Happy Birthday, SNL!
A few years ago the boys in The VGG Comedy Collective held a fantasy draft for their dream SNL casts. Six members, six SNL casts hand picked from the first 30 years of the show. This week Rolling Stone Magazine published a ranking of all cast members of SNL. Not that I put much stock into these kind of lists, but I did want to see how our dream teams stacked up against the RS rankings. So here is a summary of out draft in the order the cast was picked and the RS Ranking for each member. One note, each team had to pick at least one news anchor. That explains Chase on here twice — once as a cast member the other as the Weekend Update Anchor.
Round 1
1. John Belushi (1)
2. Eddie Murphy (2)
3. Chevy Chase (10)
4. Al Franken (20)
5. Phil Hartman (7)
6. Mike Myers (4)
OUR First Round Right up there in the top 20.
Round 2
1. Dana Carvey (11)
2. Chris Elliott (103)
3. Dennis Miller (34)
4. Will Ferrell (12)
5. Bill Murray (6)
6. Gilda Radner (9)
Okay we start to stray on round two with Chris Elliott (or does Rolling Stone?)
Round 3
1. Jan Hooks (26)
2. Jon Lovitz (19)
3. Chris Kattan (95)
4. Dan Aykroyd (5)
5. Chris Rock (21)
6. Chris Farley (15)
Rolling Stone has Kattan way too low according to our data.
Round 4
1. Norm MacDonald (135)
2. Martin Short (30)
3. Laraine Newman (24)
4. Chevy Chase (10)
5. Nora Dunn (60)
6. Tina Fey (3)
Again, according to our studies RS misses the mark on MacDonald. Very solid newsman.
Round 5
1. Don Novello (42)
2. Jane Curtain (47)
3. Cheri Oteri (94)
4. Harry Shearer (77)
5. Sarah Silverman (101)
6. Victoria Jackson (138)
I think Rolling Stone has it in for Victoria Jackson because she became a nut job. Her work on SNL deserves better than 138.
Round 6
1. Adam Sandler (17)
2. Christopher Guest (31)
3. A. Whitney Brown (79)
4. David Spade (27)
5. Darrell Hammond (49)
6. Billy Crystal (29)
Round 7
1. Garrett Morris (61)
2. Joe Piscopo (66)
3.Tim Meadows (48)
4. Mary Gross
5. Brian Doyle-Murray (96)
6. Rob Schneider (44)
We hit the middle of the pack right about here.
Round 8
1. Horatio Sanz (58)
2. Kevin Nealon (59)
3. Tim Kazurinsky (32)
4. Molly Shannon (40)
5. Kristen Wiig (14)
6. Maya Rudolph (18)
Round 9
1. Fred Arminsen (23)
2. Ben Stiller (124)
3. Rachel Dratch (16)
4. Danitra Vance (100)
5. Julia Sweeney (76)
6. Ana Gasteyer (33)
Round 10
1. Robin Duke (121)
2. Amy Poehler (8)
3. Michael O’Donoghue (113)
4. Jimmy Fallon (36)
5. Jane Curtin (47)
6. Terry Sweeney (64)
There are three here that should not be this low on the draft, but they made the draft. So that’s something.
The team break downs.
Galen Black’s Team: John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Jan Hooks, Tina Fey (newscaster), Don Novello, Billy Crystal, Garrett Morris, Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Terry Sweeney.
Charles Rempel’s Team: Eddie Murphy , Bill Murray, Jon Lovitz, Darrell Hammond, Joe Piscopo, Ben Stiller, Nora Dunn, Jane Curtin, Kristen Wiig, Jane Curtin (newscaster).
Rob Terrell’s Team: Chevy Chase (newscaster), Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase , Chris Kattan, David Spade, Tim Meadows, Rachel Dratch, Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, Jimmy Fallon.
Alan Benson’s Team: Al Franken, Dennis Miller (newscaster), Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman, Harry Shearer, Mary Gross, A. Whitney Brown, Tim Kazurinsky, Danitra Vance, Michael O’Donoghue.
Jason Torchinsky’s Team: Phil Hartman, Chris Elliott, Chris Rock, Martin Short, Christopher Guest, Brian Doyle-Murray, Kevin Nealon (newscaster), Sarah Silverman, Julia Sweeney, Amy Poehler.
T. Mike Childs’s Team: Mike Myers , Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Rob Schneider, Horatio Sanz, Victoria Jackson, Ana Gasteyer, Robin Duke, Norm MacDonald (newscaster).