The legendary sketch show Saturday Night Live, created by Lorne Michaels, continues to be a launching pad for many successful comedians. The fast-paced and competitive environment not only helps up-and-comers hone their craft, but also helps inform how well they can collaborate with like-minded artists. Over its nearly 50-year history, SNL has introduced us to some of the biggest and most respected comedians, including Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, Fred Armisen, and Gilda Radner, to name just a few. These performers, along with the majority of the people lucky enough to work at the show, called Studio 8H home for several years. But it’s important to remember that how well one does at SNL is no indication of how the rest of their career will pan out. In fact, there are a number of single-season success stories that might surprise you.
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Laurie Metcalf (Season 6, 1981)
It’s okay if you don’t remember Laurie Metcalf’s presence on the show, because she has trouble remembering it herself. The actress, who was recommended by SNL writer and fellow Chicago performer Tim Kazurinsky to Dick Ebersol (the latter of whom infamously filled in for Michaels for several years), looked back at the whirlwind experience on an episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers. Metcalf detailed her very brief time at Studio 8H, which included a “man on the street” segment and a pre-recorded dinner party sketch “Laurie Has a Story,” with Catherine O’Hara in 1988. When Meyers asked her if she remembers her short tenure in 1981, she replied, “It is like a dream. I see that there’s proof! There’s proof that I did do these things…I didn’t know what I was doing. I had never been to New York.”
Laurie Metcalf jumped into our living rooms and hearts in 1988 when she landed the role of Jackie Harris, the boisterous and loveable younger sister of the titular character on Roseanne. She won three Emmys for her work on the sitcom and has since reprised her role on the updated spin-off The Conners, which was recently renewed for Season 5. She’s also received Emmy nominations for her work on shows such as 3rd Rock from the Sun, Monk, and for her recurring role as Sheldon’s mother on The Big Bang Theory. She was also nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Greta Gerwig’s semi-autobiographical film Lady Bird. Metcalf is one of the original ensemble members of the prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre Company, along with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise, and won a Tony for her lead role in A Doll’s House, Part 2. Some of her recent work includes The Dropout, Hacks, and Somewhere in Queens.
Martin Short (Season 10, 1984-1985)
Surprisingly, the comedy powerhouse that is Martin Short was only on the sketch show for one season. But unsurprisingly, it was because it was during the infamous Dick Ebersol era. Short, along with fellow established comedian Billy Crystal, agreed to a one-year contract to try to boost the show's ratings. He breathed some life into the aimless period of the show by bringing back quirky and outlandish characters from his SCTV days, including the pointy-haired Wheel of Fortune fanatic Ed Grimley. He, along with Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal, and Harry Shearer, developed the sweaty and very defensive defense attorney character Nathan Thurm. Short admitted that the hostile character was actually based on SNL makeup artist Marion Siebert, who was the head of the makeup department during his stint at the show.
Martin Short got his start in a Canadian theater production of Godspell with Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, and Andrea Martin. He has a number of unforgettable comedic performances to his name, including in Father of the Bride, Clifford, Three Amigos!, SCTV, and Primetime Glick, among several other scene-stealing moments in numerous sitcoms. He received a Golden Globe nomination for his work alongside Steve Martin and Selena Gomez in the smash hit Hulu series Only Murders in the Building and was nominated for an Emmy for his arc in The Morning Show.
Billy Crystal (Season 10, 1984-1985)
Whether he's starring in his own one-man show or hosting the Oscars, Billy Crystal seems to be the most comfortable when he’s onstage. Given his eclectic comedy career, it makes sense that he was on SNL, but unfortunately, he was part of the ultimately unsuccessful Ebersol experiments. Oddly enough, Crystal was already comfortable at Studio 8H because he had hosted twice before joining the cast. Ebersol hoped that adding established comedians to the cast, rather than discovering new talent, would help the show. Crystal's talk show host character who had the catchphrase “You look…mahvelous” became very popular. He also stopped by Weekend Update to play the father of Vanessa Bayer’s popular recurring character, Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy.
Billy Crystal is an Emmy and Tony winning actor, comedian, and writer who got his start on the series Soap. He’s the voice of the lovable green alien Mike Wazowski in Monsters Inc., and has appeared in a number of iconic films, including When Harry Met Sally…, The Princess Bride, This Is Spinal Tap, and City Slickers. He starred in his one-man show 700 Sundays on Broadway and can currently be seen in Mr. Saturday Night, a Broadway adaptation of his film of the same name.
Christopher Guest (Season 10, 1984-1985)
The soft-spoken writer, director and performerChristopher Guestwas hired along with Short and Crystal for a one-season deal. That year, Guest popped on everyone’s radar in the iconic This Is Spinal Tap. On SNL, he often collaborated with Crystal, creating characters such as Frankie and Willie, two low-key workers who commiserate over the various specific things they hate. Guest’s eccentric film career after the show soared. He directed and starred in several cult-classics, including Waiting For Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration, all of which were improvised and shot in a documentary style.
Robert Downey Jr. (Season 11, 1985-1986)
Before he was schmoozing and wise-cracking with some of Earth’s mightiest heroes, Robert Downey Jr. was hustling at Studio 8H. That’s right, Iron Man got his start on SNL. At just 20 years old, Downey landed a gig during what he described on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to be “arguably the worst season in its history.” The Marvel star shared John Belushi and Dan Akyroyd’s office with fellow one-season member Anthony Michael Hall. “The only thing I wrote that made it almost close to air was this ridiculous sketch called ‘Suitcase Boy’ where I came out with a suitcase zipped up around my neck and said a bunch of non-sequiturs.”
Robert Downey Jr. is a producer and Oscar nominated actor who is best known for playing Tony Stark in 2008’s Iron Man, the first official film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition to playing that role in many subsequent Marvel projects, he’s starred in Ally McBeal, Chaplin, Sherlock Holmes, and The Judge. He’s set to appear in Christopher Nolan’s star-studded Oppenheimer, the limited series The Sympathizer, Play Dirty, and Sherlock Holmes 3.
Joan Cusack (Season 11, 1985-1986)
Award-winning actress Joan Cusack also landed at SNL during the Ebersol era. Like Downey, she was a relatively unknown talent, (though who can forget her “geek girl” character in Sixteen Candles) who simply wasn’t a right fit for the show. Just a few years later in 1989, Cusack was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mike Nichols’ Working Girl alongside Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith, and Sigourney Weaver. Nearly a decade later, she was nominated in the same category for her work with Kevin Kline in In & Out. She won an Emmy in 2015 for playing Sheila Jackson in Shameless, and is known for her bold performances in projects such as Arlington Road, School of Rock, Unicorn Store, and Homecoming. These days, Joan Cusack is largely retired from acting. She enjoys spending her time running a small general store called Judy Maxwell Home in Chicago.
Ben Stiller (Season 14, 1988-1989)
Ben Stiller first landed on Lorne Michaels’ radar when cast member Jon Lovitz showed him Stiller’s short film The Hustler of Money, a parody of Tom Cruise’s The Color of Money, after seeing him perform in a play. Stiller sold that short and was hired as a cast member the same year as Mike Myers, but only appeared in a handful of episodes before deciding to leave the show. He told Howard Stern, “At that point, I just wanted to make short films, and I knew that I wasn’t good live because I would get nervous.”
Despite plenty of memorable roles onscreen, including Zoolander, Meet the Parents, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Ben Stiller Show, and Dodgeball, Stiller’s first passion is working behind the camera. He’s directed and produced several episodes of Severance and Escape at Dannemora, as well as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, in which he also starred. He’s set to direct London starring Oscar Isaac and Bag Man, the latter of which he co-wrote with Rachel Maddow and Adam R. Pearlman. Stiller has since returned to Studio 8H to host and most recently, to play Donald Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen.
Sarah Silverman (Season 19, 1993-1994)
Comedian and actress Sarah Silverman had just started her stand-up career when she was hired to be a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live. Though she’s a comedy pro now, she wasn’t a right fit for the show and was fired after one season. In an episode of Collider Ladies Night, she opened up about her experience. “Looking back, it was a great experience. It was really like boot camp for so many things. And it was almost like New York itself, SNL, because it’s like, if you can make it there, everything else seems not so hard, you know?”
Sarah Silverman is an Emmy winning comedian known for many comedy albums, including Jesus Is Magic, We Are Miracles, and A Speck of Dust. She starred in The Sarah Silverman Program., Wreck-It Ralph, Bob’s Burgers, Masters of Sex, and I Smile Back. She’s currently filming Bradley Cooper’s Maestro alongside Carey Mulligan, Maya Hawke, Jeremy Strong, and Matt Bomer.
Chris Elliott (Season 20, 1994-1995)
The quirky funnyman Chris Elliott was already a pretty well-known comedic performer by the time he was hired at SNL. He got his start popping up in skits and playing odd characters like “The Panicky Guy,” “The Laid Back Guy,” and “Skylark” on Late Night with David Letterman in the 1980s and went on to have a short-lived sitcom Get a Life that has amassed a cult following. Elliott joined a stellar cast in ‘94, which included David Spade, Chris Farley, Norm Macdonald, Janeane Garofalo, and Mike Myers. Following SNL, he frequently appeared on Everybody Loves Raymond, King of the Hill, How I Met Your Mother, and the Late Show with David Letterman. He’s perhaps best known now for playing the simple-minded mayor Roland Schitt on the Emmy winning comedy series Schitt’s Creek. His daughter, Abby Elliott, was also a cast member on SNL from 2008-2012.
Rob Riggle (Season 30, 2004-2005)
If you are watching a sitcom or comedy movie, odds are Rob Riggle is going to pop up and steal the spotlight. The energetic performer started his comedy career after returning home from Afghanistan where he served as a Marine. Riggle was also a correspondent on The Daily Show, an improviser with Rob Huebel at Upright Citizens Brigade, and sketch performer. He’s had many memorable moments on screen over the years, in projects such as The Hangover, Step Brothers, Modern Family, 21 Jump Street, and The League.
Jenny Slate (Season 35, 2009-2010)
Jenny Slate’s season at SNL featured some of the best performers in the show’s history, including Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Andy Samberg. Landing the job at the legendary show was a dream come true for Slate, but she quickly realized it wasn’t where she belonged. She told Sam Jonesthat the experience was “intense” and led to a period of stage fright that triggered a hiatus from stand-up. “Everyone was really nice to me, but I was incredibly disappointed in myself,” adding, “I was not suited to the environment, I didn’t like it, I was really uncomfortable, and I never expected the environment to be so risk-averse.”
Thankfully, Slate being fired from SNL did not stop her from chasing her comedy dream. The bold and witty actress, who’s arguably best known for her hilarious recurring role as Mona-Lisa Saperstein on Parks and Recreation, has also appeared in House of Lies, Hello Ladies, and Kroll Show. She won a Critics Choice Award for her performance in the critically acclaimed dramedy Obvious Child and is an author of the book Little Weirds. She also lends her voice to Marcel in the heartfelt Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which also stars Isabella Rossellini.
