Best SNL cast, eva?

[AmandaRuth]

And the winner of the funniest cast is...?

MiniAmandaRuth

[unblock]

1. has to be one of the early ones

belushi, akyroyd, etc. maybe eddie murphy's first season.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. ditto

first season. No contest here.

[Solly Mack]

2. my vote

Dan Ackroyd
Jane Curtain
Chevy Chase
Garret Morris
Loraine Newman
Bill Murray
Gilda Radner
John Belushi

[Left Is Write]

3. Sign me up for this one.

The first season cast - except I do like Bill Murray also, and I don't think he joined until either later in the first season or in the second season. I'd have to look it up.

Yep - I just looked it up. He joined second season, after Chevy Chase was out.

[joeybee12]

11. I'm going with the first season--even with Chevy Chase....

...it's close, because I'm not a big Chevy fan, but, then again, I'm not a big Bill Murray fan. Don't think you could vote for anything but the first or second season, though.

[Left Is Write]

16. I liked Chevy on the news, and I loved Bill's Nick The Lounge Singer.

[Solly Mack]

20. I'll hafta go with Chase

[mac56]

5. Technicality -

Bill Murray replaced Chevy Chase.

[Solly Mack]

13. Well, yes...but I didn't want to leave either of them out

[mac56]

4. I'm prepared to get flamed, but..

I think the cast consisting of Carvey-Dunn-Hartman-Hooks-Jackson-Lovitz-Miller-Myers-Nealon was every bit as good as the original cast. Yes, I know it includes Dennis Miller and Dana Carvey, who both have become right-wing toadies.

[Left Is Write]

7. Dana Carvey is a right-winger?

Oh, that's too bad. He did such a good job making fun of religious fundies with the Church Lady.

[mac56]

8. Oh yeah.

He's been on a number of talk shows, spouting out neocon blather and mugging for the camera like a six-year-old when he's asked to defend his point of view.

A grave disappointment.

Add on edit: And Victoria Jackson has become a born-again.

[tridim]

6. Mid 80's..

Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Christopher Guest, Eddie Murphy, Harry Shearer, Brad Hall, etc. I think the best writing was during that era as well.

I was never a big fan of the first cast. They were good, and cutting edge, but honestly I thought they were too high most of the time. :)

[Philostopher]

23. It was a good one -- you're right about the writing

I thought Billy Crystal and Marty Short did some really good work together. As a group, that was a good cast. That may well have been the least 'dead weight' any of them carried, and most of that cast was near or over thirty and had been successful elsewhere (in movies, as writers, etc.). It also didn't have as many stand-up comics as later casts, which tends to make the writing less generous -- stand-up comics on SNL seem to tend to write one-character sketches, and while that works for the individual playing the character, it's usually obvious the others are sneaking glances at their watches.

I also liked some of the individual sketches when Phil Hartman was on -- he was one of the best single cast members ever on the show.

Second season cast, after Bill Murray came in, was pretty good too -- I think a lot of us who remember the early show and say there was never another cast that meets up to the first and second seasons tend to forget how many 'dross' sketches existed back then, too. Of course, the fact was it was something relatively new -- I will give them all credit, from the early seasons, for doing something innovative at the time.

[Cooley Hurd]

9. The oft-forgotten 1984-85 cast (together only 1 season)...

Jim Belushi
Billy Crystal
Mary Gross
Christopher Guest
Rich Hall
Gary Kroeger
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Harry Shearer (final: 01.12.85)
Martin Short
Pamela Stephenson

Damn... that was a funny season!
I just hate it when that happens!

[mac56]

10. Does anyone remember Tim Kazurinski?

I always thought he was hysterical.

[Left Is Write]

14. I remember him, but never found him particularly funny.

He was perfectly cast as the timid professor-guy, though (my memory is a little fuzzy - I can't remember that character's name, but I think he appeared from time to time giving editorials on the news).

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Yes I remember him

How long was he on?

[mac56]

17. not very

Left SNL and had the misfortune of signing on to the "Police Academy" films.

Really too bad.

[Magrittes Pipe]

18. 1986

With Randy Quaid and Anthony Michael Hall.

Oh, yeah.

[mac56]

19. Don't forget Robert Downey Jr.

I think he was on that year too.

[VTdem]

21. Any cast with Will Ferrel is good.

Even though he was basically the entire cast.

[Left Is Write]

22. Nobody played The Shrub better than Will.

The guy doing it now is just a poor shadow of Will Ferrell.

(Of course, I love Darrell Hammond too - He completely NAILS his political characters - Clinton, Gore, Cheney, Rumsfeld - just perfect.)

[VTdem]

24. Yes the new * is terrible.

My favorite SNL skit of all time was the first presidential debate between Gore and shrub.

"Lockbox"

[Left Is Write]

25. Just reading "lockbox"

made me bust out laughing. :D

[LSdemocrat]

26. Strategery