For some comedians, Saturday Night Live represents the biggest thing they'll ever do in show
business.
For whatever reason, their success on late-night comedy TV never quite transfered to other
aspects of the entertainment industry, and they never quite caught that big Hollywood
break.
While appearing on Saturday Night Live, Jan Hooks seemed to do absolutely everything required
of a future comedy superstar.
Her inspired Betty Davis impersonation is legendary in its own right.
"You wrote a nasty tell-all book and I want you to have a bad life!
Hahahahahaha…"
She played several recurring characters that instantly endeared her to audiences, including
her iconic portrayal of Candy Sweeney of the "Sweeney Sisters" nightclub act.
After leaving SNL in 1991, Hooks never quite landed a role that showcased her immense talents.
She briefly joined the cast of Designing Women that same year, replacing Jean Smart.
Unfortunately, the show was on its last legs, and it simply couldn't survive such enormous
cast changes.
Designing Women ultimately went off the air in 1993.
She had funny recurring roles on 3rd Rock from the Sun and 30 Rock and she memorably
voiced Apu's wife Manjula on The Simpsons.
Still, Hooks didn't find nearly as many projects as she deserved.
When Hooks unexpectedly passed away in 2014 at the age of 57, several SNL legends paid
homage to the comedian.
Former castmate Kevin Nealon tweeted:
"My girlfriend in the 80’s and my friend forever, Janners.
God, were you talented.
Too soon and too sad."
Producer Lorne Michaels let go of most of the long-standing SNL cast members in 1995,
bringing in a new slate of performers that included Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, and
Darrell Hammond.
On a show that often includes impersonations of celebrities and political figures, it's
important for SNL to always have a "man of 1,000 voices" in the mix.
From 1995 to 2009, Hammond was that man.
A remarkably skilled impressionist, he's probably the best mimic the show has ever seen.
He took a nuanced, realistic approach, consistently turning in remarkable impersonations of Bill
Clinton, Donald Trump, and Sean Connery.
"Sean Connery just pick a catagory"
"I''ll take horse semen for 800."
The fact that Hammond disappeared so thoroughly into his characters may go some way in explaining
why he never quite got the attention he deserved even after 14 years in the cast.
He scored a few bit parts in movies like Scary Movie 3 and landed recurring roles on a few
TV shows like Damages, but he's never been cast in any particularly monumental roles.
In 2014, Hammond rejoined the SNL family as its announcer, taking over for the deceased
Don Pardo.
Any SNL highlight reel that covers the early '80s tends to focus on Eddie Murphy's work
in classic sketches like "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood."
But castmate Joe Piscopo was almost as big of a star, a fact that's often obscured by
Murphy's tremendous post-SNL success.
Piscopo performed a wide range of well-done impressions on SNL, including Ronald Reagan,
Ricard Nixon, and most famously, Frank Sinatra.
In fact, Murphy and Piscopo teamed up for a classic sketch parodying the 1982 hit song
"Ebony and Ivory," with Murphy playing Stevie Wonder, and Piscopo playing Sinatra.
"I'm very into that tune you do with the Beatle kid, what's his name, uh, the one that looks
like a broad?"
Piscopo and Murphy appeared on-screen together a lot in fact, Piscopo played Pokey to Murphy's
Gumby.
But then, in 1984, Piscopo left SNL.
That same year, he starred in Johnny Dangerously, a sendup of 1930s gangster movies.
"You shouldn't grab me Johnny.
My mother grabbed me once.
Once."
Piscopo was well-suited to playing tough guys like Danny Vermin, but the film flopped at
the box office.
In fact, it was trounced in its opening weekend by Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop.
Piscopo's career turned into a string of small roles in TV shows, along with a few standup
specials for cable TV, an extreme interest in bodybuilding, and in 2017, floating plans
to run for governor of New Jersey.
As we mentioned earlier, SNL cleaned house in the fall of 1995, bringing in a bunch of
new performers to inject some energy into the aging comedy institution.
Cheri Oteri a veteran of the Los Angeles-based Groundlings comedy troupe was among them.
She brought that live theater dynamic to television with a collection of truly wild and zany characters.
"You can take your coat off if you'd like."
"It's from the Burlington Coat Factory."
Who can forget her psychotically enthusiastic Spartan cheerleader Arianna?
"Roll call!
Cha-cha-boochi… roll call!"
Oh, and what about no-nonsense Nadeen?
"Simma dahn nah!"
Oteri was also celebrated for her brilliantly silly impersonations of Barbara Walters and
Debbie Reynolds.
She often appeared in sketches opposite formidable co-stars like Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon,
but Oteri always held her own, to say the least.
She was, without a doubt, one of SNL's brightest stars until she left the show in 2000.
Later that year, she landed the major role of Gail Hailstorm in the hit Scream sendup
Scary Movie.
She went on to star in the unfortunate Dumb and Dumber prequel Dumb and Dumberer: When
Harry Met Lloyd.
Since then, she's taken on several guest-starring gigs and voice roles.
Frankly, she deserves better.
Plenty of SNL stars go big and broad to get a reaction from the audience but Nora Dunn
completely disappeared into her roles, much like a film actress.
Between 1985 and 1990, Dunn stepped into several classic sketches, and she was never anything
less than hilarious.
You might remember her ridiculous turn as Leona Helmsley.
"Right away you'll notice the little things… things like real skeletons."
Or how about Babette, her ever-maudlin French prostitute?
"I'm a woman.
What are you, blind?
Do I have to spell it out for you?
Woo, woo, woo, W-O-O-O-M-A-N, woman."
But Dunn's most famous SNL contribution may have been controversy.
She publicly boycotted the second-to-last episode of the 1989-'90 season, hosted by
comedian Andrew "Dice" Clay because she found his material homophobic and abusive to women.
In a 1990 interview with Larry King, Clay basically accused her of doing it all for
publicity:
"You're saying that's for effect, they're doing it…because they should know it’s
an act?"
"Yeah, you know, a great example is Nora Dunn."
More likely, she was simply offended by his act.
Since leaving the show, Dunn has landed a lot of character-driven work, making appearances
in shows like Grace and Frankie and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
But with such boundless talent, she deserves a few plum roles that she can really sink
her teeth into.
Ellen Cleghorne was a vital part of the Saturday Night Live cast of the early '90s, playing
a long line of memorable characters like Queen Shenequa.
"Kwanzaa is a Swahili word and it means 'Santa don't come to my house.'"
Cleghorne left the show of her volition in 1995, when the WB gave the comic performer
her very own sitcom called Cleghorne!, but it was canceled after just one season.
As far as film work is concerned, Adam Sandler did cast her in a supporting role in Grown
Ups 2.
Still, she's got a lot going on.
After going back to school and earning a PhD in Performance Studies at New York University's
Tisch School of the Arts, you should now refer to her as Dr. Ellen Cleghorne.
So there.
Garrett Morris made television history in 1975 as one of the original Saturday Night
Live cast members or, as the group of relative unknowns was collectively known, "The Not
Ready for Primetime Players."
Starring on the envelope-pushing series brought fame and fortune to almost everyone in the
original cast … so why not Garrett Morris?
During SNL's early years, Morris stood out for his wild and crazy characters.
There was, of course, the Weekend Update translator for the hard of hearing … a bit that never
gets old.
"President Ford is finally over Our top story tonight … stubborn weeklong cold!"
And fun fact: Morris became the first actor to ever play Ant-Man on screen.
Indeed, he portrays the character in an SNL sketch called "Superhero Party."
"You don't remember me?
We met several times.
I is Ant-Man."
Well, that certainly explains Morris's cameo in Ant-Man, doesn't it?
"What the hell…?"
While former castmates like Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd dominated film comedy in the '80s,
Morris found the occasional role and appeared in some rather middling fare.
He had a brief cameo in the comedy How to Beat the High Cost of Living, which co-starred
fellow SNL alum Jane Curtain.
At the age of 74, he was cast as diner cashier Earl on the long-running 2 Broke Girls, so
there's that.
Paul Brittain was 33 when he joined Saturday Night Live in 2010.
He quickly made a name for himself thanks to some oddball and totally original characters.
Why, here comes Lord Cecil Wyndemere, an immature, old-timey aristocrat who dances around to
harpsichord music and clearly possesses a pronounced sweet tooth.
"This is Cecil."
"I want sweets!"
"What?"
Don't let his opulent fineries fool you.
He's not so different from you and I.
You just needed some attention, didn't ya?"
"Yeah."
"I want to hold him."
And anyone remember this character?
"Croatian import Goran 'Funky Boy' Bogdan."
"I go to your Sonic restaurant…
I order a plate of dobakcheki … They tell me the washroom is that way."
During the 2011-12 season, SNL's Lorne Michaels put Brittain on a half-season contract and
opted not to renew it, making for an abrupt mid-season disappearance.
Since then, Brittain has racked up scarcely more than a dozen credits, all of them small
character parts.
Probably his most prominent work came in Killing Gunther, an indie comedy written and directed
by his old SNL pal Taran Killam.
Jerry Minor has been a part of numerous innovative comedy projects and worked with plenty of
comic visionaries, both before and after his too-short tenure on SNL, which only lasted
through the 2000-2001 season.
"Hey, hey!"
"What is it, Mr. Tarkanian?"
"Oh, thank you, that's exactly the response I was looking for."
However, such projects lean more towards the "cult classic" column than "smash hits."
Prior to SNL, Minor co-starred on David Cross and Bob Odenkirk's edgy and influential sketch
comedy series Mr. Show.
He was also a correspondent on The Daily Show, albeit briefly.
Following SNL, Minor starred on the Comedy Central debate parody Crossballs and had a
recurring role as Officer Carter on Arrested Development.
He also played an overburdened dad on ABC's short-lived Carpoolers.
More recently, Minor popped up on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as an inept prosecutor named
Chris, who just might be based O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden.
In 1982, Eddie Murphy hosted SNL while still in the cast, filling in for his sick 48 Hours
co-star Nick Nolte.
He also changed the show's famous cold open proclamation, changing it to "Live from New
York, it's the Eddie Murphy show!"
And SNL in the early '80s was indeed "The Eddie Murphy Show."
In fact, the comedy dynamo overshadowed the solid work of many other cast members including
Tim Kazurinsky.
"Your Erroneous Zones.
Guy can't even spell."
Here he's interviewing Richard Nixon, played by Joe Piscopo beneath several pounds of makeup.
"Well, now that you're at the end of your life, how does it feel to be the most vilified
man in the country?"
"Uh, sensational, I love it."
After leaving SNL in 1984, Kazurinsky hit Hollywood, which, in the mid-'80s, needed
guys like him to play nerds and dweebs.
Case in point: He portrayed Carl Sweetchuck in three Police Academy sequels.
"If you don't like it, you go around me."
Also an SNL writer, Kazurinsky went on to write scripts for movies and TV, co-writing
the 1986 romantic dramedy About Last Night…, the 1988 film For Keeps, and writing an episode
of According to Jim.
Laura Kightlinger was a force to be reckoned with on the stand-up comedy circuit in the
'90s, and her self-deprecating wit instantly won her over with audiences.
She eventually landed on Saturday Night LIve as a double threat working as both a writer
and a performer during the 1994-1995 season.
"I bet this has some kind of happy ending, eh?"
"No, no, Norm — it doesn't."
Indeed, the SNL cast was so overstuffed, she reportedly struggled to get her material and
her face on the air.
After her brief stint with late-night comedy, Kightlinger returned to stand-up and landed
a bunch of small film and TV roles.
In 2006, she emerged with gigs on two prominent shows: HBO's Lucky Louie and IFC's The Minor
Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman.
Kightlinger created the latter, a semi-autobiographical tale of a self-destructive struggling screenwriter.
Kightlinger still acts on occasion here she is in a recent episode of Pen15.
"We don't have much time before the show but as you know, something of Heather's was stolen.
A thong."
These days, she's mainly focusing her attention elsewhere: She's a successful writer and producer
who's worked on Will & Grace a show she's also appeared in on occasion.
Surely all these accomplishments take some of the sting out of her less-than-legendary
SNL stint.
Maybe marriage is in my future."
".... I certainly envy the lucky guy that winds up with you, Laura."
"You do, Norm?"
"Yeah."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite shows are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.