgers01 and I obviously have very different tastes.

23

No, no they aren’t. (See? This is how religious wars start! :smiley: )

I like your new category. I would place there Adam Sandler and all the others I listed as Duds.

No…on second thought I would still list Franken and Farley as Duds.

24

I’d put Oteri, Chris Farley and Will Ferrell in there.

25

I’d put Billy Crystal in that category. He’s clearly been successful and has a fan base and I wouldn’t say he’s untalented but I’ve just always found something kind of annoying and precious about him.

26

Hartman was always solid, and practically always funny, but I can’t say I always found him to be laugh-out-loud funny. I think of him as the consummate supporting character: a great backup who brought out the best in other people, but seldom took central stage himself. Even in his post-SNL career, he was almost always just a supporting character – a good one, and often a great one, but still a supporting character. I can’t think of any real “Phil Hartman” movies, and I’m not aware of any Phil Hartman books or CDs. (Phil Hartman stand-up? What would that be? I can’t even imagine what he’d talk about or what his style would be.) Did he really effect the zeitgeist? Would people actually talk about him around the water cooler on Monday?

As for his characters, it is perhaps an arbitrary distinction, but I put impersonations and characters in two different categories. Hartman was an excellent impersonator, but he didn’t develop any truly classic characters, at least as far as I’m concerned. Even Frankenstein was really a Boris Karloff impersonation; Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer never really did it for me, and to be honest, I don’t remember Anal-Retentive Guy.

He was a definite Ace, maybe even first among the Aces. But Hall of Fame (using the transcendant definition from the OP)…mmm…

There’s a theory that actors are never truly “celebrities” to you unless they were famous when you were a kid. I think there’s a similar principle at work here: there are certain SNL characters who are never really funny to you unless you first encountered them in your youth. Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon, et al were on the show when I started watching around the age of 13 or 14. Some of the stuff they did was juvenile and stupid, but like most kids that age, I had a juvenile, stupid sense of humor, so I thought it was hilarious. That happy association has carried on to today – even when I catch reruns of the cast from that era, it strikes that same, nostalgic funny-bone. The juvenile, stupid stuff some of the current cast does doesn’t appeal to me at all – but in 10 years there’ll be a bunch of 20-somethings claiming that this was a classic period, and nominating Horatio Sanz for the hall of Fame.

27

The aggregate weight of Phil Hartman’s work is greater than his parts. For me, he deserves to be a SNL Hall of Famer for the Ronald Reagan skit alone.

You know the one I mean.

28

according to the rules of pop culture gossip:

HoF’s - everybody who was on the first season, and everybody who’s dead

Duds - everybody else, and Charlie Rocket until everybody remembers who he was.

29

Steve Martin was never a cast member, if I recall correctly. He just hosted a lot.

30

From the OP:

Classic hosts: Steve Martin, John Goodman, Alec Baldwin. Any others?

31

My youthful period of watching the show was 87-92.

“And you don’t need to know!”

Tom Hanks. When he bumped his knee before coming out? He was always willing to try anything.

Can’t believe we haven’t mentioned Dennis Miller. I’d put him as an ace. Weekend Update was always one of the things I really looked forward too. Remember when he took a chainsaw out and cut Central America out of the map? I neverever saw it in repeats. But outside of that he never was anybody but himself. Nuther Hanks moment, him and Spade as other Dennis Millers.

32

If regular hosts are acceptable, then I say Buck henry. He was always good, got along with the cast, and took a sword like a trouper.

33

No they won’t.