The 25 Best 'SNL' Players of the Last 25 Years: #25-21
On February 9, 1991 — 25 years ago this month — Adam Sandler made his Saturday Night Live debut as a featured cast member in Season 16. And we thought that was a great excuse to take a look back at the past quarter-century of SNL history and rank the 25 best cast members who’ve joined the show since Sandler did. We debated each nominee’s on-air performance only based on longevity, versatility, cultural impact, and overall magnificence, and came up with the following list. Live, from New York… it’s the 25 best SNL players of the last 25 years.
25. Leslie Jones (Seasons 40-present)
Why She Made the Cut: The eldest SNL cast member in terms of age, but the youngest in terms of tenure, Jones has a boisterous comic voice that’s unique among the show’s current cast. A stand-up comic by trade, she’s particularly on fire whenever she’s given the “Weekend Update” pulpit to comment on everything from texting etiquette to Leonardo DiCaprio. Unlike some of her co-stars, Jones has yet to find a recurring sketch, but that’s okay — she’s already a character on her own terms.
Signature Moment: Jones recently had one of her biggest sketch showcases opposite Louis C.K., and a new comedy duo was born. Despite some initial visible nerves, she quickly establishes a fun give-and-take rapport with her scene partner. We could listen to Leslie call Louis an “Old Jabba the Hutt-looking white bitch!” over and over again. —Ethan Alter
24. Cheri Oteri (Seasons 21-25)
Why She Made the Cut: Sure, her manic sunniness could grate on some viewers, but we’ll always love Oteri for the jolt of energy she brought to the show in the late ‘90s. She paired beautifully with castmate Will Ferrell, both as the peppy Spartan Cheerleaders and the over-caffeinated hosts of “Morning Latte,” and she shined with solo characters like pill-popping hot mess Collette Reardon and shouty Noo Yawk mom Rita DelVecchio. And she did a mean Barbara Walters, too.
Signature Moment: Gimme a C! Gimme an H! Gimme an E! Gimme another E! Okay, you get it. This first Spartan Cheerleaders sketch from 1996, with Oteri and Ferrell as self-appointed pep providers (they didn’t make the official cheer squad) who jazz up a school chess tournament with their own unique cheers, is still the best. “Bobby Fischer, where is he? I don’t know! I don’t know!” —Dave Nemetz
23. Bobby Moynihan (Seasons 34-current)
Why He Made the Cut: Pure enthusiasm is Moynihan’s secret to getting laughs, as he whole-heartedly throws himself into whatever character he’s playing. The more ridiculous — Snooki, Chris Christie, Guy Fieri, Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade — the better.
Signature Moment: Yes, we love us some Drunk Uncle, Moynihan’s most popular character, as well as Anthony Crispino, the gossip who gets all his news secondhand and therefore quite incorrectly. But Moynihan’s 2015 debut of Riblet, “Weekend Update” co-anchor Michael Che’s segment-interrupting friend from high school has become the new Stefon, i.e. that character we most anticipate stopping by the desk. In his second appearance, Riblet tries to prove to Che that his “jorb” is just as “hord” as Che’s… after all, he not only works at Friendly’s, but he also runs the restaurant’s Star Wars trivia night. Nevermind that he thinks Chewbacca is real, not a dude in a furry suit. Riblet goes on to really show his friend up when he unzips his warm-up jacket to reveal a suit and tie, pops off his side ponytails, and delivers a perfectly professional, funny reading of a news item, complete with a literal dropping of the mic he had delivered via FedEx. —Kimberly Potts
22. Taran Killam (Seasons 36-current)
Why He Made the Cut: If you’ve sworn off SNL in recent years, you’ve missed out on the subtle genius that is Taran Killam. Your loss. Along with Kate McKinnon, Killam has anchored the current SNL cast with dead-on celebrity impressions — his Donald Trump might even outdo Darrell Hammond’s — and whacked-out characters like pompous, old-timey critic Jebidiah Atkinson, who bashes beloved classics with a dismissive “Next!” Something we’d never say to a Killam sketch, by the way.
Signature Moment: When Martin Freeman hosted in 2014, SNL gave us “The Office: Middle Earth,” an ingenious mash-up of two of Freeman’s most famous roles: The Hobbit’s Bilbo Baggins and The Office’s Tim. Killam is equal parts creepy and hilarious as a raw-fish-devouring Gollum, who suffered through Bilbo’s pranks in slow-burn, Dwight Schrute fashion. —DN
21. Kenan Thompson (Seasons 29-current)
Why He Made the Cut: Thompson — who, in his 13th season on SNL, is just one season behind Darrell Hammond as the cast member with the longest tenure — has been acting and, more specifically, performing sketch comedy since he was a member of All That, Nickelodeon’s 1994 kid-friendly version of Saturday Night Live. And it shows. Thompson’s deep bench of celebrity impersonations (114, more than any other cast member, by Time magazine’s count) and original characters is full of delights: his Al Sharpton, Steve Harvey, and Star Jones can elevate the sleepiest of sketches, while Black Jeopardy (hosted by his Alex Treblack), French comedian Jean K. Jean (“Zut alors!” “Incroyable!”), and “What Up with That?” can elevate the lamest of episodes. As SNL writer Bryan Tucker shared in an ode to Thompson on Slate, “If you’re a Saturday Night Live writer, and you want to get an extra laugh in your script, just add this line: ‘KENAN REACTS’… Put him in your sketch somewhere, anywhere, and your sketch will get better. Because Kenan knows how to take ordinary lines and make them funny, and take funny lines and make them special.”
Signature Moment: Thompson’s signature sketch is “What Up with That?” — the BET talk show hosted by his D’Andre Cole, the singing, dancing, rhyming hardest working man in showbiz, who rarely allows his guests to actually talk. D’Andre showcases everything that makes Thompson such a valuable cast member, from his decent singing voice and commitment to character to his talent for flashing the best reaction shots and his physical comedy chops. The man is not afraid to work himself into a James Brown-esque frenzy. The best “WUWT?” yet: the 2012 Christmas special, in which even Jason Sudeikis’s running man dance, Bill Hader’s pouting Lindsey Buckingham, and f-bomb-dropping guest star Samuel L. Jackson can’t steal D’Andre’s thunder. In fact, Jackson’s slip led quick-thinking Thompson to ad-lib (usually a big no-no on SNL) a great save in response to the expletive that is always a big no-no with the FCC. “C’mon, Sam! C’mon, now! That costs money!” —KP
Come back to Yahoo TV Tuesday, when the countdown continues. Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. on NBC.
