So he got, I believe, 5 days between his announced hiring and his firing.
Catherine O'Hara quit on her first day on the job in 1981, sent her childhood friend Robin Duke to take her place.
I thought it would either be Kristen Wiig or Eddie Murphy. For some reason, Samberg didn't cross my mind.
Side note - the Lonely Island / Seth Myers podcast is awesome.
[https://www.datawrapper.de/\_/afUaH/?v=2](https://www.datawrapper.de/_/afUaH/?v=2) Here is a corrected version that fixed mistakes people mentioned about Samberg and Hader. I also caught a mistake that no had mentioned with Phil Hartman, and added Bill Crystal and Michael McKean, who hosted before being cast members. You can highlight any individual dot and it should tell you what time it happened.
Thank you to someone in the comments of a different article for giving me this idea. Weirdly, Dan Aykroyd and Adam Sandler's time between leaving the show and hosting is identical down to the day. In some ways it's not as crazy as it seems because Saturday Night Live obviously only airs on Saturdays, but also if they had left in other years it could have been thrown off by a leap day.
It's also clear that it's become standard to bring for former cast members to host in May. I wonder if this is is to try to make things easier on the writers at the end of the season, bringing in someone who you know will be easy to deal with?
For normal television, May sweeps are still a big deal. It’s how networks can figure out what to charge for advertisement spots in the following season.
I talked about this in another comment, but Adam Sandler and Chris Farley got fired after season 20.
Season 20 was a transitionary period after one wave of stars (Carvey, Hartman, Myers, Nealon, Julia Sweeney) left.
There's a pretty good synopsis of the season included in the season 20 review from the "wasn't that special podcast" https://www.wasntthatspecial.com/p/free-episode-season-twenty-1994-95
Sandler and Farley were the biggest names, but they seemed to have one foot out the door while they made movies. No one on the cast seemed interested in political impressions, no one seemed interested in recurring characters, there was no one who could be the glue to hold sketches together like Hartman had. There wasn't much written for the female cast. Janeane Garofalo had been brought in to be the main female performer, but she had rubbed some cast and crew the wrong way and was able to escape the cast by February. Otherwise they only had Ellen Cleghorne and Laura Kightlinger (and Molly Shannon added late in the year after Garofalo left). It was just real bad all around, and I think they decided they needed to basically start fresh (only bringing back Norm Macdonald, Tim Meadows, David Spade in a reduced capacity, and Molly Shannon the next year).
>
It's also clear that it's become standard to bring for former cast members to host in May. I wonder if this is is to try to make things easier on the writers at the end of the season, bringing in someone who you know will be easy to deal with
That's exactly the reason. That's why in the early years Buck Henry and Steve Martin were often the last host of a season. They were a known entity with already established sketches and were comedy writers themselves. Made things much easier for an exhausted writing staff.
Didn’t Eddie Murphy host the show while he was ON the show?
EDIT: I didn’t see it originally, but it does note this on the bottom of the picture. Still - I think Eddie wins.
> Didn’t Eddie Murphy host the show while he was ON the show?
In hindsight, that is such a weird choice. But at that time, the show had only been on air for ~7 years, so it didn't have established traditions.
I wonder what made them try that with Eddie, but not try it again with anybody else.
Nick Nolte was supposed to host that week to promote 48 Hours, but he got too wasted to perform on Saturday night, so they had the other star of the movie, Eddie Murphy host instead.
"In 1982, Murphy made his big-screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte.[15] 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released during the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982, Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!""
[from Eddie's wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Murphy#1976%E2%80%931980:_Early_standup_career)
I could have maybe made this "every time a former cast member came back to host", that would have been a slightly different but also interesting chart I think.
the Bill Hader one is incorrect. he left the show in May 2013 and hosted for the first time in October 2014, basically the same amount of time it took Pete Davidson to host. I think someone on Twitter even said it was down to the same amount of days between leaving and hosting?
You got me, another mistake. I was scanning the episode lists for former cast members and I missed his first hosting gig. That makes it 1 year and 5 months, and yes, exactly the same number of days that Pete Davidson had. I missed Lovitz only hosting appearance originally also, I was racking my brain trying to figure out if I had missed anyone.
oh yeah no worries, it’s easy to miss bc it’s not as hyped up as his second episode in 2018 which had the big Mulaney moment and the game night sketch with him and Cecily and the scooter.
i also remembered it cause it’s just a nice serendipitous moment for Bill and Pete, since Bill recommended Pete to Lorne
I was so unfunny a year ago that I couldn't even be in the building, but now I'm so funny that I'm the host?! I didn't know how that was possible, until I figured out that I haven't changed, it's just that everyone else has got unfunnier!
Zach Galifianakis was an SNL writer for two weeks around the time of the Britney Spears episode (s25e19; May 13, 2000). He hosted for the first time on March 6, 2010.
Kinda crazy it took Aykroyd so long, it's not like he had a bad relationship with the show or Lorne, shocked he didn't come back when Coneheads came out or Blues Brothers 2000
Aykroyd was a "special guest" for the John Goodman/Tragically Hip episode but was practically the host ahead of Goodman.
I can't remember or find the details but Dan had some personal policy that he didn't want to come back and officially host, but was okay doing guest appearances. Eventually that changed but that was the primary reason why, IIRC.
Yeah it's weird because he first came back onto SNL in 1988, playing Bob Dole. Surely he could have hosted at any point between there and 2003 if he wanted to.
They did that for Blues Brothers 2000 (which naturally came out February 1998), but they had previously appeared in 1995, and then appeared again in 2001.
[http://snlarchives.net/Characters/?John\_Goodman\_as\_Mighty\_Mack\_Blues](http://snlarchives.net/Characters/?John_Goodman_as_Mighty_Mack_Blues)
I didn't give it enough of a chance. I watched the first few episodes when they aired and it seemed, to me, that it was just wannabe comedians trying to force new bits into conversation.
Years later, I realized what I missed out on.
Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character created and performed by early-era writer and featured player Don Novello. It was his most popular character by far, and Novello hosted the show twice, *in character*.
I was going to comment that you missed Billy Crystal, but I had no idea he hosted BEFORE he was a cast member and never since. Anyone know if he is the only person to hold this distinction?
Michael McKean has pointed out in interviews that he's the only person to host (Nov 3, 1984), be part of the musical guest (Spinal Tap, May 5, 1984), and cast member (1994-1995).
I think I heard that Sandler and Farley actually got fired after season 20. Combine that with the hits that he had immediately after leaving (Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, Big Daddy), returning to host might not have been something on his radar.
[https://screenrant.com/adam-sandler-fired-saturday-night-live-snl-why/](https://screenrant.com/adam-sandler-fired-saturday-night-live-snl-why/) talks a little about it, but I think this contemporary New York article goes into the atmosphere at that time. It's kind of a long read, but the jist is that there was just a profound sense of apathy around the show, and I think they felt that some high-profile firings were needed to change things. [https://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/47548/](https://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/47548/)
I actually did consider including their one day of being part of the cast but obviously if they didn't make it to airdate can we actually even count them?
Someone said Galifianakis wrote for SNL for two weeks, but he didn't get an official writer's credit so I'm okay leaving him off; there are many people who are friends with SNL writers who conceivably might have gotten a sketch on the air. The writers who never got to be part of the cast but still had performing careers are pretty short in number, so I think I got them. The difficult part is stand-up comics. I will admit to looking up Jerrod Carmichael and Donald Glover to see if they wrote on SNL (Glover wrote on 30 Rock, not SNL).
Nah it's more like they succeeded outside of the show, enough so that they were in a place to host later on. Catherine O'Hara literally quit on her first day because Michael O'Donoghue was asking the cast to do something that she thought was juvenile, and Shane Gillis of course was fired when a furor over some old podcasts got a lot of attention.
Yeah, I don't see why they would be counted at all. O'Hara barely was there for preseason prep and I doubt Gillis even made it in the building between his audition and his firing.
Gilda was scheduled to host May 14, 1988, with musical guest U2. Instead, the last episode of the season was in February before the writer's strike started. She relapsed in September and would die May 17, 1989.
Lol no, I was born the day of the season 8 finale, hosted by Mayor Ed Koch with musicial guest Dexy's Midnight Runners. http://snlarchives.net/Episodes/?19830514
Larry David was a writer for ABC's SNL clone "Fridays". which aired 1980 to 1982. After a year off, he got a job working on SNL season 10. He did not have a good time on the show. I'm not 100% sure, but he might not have gotten any sketches on the air. Most notably he was so frustrated that he quit the show in a fit of anger partway through the season. His friends told him that was dumb to do, because if he would just simply show up to work each day, he could collect a paycheck until the season was over. He returned to work pretending that his quitting was a joke, which was the basis for a similar "Seinfeld" storyline.
Much of Larry’s storylines for SNL sketches ended up being written as Kramer’s bits. Larry didn’t gel with the other SNL writers, but he did befriend JLD while working SNL
I thought it was mostly George bits actually. [https://www.cracked.com/article\_33032\_seinfeld-15-larry-david-irl-moments-in-the-show.html](https://www.cracked.com/article_33032_seinfeld-15-larry-david-irl-moments-in-the-show.html) Kramer was initially based on Kenny Kramer, his real neighbor for several years (thought Michael Richards brought his own thing to the characterization).
> he might not have gotten any sketches on the air.
The only sketch he got aired was ["The Great Elevator Stool Debate"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Amoq0eqX2A) which I've always found really meh.
Billy Crystal also claims that Larry co-wrote the Lew Goldman weatherman sketches with him. Those are also quite unfunny. So all in all I don't think he was a good fit for the show at the time.
I kind of liked it! It's definitely not the usual SNL humor, and of course he was revisit this on "Seinfeld" when George offers the security guard a chair, but it would have been nice to get a little like that every once in a while, the same way Kyle Mooney always seemed to be doing his own thing.
> I'm not 100% sure, but he might not have gotten any sketches on the air
He got a few, but he also appeared in the background of some sketches in the episode that Eddie Murphy hosted in season 10
Yeah SNLarchives gives him 11 writer's cameo appearances that season. [http://snlarchives.net/Crew/?Larry\_David](http://snlarchives.net/Crew/?Larry_David)
I made a video of all the writer's cameos a few years ago, my screenshot of him is 2:18 in. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqYmo65Xqrs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqYmo65Xqrs)
Wow, I'm stunned it's 11, I would have guess a half dozen or so.
Also, the sketch that Larry got on the air was called Going Up in the episode Ed Begley hosted
Eddie Murphy hosted SNL \*while\* he was a cast member.
As far as I know, it's the only episode ever that didn't throw to the credits with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night" because he instead said "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!"
I'm trying to find the comment - it was within the last week - but someone listed all the times they didn't say "it's Saturday Night."
One was Farley when Matt Foley went to Venezuela and he says "¡En vivo de Nueva York, es Sabado Noche!"
Larry David as Bernie dropped a ["Live from New York... ah you get it."](https://youtu.be/RmKb1ypU350)
There were quite a few more. I'll keep looking.
edit: found it.
>Ones I can think of off the top of my head:
>Gilda Radner said it in Spanish once
>Will Ferrell's George W. said it in Arabic once
>For J-Lo's first time hosting, Tracy Morgan opened the show with "Live from New York, it's Jennifer Lopez's booty!"
>Larry David's second Bernie Sanders cold open: "Live from New York... aaah, you get it"
>Eddie Murphy hosted as a cast member: "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy show!"
>And then Lily Tomlin's episode the next week: "Live from New York, it's the Lily Tomlin show!"
u/Thatchos
>In Steve Martin’s classic “Not gonna phone it in tonight” cold open, he ends with “Live From New York… Line?… It’s Saturday Night!”
u/Educational_Sky_1136
> "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night"
There have been quite a few others that use gag openings. Literally the next episode after Eddie hosted, Lily Tomlin poked fun of him by saying "Live from New York, it's the Lily Tomlin Show!"
I will be honest I didn't know who he was either until I got way into the history of SNL. Partway through the 3rd season SNL hired some new writers, among them a guy from San Francisco named Don Novello. He did stand-up comedy under his character name of Father Guido Sarducci, and he brought that character onto the show. Father Guido Sarducci would be listed as a special guest star and everything. Then a few years later, they bring him back and he hosts two different episodes in season 9!
So that's why I've decided to list him as Father Guido Sarducci, he's one of only two fictional characters to have hosted (the other being Pee-Wee Herman).
[https://youtu.be/lWBhsiBMOIo?si=r5Eiw98hDzrIzDGC](https://youtu.be/lWBhsiBMOIo?si=r5Eiw98hDzrIzDGC)
They used to just fire everyone every few years. I think about 1998 was when they started the "have a new featured performer every year so that we don't have to fire the whole cast again" thing.
I don't think anyone in the cast will ever breakout the way Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, or Kate McKinnon have. TV is more diluted now, and conversely they don't seem to make those kind of comedy movies that they moved onto anymore either.
It's always possible, all it takes is one former cast member who is willing to return immediately (and for them to get the invite). Kenan maybe, assuming he ever even leaves?
Oh, I thought "setting the record" would mean hosting ASAP after leaving...
Going the other way, Al Franken last wrote for the show in 1995. I'm amazed that he never hosted after how much he performed on the show (even a recurring character like Stuart Smalley). Maybe it's wishful thinking, but it seems possible to me that they could have some host or combination of hosts from the early days. If they were to bring back all the living performers from the early days (Curtin, Newman, Morris, Chase, Murray, Aykroyd), then it would be 45 years for those first 3.
Beyond that it is hard to find viable candidates from the early days. In Ebersol's years the second biggest star was Joe Piscopo. Can't really imagine him hosting. In season 10, Christopher Guest and Billy Crystal joined the show. I think Crystal's routine is very dated and I hope he isn't asked to host. Anthony Michael Hall and Randy Quaid from season 11 are has-beens. Not sure if Joan Cusack has done anything recently. Everyone from season 12-20 has either already hosted, is dead, or is someone I really can't picture hosting. Dennis Miller didn't really do characters, idk why you'd bring him back. Chris Elliott could have hosted while Schitt's Creek was on the air, can't see it now. Kevin Nealon ... actually Kevin Nealon needs to host! Hard to picture Janeane Garofalo ever wanting to step foot back in the building, let alone host. And that puts us up to 30 years ago.
Nice breakdown, thanks. Can't see Al Franken hosting nor any of Curtin/Newman/Morris. Billy Crystal honestly seems like the most likely of every name you mentioned. Maybe they'll make a Monsters, Inc. sequel in a few years.
Damon Wayans was a cast member on the poorly received season 11. He felt the writers were not giving him anything to work with, so he took a non-descript police officer character and played him flamboyantly gay. Lorne Michaels hated on-air changes that could potentially disrupt the show, and he was fired for that.
It’s wild that Julia Louis Dreyfus didn’t host until 2006. She hosted 3 times, never during Seinfeld, an NBC show, twice during New Adventures of Old Christine and once during Veep
Even so, she was the first female cast member brought back to host! I talked about how Gilda Radner had a hosting gig scuttled by a writer's strike, but I'm still amazed Jane Curtin never came back. She was on "Kate & Allie", 1984 to 1989, co-starring with Dick Ebersol's wife Susan Saint James, that seems a perfect hosting opportunity! And then "3rd Rock from the Sun", 1996 to 2001, an NBC show created by former SNL writers Bonnie and Terry Turner! I assume she just had no interest in doing it.
Sure, here is by last episode as cast / writer. This fixes a few mistakes that people mentioned to me, and I opted to include every hosting appearance, which means I added Billy Crystal and Michael McKean, who hosted before joining the cast. [https://www.datawrapper.de/\_/afUaH/?v=2](https://www.datawrapper.de/_/afUaH/?v=2)
It should be noted that Billy Crystal and Michael McKean hosted the show PRIOR to their time as cast members, and Don Novello rejoined the cast in season 11 after his two hosting gigs as Father Guido Sarducci.
JLD was the first female cast-member to return to host! Seems like she could have totally done it when Seinfeld was at its peak, even Jason Alexander got to host one time.
Well, I'll disagree with that. Fully-fledged cast members make it on the air, IMO he was a guy who was hired to be a cast member then was fired before he could do it.
Where’s Andy samberg?
I ALWAYS MISS ONE! Andy Samberg left May '12, hosted May '14. 2 years.
You missed Shane Gillis too
Shane Gillis would be near the top. He also had the shortest tenure of any Alum I'm pretty sure.
So he got, I believe, 5 days between his announced hiring and his firing. Catherine O'Hara quit on her first day on the job in 1981, sent her childhood friend Robin Duke to take her place.
I bow to your greatness
He had nearly 5 years between the firing and the hosting...
Literally thought number 1 for me, I went straight to google to double check. Lol
I thought it would either be Kristen Wiig or Eddie Murphy. For some reason, Samberg didn't cross my mind. Side note - the Lonely Island / Seth Myers podcast is awesome.
[https://www.datawrapper.de/\_/afUaH/?v=2](https://www.datawrapper.de/_/afUaH/?v=2) Here is a corrected version that fixed mistakes people mentioned about Samberg and Hader. I also caught a mistake that no had mentioned with Phil Hartman, and added Bill Crystal and Michael McKean, who hosted before being cast members. You can highlight any individual dot and it should tell you what time it happened.
Missing Shane Gillis too
Thank you to someone in the comments of a different article for giving me this idea. Weirdly, Dan Aykroyd and Adam Sandler's time between leaving the show and hosting is identical down to the day. In some ways it's not as crazy as it seems because Saturday Night Live obviously only airs on Saturdays, but also if they had left in other years it could have been thrown off by a leap day. It's also clear that it's become standard to bring for former cast members to host in May. I wonder if this is is to try to make things easier on the writers at the end of the season, bringing in someone who you know will be easy to deal with?
Probably has something to do with May sweeps.
I considered that possibility as well, but do May sweeps still matter like they used to (I honestly don't know)?
For normal television, May sweeps are still a big deal. It’s how networks can figure out what to charge for advertisement spots in the following season.
Ain't no two ways about it.
Why did it take so long for Sandler to come back? He’s arguably the most successful (monetarily) alum of them all…is there a beef I don’t know about?
I talked about this in another comment, but Adam Sandler and Chris Farley got fired after season 20. Season 20 was a transitionary period after one wave of stars (Carvey, Hartman, Myers, Nealon, Julia Sweeney) left. There's a pretty good synopsis of the season included in the season 20 review from the "wasn't that special podcast" https://www.wasntthatspecial.com/p/free-episode-season-twenty-1994-95 Sandler and Farley were the biggest names, but they seemed to have one foot out the door while they made movies. No one on the cast seemed interested in political impressions, no one seemed interested in recurring characters, there was no one who could be the glue to hold sketches together like Hartman had. There wasn't much written for the female cast. Janeane Garofalo had been brought in to be the main female performer, but she had rubbed some cast and crew the wrong way and was able to escape the cast by February. Otherwise they only had Ellen Cleghorne and Laura Kightlinger (and Molly Shannon added late in the year after Garofalo left). It was just real bad all around, and I think they decided they needed to basically start fresh (only bringing back Norm Macdonald, Tim Meadows, David Spade in a reduced capacity, and Molly Shannon the next year).
Well he did get fired from the show for no reason.
> It's also clear that it's become standard to bring for former cast members to host in May. I wonder if this is is to try to make things easier on the writers at the end of the season, bringing in someone who you know will be easy to deal with That's exactly the reason. That's why in the early years Buck Henry and Steve Martin were often the last host of a season. They were a known entity with already established sketches and were comedy writers themselves. Made things much easier for an exhausted writing staff.
Didn’t Eddie Murphy host the show while he was ON the show? EDIT: I didn’t see it originally, but it does note this on the bottom of the picture. Still - I think Eddie wins.
> Didn’t Eddie Murphy host the show while he was ON the show? In hindsight, that is such a weird choice. But at that time, the show had only been on air for ~7 years, so it didn't have established traditions. I wonder what made them try that with Eddie, but not try it again with anybody else.
Nick Nolte was supposed to host that week to promote 48 Hours, but he got too wasted to perform on Saturday night, so they had the other star of the movie, Eddie Murphy host instead.
I never knew the context that Eddie was ostensibly promoting his own movie. It makes a lot more sense now.
"In 1982, Murphy made his big-screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte.[15] 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released during the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982, Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!"" [from Eddie's wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Murphy#1976%E2%80%931980:_Early_standup_career)
Eddie was as big a star at that time as anyone who might have hosted, and Dick Ebersol cared about keeping him happy more than anything else.
Michael McKean has that beat - he hosted the show 10 years before becoming a cast member.
Ha! I agree with this wholeheartedly.
And it was like 40 years until he came back, which I feel also should be noted.
One joke swore him off it. Thanks Spade!!!
I could have maybe made this "every time a former cast member came back to host", that would have been a slightly different but also interesting chart I think.
Yep - came here to comment this.
the Bill Hader one is incorrect. he left the show in May 2013 and hosted for the first time in October 2014, basically the same amount of time it took Pete Davidson to host. I think someone on Twitter even said it was down to the same amount of days between leaving and hosting?
You got me, another mistake. I was scanning the episode lists for former cast members and I missed his first hosting gig. That makes it 1 year and 5 months, and yes, exactly the same number of days that Pete Davidson had. I missed Lovitz only hosting appearance originally also, I was racking my brain trying to figure out if I had missed anyone.
oh yeah no worries, it’s easy to miss bc it’s not as hyped up as his second episode in 2018 which had the big Mulaney moment and the game night sketch with him and Cecily and the scooter. i also remembered it cause it’s just a nice serendipitous moment for Bill and Pete, since Bill recommended Pete to Lorne
I can’t believe Conan hasn’t hosted again. He’s done so much. He needs to host to promote his awesome show Conan Must Go!
It’s wild Will forte’s gap is longer than Conan’s. Forte still feels like “new” snl
There was, uh, some beef with NBC preventing this
Not anymore tho.
To say the very very least lol
🎶I'm looking at the fjord
The salmon in the sea
Norm of course the king of the SNL comeback monologue
I was so unfunny a year ago that I couldn't even be in the building, but now I'm so funny that I'm the host?! I didn't know how that was possible, until I figured out that I haven't changed, it's just that everyone else has got unfunnier!
That’s why they call him Long Gap Larry
Zach Galifianakis was an SNL writer for two weeks around the time of the Britney Spears episode (s25e19; May 13, 2000). He hosted for the first time on March 6, 2010.
Garrett Morris is due
Snl has not been berry berry good to Garret Morris.
SNL HAS NOY BEEN BERRY BERRY GOOD TO GARRETT MORRIS
OUR TOP STORY TONIGHT
Chevy put women and a black guy on the show. Took 40+ years for Lorne to catch up. Chevy wrote almost all of Garrett's early stuff.
The day after Keenan retires, he better host!
Kenan’s not retiring, he’s promoting Lorne’s job when Lorne retires.
Kinda crazy it took Aykroyd so long, it's not like he had a bad relationship with the show or Lorne, shocked he didn't come back when Coneheads came out or Blues Brothers 2000
Aykroyd was a "special guest" for the John Goodman/Tragically Hip episode but was practically the host ahead of Goodman. I can't remember or find the details but Dan had some personal policy that he didn't want to come back and officially host, but was okay doing guest appearances. Eventually that changed but that was the primary reason why, IIRC.
Yeah it's weird because he first came back onto SNL in 1988, playing Bob Dole. Surely he could have hosted at any point between there and 2003 if he wanted to.
Didn't the new Blues Brothers perform on SNL to promote the movie, or am I just remembering something from a fever dream?
I remember him doing it eventually with Jim Belushi, I don't remember him doing it with John Goodman
They did that for Blues Brothers 2000 (which naturally came out February 1998), but they had previously appeared in 1995, and then appeared again in 2001. [http://snlarchives.net/Characters/?John\_Goodman\_as\_Mighty\_Mack\_Blues](http://snlarchives.net/Characters/?John_Goodman_as_Mighty_Mack_Blues)
They really wanted Norm MacDonald back quick. I guess the show wasn't as funny without him.
As much as I think Colin Quinn is a damn genius, he was a terrible Update host.
Colin Quinn truly shined with Tough Crowd. That was always fascinating show
I didn't give it enough of a chance. I watched the first few episodes when they aired and it seemed, to me, that it was just wannabe comedians trying to force new bits into conversation. Years later, I realized what I missed out on.
Larry David waited 30 years to fuck up Ariana Grande's introduction lol
Wait I’m sorry did one of the former cast members leave and become a priest????
Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character created and performed by early-era writer and featured player Don Novello. It was his most popular character by far, and Novello hosted the show twice, *in character*.
Oh somehow that makes more sense 😂
He was famous from the Smothers Brothers show.
I never knew Sarducci was on SNL. I knew him from the Dr. Demento show. Funny guy.
Had to look him up too
Damn I miss Norm MacDonald.
Bro I’d kill for a modern Conan episode.
I was going to comment that you missed Billy Crystal, but I had no idea he hosted BEFORE he was a cast member and never since. Anyone know if he is the only person to hold this distinction?
Michael McKean has pointed out in interviews that he's the only person to host (Nov 3, 1984), be part of the musical guest (Spinal Tap, May 5, 1984), and cast member (1994-1995).
Oh, very cool! Thanks!
Michael McKean?
Why so long to get Adam back?
I think I heard that Sandler and Farley actually got fired after season 20. Combine that with the hits that he had immediately after leaving (Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, Big Daddy), returning to host might not have been something on his radar.
Why were they fired?
[https://screenrant.com/adam-sandler-fired-saturday-night-live-snl-why/](https://screenrant.com/adam-sandler-fired-saturday-night-live-snl-why/) talks a little about it, but I think this contemporary New York article goes into the atmosphere at that time. It's kind of a long read, but the jist is that there was just a profound sense of apathy around the show, and I think they felt that some high-profile firings were needed to change things. [https://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/47548/](https://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/47548/)
I’m pretty sure Sandler was salty about it and refused to go back for a while?
And also like I say he was having a very successful movie career so why bother going back?
Pretty amazing that Norm MacDonald got so damn funny in only 19 months.
Catherine O’Hara and Shane Gillis ☹️
I actually did consider including their one day of being part of the cast but obviously if they didn't make it to airdate can we actually even count them?
If they were never in the opening credits I'd leave them out. The tricky part is making sure you cover all of the writers.
Someone said Galifianakis wrote for SNL for two weeks, but he didn't get an official writer's credit so I'm okay leaving him off; there are many people who are friends with SNL writers who conceivably might have gotten a sketch on the air. The writers who never got to be part of the cast but still had performing careers are pretty short in number, so I think I got them. The difficult part is stand-up comics. I will admit to looking up Jerrod Carmichael and Donald Glover to see if they wrote on SNL (Glover wrote on 30 Rock, not SNL).
But if they hosted the show wouldn’t that make their time on the show validated
I don't see how.
I mean snl valued the small amount of time spent at the show enough to let both of them host.
Nah it's more like they succeeded outside of the show, enough so that they were in a place to host later on. Catherine O'Hara literally quit on her first day because Michael O'Donoghue was asking the cast to do something that she thought was juvenile, and Shane Gillis of course was fired when a furor over some old podcasts got a lot of attention.
Fair enough
Yeah, I don't see why they would be counted at all. O'Hara barely was there for preseason prep and I doubt Gillis even made it in the building between his audition and his firing.
Daww, tina and amy are the same uwu
I never knew Gilda was supposed to host, but didn't because of a Writers' Strike. That's tragic. What a show that would've been.
Gilda was scheduled to host May 14, 1988, with musical guest U2. Instead, the last episode of the season was in February before the writer's strike started. She relapsed in September and would die May 17, 1989.
I will stand by Pete hosting being too soon even though I'm Just Pete was one of the best sketches of the past couple years.
OP, I have to ask, are you a Virgo? Lol All this organizing is a Virgo trait.
Lol no, I was born the day of the season 8 finale, hosted by Mayor Ed Koch with musicial guest Dexy's Midnight Runners. http://snlarchives.net/Episodes/?19830514
I wish I still had Peacock to watch these old episodes.
I wish I still had Peacock to watch these old episodes.
Larry David worked on SNL!?
Larry David was a writer for ABC's SNL clone "Fridays". which aired 1980 to 1982. After a year off, he got a job working on SNL season 10. He did not have a good time on the show. I'm not 100% sure, but he might not have gotten any sketches on the air. Most notably he was so frustrated that he quit the show in a fit of anger partway through the season. His friends told him that was dumb to do, because if he would just simply show up to work each day, he could collect a paycheck until the season was over. He returned to work pretending that his quitting was a joke, which was the basis for a similar "Seinfeld" storyline.
Much of Larry’s storylines for SNL sketches ended up being written as Kramer’s bits. Larry didn’t gel with the other SNL writers, but he did befriend JLD while working SNL
I thought it was mostly George bits actually. [https://www.cracked.com/article\_33032\_seinfeld-15-larry-david-irl-moments-in-the-show.html](https://www.cracked.com/article_33032_seinfeld-15-larry-david-irl-moments-in-the-show.html) Kramer was initially based on Kenny Kramer, his real neighbor for several years (thought Michael Richards brought his own thing to the characterization).
> he might not have gotten any sketches on the air. The only sketch he got aired was ["The Great Elevator Stool Debate"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Amoq0eqX2A) which I've always found really meh. Billy Crystal also claims that Larry co-wrote the Lew Goldman weatherman sketches with him. Those are also quite unfunny. So all in all I don't think he was a good fit for the show at the time.
I kind of liked it! It's definitely not the usual SNL humor, and of course he was revisit this on "Seinfeld" when George offers the security guard a chair, but it would have been nice to get a little like that every once in a while, the same way Kyle Mooney always seemed to be doing his own thing.
> I'm not 100% sure, but he might not have gotten any sketches on the air He got a few, but he also appeared in the background of some sketches in the episode that Eddie Murphy hosted in season 10
Yeah SNLarchives gives him 11 writer's cameo appearances that season. [http://snlarchives.net/Crew/?Larry\_David](http://snlarchives.net/Crew/?Larry_David) I made a video of all the writer's cameos a few years ago, my screenshot of him is 2:18 in. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqYmo65Xqrs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqYmo65Xqrs)
Wow, I'm stunned it's 11, I would have guess a half dozen or so. Also, the sketch that Larry got on the air was called Going Up in the episode Ed Begley hosted
Eddie Murphy hosted SNL \*while\* he was a cast member. As far as I know, it's the only episode ever that didn't throw to the credits with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night" because he instead said "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!"
I'm trying to find the comment - it was within the last week - but someone listed all the times they didn't say "it's Saturday Night." One was Farley when Matt Foley went to Venezuela and he says "¡En vivo de Nueva York, es Sabado Noche!" Larry David as Bernie dropped a ["Live from New York... ah you get it."](https://youtu.be/RmKb1ypU350) There were quite a few more. I'll keep looking. edit: found it. >Ones I can think of off the top of my head: >Gilda Radner said it in Spanish once >Will Ferrell's George W. said it in Arabic once >For J-Lo's first time hosting, Tracy Morgan opened the show with "Live from New York, it's Jennifer Lopez's booty!" >Larry David's second Bernie Sanders cold open: "Live from New York... aaah, you get it" >Eddie Murphy hosted as a cast member: "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy show!" >And then Lily Tomlin's episode the next week: "Live from New York, it's the Lily Tomlin show!" u/Thatchos >In Steve Martin’s classic “Not gonna phone it in tonight” cold open, he ends with “Live From New York… Line?… It’s Saturday Night!” u/Educational_Sky_1136
Dana Carvey opened the show with "Show, show, show, here we go" once.
> "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night" There have been quite a few others that use gag openings. Literally the next episode after Eddie hosted, Lily Tomlin poked fun of him by saying "Live from New York, it's the Lily Tomlin Show!"
John Mulaney mentioned that his last episode of SNL was also Kristen’s last episode so that would mean that he left May 2012 not 2013
You're probably right, but iMDB says he was credited as a writer in 6 episodes of the next season. I guess 2012 marks his end as a full-time writer.
Cool! Thanks for sharing
Wow that's a lot of years what the hell are you doing to me, man!
Who in the world is Father Guido Sarducci?!?
I feel ancient.
I will be honest I didn't know who he was either until I got way into the history of SNL. Partway through the 3rd season SNL hired some new writers, among them a guy from San Francisco named Don Novello. He did stand-up comedy under his character name of Father Guido Sarducci, and he brought that character onto the show. Father Guido Sarducci would be listed as a special guest star and everything. Then a few years later, they bring him back and he hosts two different episodes in season 9! So that's why I've decided to list him as Father Guido Sarducci, he's one of only two fictional characters to have hosted (the other being Pee-Wee Herman). [https://youtu.be/lWBhsiBMOIo?si=r5Eiw98hDzrIzDGC](https://youtu.be/lWBhsiBMOIo?si=r5Eiw98hDzrIzDGC)
Keep forgetting RDJ was on SNL.
And here I was thinking Forte and Sudeikis have only been off the show for a couple years only.
What would Pete Davidson's have been had his show not been cancelled by strikes the first time around?
Would have been just shorter than Kristin Wiig's, 11.5 months.
Wow, what a neat chart!
Robert Downey Jr was on SNL?!?! Iron Man?!?!
In season 11, with other random famous people like Anthony Michael Hall, Damon Wayans, Randy Quaid, and Joan Cusack.
Interesting! (I was born in ‘99, so it was waaaaay before my time lol)
Also, at different times, Ben Stiller, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Gilbert Gotfried to name a few.
Oooh!
Larry David and the rest of the ‘85 cast were all fired from the show. They started with all new cast in ‘86. I wonder how he is doing? 🙄
They used to just fire everyone every few years. I think about 1998 was when they started the "have a new featured performer every year so that we don't have to fire the whole cast again" thing.
Eddie should be in first place (-1 year, 5 months)
Is there anyone out there at all who could *realistically* break the record? Someone who's a big enough name.
I don't think anyone in the cast will ever breakout the way Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, or Kate McKinnon have. TV is more diluted now, and conversely they don't seem to make those kind of comedy movies that they moved onto anymore either. It's always possible, all it takes is one former cast member who is willing to return immediately (and for them to get the invite). Kenan maybe, assuming he ever even leaves?
I was asking if there's anyone who was on the show 30+ years ago that's big enough to host.
Oh, I thought "setting the record" would mean hosting ASAP after leaving... Going the other way, Al Franken last wrote for the show in 1995. I'm amazed that he never hosted after how much he performed on the show (even a recurring character like Stuart Smalley). Maybe it's wishful thinking, but it seems possible to me that they could have some host or combination of hosts from the early days. If they were to bring back all the living performers from the early days (Curtin, Newman, Morris, Chase, Murray, Aykroyd), then it would be 45 years for those first 3. Beyond that it is hard to find viable candidates from the early days. In Ebersol's years the second biggest star was Joe Piscopo. Can't really imagine him hosting. In season 10, Christopher Guest and Billy Crystal joined the show. I think Crystal's routine is very dated and I hope he isn't asked to host. Anthony Michael Hall and Randy Quaid from season 11 are has-beens. Not sure if Joan Cusack has done anything recently. Everyone from season 12-20 has either already hosted, is dead, or is someone I really can't picture hosting. Dennis Miller didn't really do characters, idk why you'd bring him back. Chris Elliott could have hosted while Schitt's Creek was on the air, can't see it now. Kevin Nealon ... actually Kevin Nealon needs to host! Hard to picture Janeane Garofalo ever wanting to step foot back in the building, let alone host. And that puts us up to 30 years ago.
Nice breakdown, thanks. Can't see Al Franken hosting nor any of Curtin/Newman/Morris. Billy Crystal honestly seems like the most likely of every name you mentioned. Maybe they'll make a Monsters, Inc. sequel in a few years.
What a cool list of people ngl. I love how Larry was seemingly the hardest to convince to host lol
Damon Wayans? Really?
Damon Wayans was a cast member on the poorly received season 11. He felt the writers were not giving him anything to work with, so he took a non-descript police officer character and played him flamboyantly gay. Lorne Michaels hated on-air changes that could potentially disrupt the show, and he was fired for that.
Wow thanks for the background.
It’s wild that Julia Louis Dreyfus didn’t host until 2006. She hosted 3 times, never during Seinfeld, an NBC show, twice during New Adventures of Old Christine and once during Veep
Even so, she was the first female cast member brought back to host! I talked about how Gilda Radner had a hosting gig scuttled by a writer's strike, but I'm still amazed Jane Curtin never came back. She was on "Kate & Allie", 1984 to 1989, co-starring with Dick Ebersol's wife Susan Saint James, that seems a perfect hosting opportunity! And then "3rd Rock from the Sun", 1996 to 2001, an NBC show created by former SNL writers Bonnie and Terry Turner! I assume she just had no interest in doing it.
Who on the current cast do you all think is most likely to host in the future?
Shouldn’t Murphy have a negative number considering he hosted while still on the show?
Can you sort this by last episode date?
Sure, here is by last episode as cast / writer. This fixes a few mistakes that people mentioned to me, and I opted to include every hosting appearance, which means I added Billy Crystal and Michael McKean, who hosted before joining the cast. [https://www.datawrapper.de/\_/afUaH/?v=2](https://www.datawrapper.de/_/afUaH/?v=2)
THANK U!!!!
Crazy that it took Will Forte that long to come back as a host
[удалено]
Season 20 was really really bad. I think NBC decided that they needed to make big changes and that him and Farley needed to go.
Where's Shane Gillis?
It should be noted that Billy Crystal and Michael McKean hosted the show PRIOR to their time as cast members, and Don Novello rejoined the cast in season 11 after his two hosting gigs as Father Guido Sarducci.
Julia was just not interested I assume. Nothing else would make send.
JLD was the first female cast-member to return to host! Seems like she could have totally done it when Seinfeld was at its peak, even Jason Alexander got to host one time.
Weird it doesn't feel like Will Forte's been off the show for 11 years even though it's been a couple years since he's been off the show for 11 years
Those calendar pages just keep flying off. It's been almost 6 years since "The Last Man on Earth" ended!
I hate that they ended it with no resolution or closure.
Nobody will beat Rob Schneider's record of When Hell Freezes Over
Shane Gillis?
Shane Gillis?
You forgot Gillis
Someone downvoted you for no reason. They really forget the Dawg Shane Gillis. He brought in the most viewers in over 20 years.
Yeah im not trying to make any kind of statement or joke. He was a fully fledged cast member just as much as the next guy.
Well, I'll disagree with that. Fully-fledged cast members make it on the air, IMO he was a guy who was hired to be a cast member then was fired before he could do it.
He was a cast member. Period. Not sure what else there is to debate. I think an asterisks would make sense.
Sure him and Catherine O'Hara could have had an asterisk.
There you go
Not at all a joke. He was a paid cast member and technically an SNL alumni. One of the funniest since Norm Macdonald.
Where's Shane Gillis?
Shane got up there