Sketch comedy institution Saturday Night Live has featured plenty of hilarious cast members
over its decades on the air, but some of them have also dealt with significant trauma and
heartbreak behind the laughter. Here's a look at some of the most tragic stories of the
SNL cast.
Pete Davidson isn't your typical SNL cast member. While most have extensive experience
in sketch comedy before they join the show, Davidson was a stand-up comic with few acting
credits to his name when he signed on in 2014. He was only 20 years old at the time, making
him one of the youngest cast members in the show's history. But despite his relative inexperience,
he quickly proved to be an adept and agile performer, generating recurring characters
and making regular appearances as himself on Weekend Update to offer commentary about
his own life, including discussions of his history with substance abuse.
"They say quitting drugs is hard, and that is true, but what they don't tell you is,
how boring it is. Whoever said there aren't enough hours in the day was a liar."
Davidson was raised on Staten Island, New York, just like the loosely autobiographical
character he played in 2020's The King of Staten Island. In that movie, he starred as
a young man struggling to get his life started, in part because he's emotionally stunted after
suffering a childhood tragedy: the death of his firefighter father in the line of duty.
That backstory mirrors Davidson's own, as his firefighter father Scott Davidson died
in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks when Pete was just 7 years
old.
Beginning in 2000, Maya Rudolph wowed audiences as one of the most versatile performers in
SNL history. A member of the cast from 2000 to 2007, she played everyone from First Lady
Michelle Obama to a middle school TV show host to fashion designer Donatella Versace.
She didn't just have comedy chops, she could also sing, and her pipes lent credibility
to her impressions of the likes of Whitney Houston and Diana Ross.
Rudolph is a second-generation entertainer. Her father is Richard Rudolph, a musician
who produced the 1974 Minnie Riperton album Perfect Angel, which featured the hit song
"Lovin' You." Rudolph and Riperton were also husband and wife, and "Lovin' You" was written
by the two of them as a lullaby for baby Maya. Riperton would go on to record a few more
hit songs, but in 1976 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite undergoing a mastectomy
to stop the cancer's spread, the disease continued to move, and she passed away in July 1979
at the age of 31, just two weeks before Maya's seventh birthday.
Tina Fey is one of the most acclaimed comedy minds of the 21st century. She co-created
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, wrote both the film and musical versions of Mean Girls, and
created and starred on the zany showbiz sitcom 30 Rock. She won multiple Emmys for her writing
and acting work on the latter, which was loosely based on her time as the head writer of SNL,
where she also held down the illustrious Weekend Update co-anchor spot for six seasons. But
she's probably best known for a role she played after she'd already left the show: 2008 Republican
vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. And it was Fey as Palin, not Palin herself, who
uttered the immortal line:
"I can see Russia from my house!"
When Fey was 5 years old, growing up in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby, she was
attacked by a knife-wielding assailant. As her husband Jeff Richmond revealed to Vanity
Fair in 2008,
"It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody who just came up, and she just
thought somebody marked her up with a pen."
Fey herself noted,
"I proceeded unaware of it. It's really almost like I'm kind of able to forget about it,
until I was on-camera."
Fey still has a faint scar from the encounter on her left cheek, which is why on 30 Rock
she was almost always shot from the right side.
Sarah Silverman is one of the most popular and influential comedians of the 90s and 2000s.
She notably co-created and starred on the surreal Sarah Silverman Program from 2007
to 2010. But before that, she rose to national attention when she joined the cast of SNL
for one season as a featured player from 1993 to 1994. She appeared occasionally as a correspondent
on Weekend Update and had some sketch appearances here and there, but ultimately the show just
wasn't the best place for her to thrive. Since then, she's shown off her unique style of
profane, philosophical, and political comedy in a variety of mediums.
All that exceptional comedy nearly ended prematurely in 2016 when Silverman almost died. As she
revealed on her Facebook page, after seeing a doctor about what felt like a relatively
innocuous sore throat, Silverman learned that she had a case of epiglottitis, an inflammation
of the flap at the back of the mouth that makes sure that food doesn't go into the windpipe.
Her treatment and recovery proved difficult. Because of excessively low blood pressure,
doctors couldn't fully sedate her, so she was drugged just enough so that she couldn't
feel any pain, and her hands were placed in restraints because she was so dazed and confused
that she tried to pull out her breathing tube. When she woke up five days later, she didn't
remember anything; thankfully, she's been healthy since then.
SNL brought on a slew of new cast members in the fall of 1995, including a little-known
comedian and voiceover artist named Darrell Hammond. A show that routinely skewers politicians
and celebrities needs actors who can convincingly imitate those people, and for 14 years, Hammond
was SNL's go-to-guy in that regard. His range of impressions over the years included the
likes of Bill Clinton, Regis Philbin, Donald Trump, and of course Sean Connery, who taunted
Alex Trebek during his appearances on "Celebrity Jeopardy." And after his time as a cast member
ended in 2009, Hammond returned in 2014 as the show's new announcer, replacing the recently
deceased Don Pardo.
Hammond was a late bloomer, joining SNL at the age of 39 after a harrowing young life.
As a child, his mother would regularly stab, beat, and electrically shock him. By age 19,
he'd started cutting himself. According to the documentary Cracked Up, by age 27 he was
also drinking excessively, and a psychiatrist diagnosed him with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia
and had him institutionalized. Although he was prescribed a lengthy list of mood-stabilizing
drugs, he continued to struggle with mental health. During his time on SNL, he would occasionally
cut himself backstage, and one time, he was even taken from the studio to a psychiatric
ward in a straitjacket.
Julia Sweeney was one of the mainstays of SNL's early 90s cast. She had a slew of impressions
and a few breakout characters, but her most famous was of course Pat, whose undefined
gender made them the butt of the joke. In August 1994, Sweeney starred in a movie adaptation
entitled It's Pat, but that didn't turn out so well. It was critically reviled, and it
earned only $60,822 at the box office, but that was far from the worst thing that happened
to Sweeney that summer.
That year, her brother Mike learned that he was suffering from a terminal case of lymphatic
cancer. His sister then moved him into her home, where she became his full-time live-in
caregiver. For nine months, Julia cared for her brother, until the spring of 1995 when
he died at the age of 31. Just two weeks before that, Sweeney had received her own devastating
medical news: a cervical cancer diagnosis. Fortunately, she managed to survive. After
a hysterectomy and months of experimental radiation treatments, she was cancer-free
within the year.
In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked John Belushi as the best SNL cast member of all time. It's
not hard to see why. In the show's early, anarchic years, he broke out big with plenty
of memorable characters, including a samurai stuck in menial jobs, one half of the Blues
Brothers, an Olympian fueled by a diet of chocolate donuts, a killer bee, and the owner
of a Greek diner that was famous for its cheeseburgers.
"Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger,
cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger,
cheeseburger."
It wasn't long before Belushi was bringing his boisterous energy to the big screen in
films like Animal House and The Blues Brothers. That chaotic energy was also present offscreen,
as he lived a fast, drug-filled life. By 1982, he was reportedly spending around $8,000 a
week on cocaine, as his dealer Cathy Evelyn Smith revealed to the National Enquirer. On
March 5 of that year, he died of drug-related causes at the age of 33. His body was found
in a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. Smith, who had injected Belushi
with a speedball of heroin and cocaine, ended up serving 15 months in prison for involuntary
manslaughter.
SNL legend Chris Farley was a cast member from 1990 to 1995. Among his many memorable
characters were one of the "Gap Girls," a would-be Chippendales dancer, hopeless motivational
speaker Matt Foley, and a starstruck version of himself as the host of "The Chris Farley
Show." After SNL, he easily made the jump to movies, starring in the likes of such 90s
classics as Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, and Beverly Hills Ninja.
But through all his successes, Farley was often at war with his demons of drug and alcohol
addiction. Between 1995 and 1997, he entered rehab 17 times, all to little avail. According
to the biography The Chris Farley Show, producers on his final movie, Almost Heroes, assigned
a special bodyguard to Farley to ensure his sobriety during filming. In October of 1997,
he returned to host an episode of SNL, which opened with a sketch making light of his attempts
to stay sober.
"This time, I am not going to let you down, boss."
"You've said that before, Chris."
He lost the battle just a couple of months later on December 18, 1997. After going on
a four-day drug bender, the 33-year-old actor was discovered dead in his Chicago apartment.
During Phil Hartman's time on SNL from 1985 to 1994, he was known as "The Glue," as he
was so reliable in any sketch that he appeared in. He excelled at both impressions, like
his take on Bill Clinton, and original characters, like the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. In 1987,
Hartman married his third wife, a model and actress named Brynn. Alas, their marriage
was often tense and tenuous, with the couple loudly fighting backstage at SNL. Brynn had
substance abuse issues, developing an addiction to cocaine in the 80s, which she managed to
quit until suffering a relapse in 1997.
The marriage ended tragically in 1998. On the morning of May 28, police arrived at the
Hartmans' home after receiving a report of shots fired. Police found Hartman's nine-year-old
son fleeing the house, and after escorting him to safety, their six-year-old daughter
was brought out as well. Around that time, another gunshot was heard, which was later
determined to be a self-inflicted blow that killed the 40-year-old Brynn. An investigation
determined that the earlier shot had killed Phil, who was only 49.
In 1980, SNL creator Lorne Michaels left the series, so NBC entrusted the show to Jean
Doumanian, who brought in a number of new cast members, including Charles Rocket. He
proved himself to be a talent to watch with "The Rocket Report," a series of silly and
absurd man-on-the-street bits. But he's probably most famous, or infamous, for the February
21, 1981 episode, in which he dropped an F-bomb on air while parodying the "Who shot J.R.?"
story arc of the popular primetime soap opera Dallas.
"Oh man, this is the first time I've ever been shot in my life. I'd like to know who
the f--- did it."
Saying the F-word on network television is a major violation of FCC rules, and within
weeks, Rocket was no longer on SNL. But his career eventually managed to survive. In the
80s and 90s, he built up a strong resume playing smug jerks and evil yuppies in films like
Earth Girls are Easy and Dumb and Dumber. But despite his professional successes, he
had his personal demons. In 2005, his body was found near his Connecticut home with his
throat slit. The medical examiner's office ruled that he had killed himself. He was only
56.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.