Colin Quinn was good when he was a “guest commentator” on the Weekend Update, but he quickly fell out of character when he became the host, and the whole thing just became silly. Of course, I don’t care for the incredibly snooty Tina Fey (sp?) either.
Yeah, but Tina Fey is just delicious to look at, grrrowl!
Best : Norm MacDonald
Worst: Colin “Should Have Stayed With Remote Control” Quinn
I didn’t realize that this was a thread for positive comments. Having seen the chart posted by BigGiantHead, I want to weigh in: Dennis Miller is the best SNL news anchor I ever saw. He had that deadpan delivery that can make you believe he was actually reporting news until he delivered his punchline. Excellent.
I’m with Chaim.
My favorites, in descending order,
Dennis Miller (no relation)
Chevy Chase
Kevin Nealon
Norm MacDonald
Jane Curtain
Bill Murray
Dan Aykroyd
Christopher Guest
Tina Fey
Colin Quinn
Brian Doyle-Murray
Jimmy Fallon
Charles Rocket
Mary Gross
Brad Hall
I’ve excluded Gail Matthias, because I have no idea who she is. You could argue, however, that this makes her worse than Brad Hall, who at least had enough presence to make remember how much he sucked.
I’ve poured out my hatred of Colin Quinn in other threads and I’d like to chime in again. The man would not know good timing if he was impaled on a gigantic metronome. His delivery was terrible and his attempts at recovery from his poor delivery was even worse. I would rather be stabbed in the eyes with red hot pokers than watch Colin Quinn.
Dennis Miller gets my vote as best anchor. I loved his attitude, his delivery was great, his humor seemed to be somewhat smarter than average (of course this could have been the work of his writers), and he was darn cute.
My vote for best SNL WU host would be Dana Carvey, impersonating Dennis Miller, that bit was hilarious. They even did a synchonized signoff thing at the end.
Good God, Norm McDonald was a horrible anchor. The majority of the laughs he got were the uncomfortable, “umm…heh” kind.
<teenage girl> On a related note, Jimmy Fallon is HOT!!!</tg>
Oh! I completely agree. Plus, he’s got this whole innocent little boy look that is adorable. He always looks like he could use a pat on the head for a job well done when he pulls of a good joke. Kind of beaming like a little boy who just did something he is quite proud of.
LOL I remember that one too. Kevin Nealon gave me one of my favorites. After a particularly offensive joke, there was a smattering of boos and hisses (mostly good natured of course), and Kevin replied, “Hey, I just make 'em up and read 'em.”
And I’ll chime in with my votes:
Bad: Colin Quinn. The Alpha and the Omega of tedium.
Good: Dennis Miller. I’m a big fan of his anyway - and his weekend update delivery was pretty similar to his comedy.
Here’s mine. For those of us too young to remember the 1987 political scene, here’s the situation in a nutshell: two of the top candidates for the 1988 Democratic nomination dropped out of the race, Gary Hart because of an adultery scandal and Joe Biden because of a plaigerism (sp?) scandal. Hart later decided to get back into the race. Miller’s comment:
Earlier this week, Gary Hart re-entered the race for the Democratic nomination, saying, “We should let the voters decide.” Later that day, Joe Biden also re-entered the race, saying, “We should let the voters decide.”
Chaim Mattis Keller
“This week Iowa farmer Joe Blow won 4.5 million dollars in the lottery. When asked if he had any special plans for the money, Mr. Blow replied “No, I think I’ll just keep farming until it’s all gone””
From the “best forgotten” years of 80-85, I absolutely LOVED Tim Kazurinsky’s little professor character with the signes. “Prostitutes have been found to have Whoregasms, while Army generals frequently enjoy Wargasms” LMAO
I’m not sure who said it - but another good one is:
He said one of the funniest things ever on Weekend Update. He had the hots for this model/actress who came on and was all over him, then asked him to marry her and he goes I can’t, I just got playstation 2. Cracked me up
For Dennis Miller I remember he goot up took out a chainsaw and hacked Central America out of the map behind him. I haven’t seen that bit in YEARS. Makes me think they might have banned it.
This Dennis Miller line’s been running through my head: he mentions at the start of WU that he witnessed a car accident involving an old Indian man, whose spirit entered Dennis’s body. “And the worst part is…I’m pretty sure he has a hemorrhoid.”
I’ve only been watching since Dennis Miller — who I think is a comic genius, but has no business in an announcer’s booth — but I would agree that Colin Quinn was the worst of what I’ve seen. The WU anchor needs to parody a news anchor well, and Quinn was too much a gruff guy from the Bronx to pull that off. The WU anchor NEEDS to be a straight man/woman.
And a curse on those who criticize Tina Fey. For one, as the show’s head writer, she had a lot to do with making the show a respected source of comedy again. (I think SNL during the Florida recount had some of the most inspired humor I had seen in a long time.).
Two…[Homer]Mmmmmmmmm… Tina[/Homer]. She’s the geek-girl all of us geek-guys lust after. It’s all about the glasses, man. 
I’m sad to see that the Dennis Miller Routine-o-tron appears to have been disconnected from the Internet.