‘SNL’s‘ 50 greatest characters: Well isn’t that special …
DETROIT — “Live from New York,” they’re the characters who have made “Saturday Night Live” a comedy institution for 50 years.
The ones you grew up with, the ones who made you laugh, the ones with the catchphrases and the cool factor who have kept us tuning in on Saturday nights since 1975.
As “SNL” prepares to celebrate its golden anniversary on Sunday night with a three-hour special on NBC, we’re looking back at the show’s recurring characters and ranking the 50 best.
A few caveats: They had to be recurring characters, no one-and-dones, so “Cowbell” player Gene Frenkle is out. Sorry!
Also, to avoid a pileup of political impersonations, we named our favorite as a stand-in for all the presidents, vice presidents and various other political figures lampooned by “SNL” over the years.
And we kept the list mostly to sketches and “Weekend Update” characters, leaving out animated segments and digital shorts, which is nothing against the Lonely Island guys, but they exist in their own universe, which is partly by design. (Shy Ronnie fans, don’t @ us!)
Otherwise, we ranked our faves and the show’s most influential characters according to an imperfect science called our preferences. Hopefully your favorites made the list. If not, they just missed the cut, we swear!
With that in mind, here’s our list, from Domingo to Debbie Downer and on down the line. Get ready to reminisce and get ready to laugh.
‘SNL’s‘ 50 best characters of all-time
50. Sally O’Malley: Molly Shannon was only 35 when she debuted her high-kicking, high-waisted-pants-wearing Sally O’Malley. Even though she was 50 years old, she could kick(!) and stretch(!) just as good as any 20-something, and all while holding on to her purse. O’Malley’s can-do attitude saw her limberly lunging her into careers as a Radio City Rockette, runway model, police academy member and exotic dancer.
49. Domingo: “Is Domingo the viral hit that SNL needs right now?” asked Forbes in November after Marcello Hernandez first did the suave character. Domingo has become so popular that he’s shown up in Hernandez’s stand-up sets and even at a Sabrina Carpenter concert.
48. Jebidiah Atkinson: An 1860s newspaper critic, Taran Killam’s recurring Weekend Update correspondent was furiously unsatisfied with some of the most famous speeches in history. “John F. Kennedy, I’ll tell you what you can do for my country, wrap it up! Next!”
47. Garth and Kat: Unhinged, musical improv at its best … or at least its weirdest.
46. Tales of Bill Brasky: Salesman or mythical being? The characters here aren’t Brasky himself, but his big-toothed, Scotch-swilling, cigar-smoking loudmouth disciples that spin yarn about his legend.
45. Brian Fellow: He was not an accredited zoologist, but Tracy Morgan’s dimwitted but enthusiastic host of an animal-themed talk show always knew the right question to ask (“What’s wrong with that dog?” he asked about a miniature horse) and loved reintroducing himself to his audience. “I’m Brian Fellow!”
44. Toonces, the Driving Cat: Passengers unlucky enough to go for a ride inside his car usually found themselves flying off the edge of a cliff in a hard cut to stock footage, but Toonces always lived to see another day and another group of passengers.
43. Boston Teens: Jimmy Fallon and Rachel Dratch played Sully and Zazu, two teenage Massholes who were always fighting, making up and making out, when they weren’t obsessing over the Red Sox or their wicked good shortstop, Nomar Garciaparra.
42. Smoke Chedda: As clueless teenage rapper Smoke Chedda Tha A$$ Getta, Timothée Chalamet made a name for himself as a host who can carry the “SNL” torch for the next generation. Chalamet will be a member of the Five Timers Club in no time, let’s hope he keeps bringing Chedda with him.
41. Burt Reynolds: Norm MacDonald’s impersonation of the Hollywood star (usually popping up on Celebrity Jeopardy) always got big laughs, and it was reported that Reynolds himself even appreciated the spoof.
40. Ladies’ Man: Leon Phelps, the Courvoisier-drinking lothario played by Tim Meadows, got the ladies and the laughs while playing this character, and even took him to the big screen in 2000’s “The Ladies Man.”
39. Surprise Sue: Kristen Wiig played a litany of weirdos during her “SNL” tenure (see also the Target Lady, Gilly, Penelope the One-Upper) but this character, a nervous wreck who couldn’t contain herself over any exclusive piece of information, became a stand-in for anyone who just can’t keep a secret to themselves.
38. James Brown: From Buckwheat to Gumby (“I’m Gumby, dammit!”), Eddie Murphy made his mark on “SNL,” but his send up of the Godfather of Soul during the “James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub Party” sketch was one of the show’s lasting impressions.
37. Pathological Liar: Tommy Flanagan — catchphrase: “Yeah, that’s the ticket!” — was developed by Jon Lovitz during his time at the Groundlings and was a top recurring character on SNL throughout the 1980s. The high point may have been volleying fibs with host Pee-wee Herman in 1985 while both were locked up in jail.
36. Dick Clark’s Receptionist:… And you are? David Spade’s snooty receptionist had a knack for cutting everyone — even God himself — down to size, conveying that that universal feeling of not being good enough, or cool enough, to be on “the list.”
35. “Delicious Dish”: A spoof on the soothing, mellow tones of National Public Radio broadcasters, this pun-filled Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon sketch was performed eight times over three seasons before Alec Baldwin showed up as Pete Schweddy with his “Schweddy Balls” routine in December 1998.
34. Spartan Cheerleaders: At a transitional time for “SNL” — one cast was out, a new cast was in — Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri’s excitable outsiders were the first fresh characters to catch hold, softly saving the show one pep rally at a time.
33. Gap Girls: Men dressing up as women has been part of comedy since forever, and the early 1990s were no different when David Spade, Chris Farley and Adam Sandler cinched their belts and put on their wigs to become the Gap Girls, a trio of teens who were as catty to each other as they were to the gals who worked at Donut Hut. When not telling customers who were trying on ill-fitting pants to just “cinch it,” they were eating at the food court where Spade’s valley girl character chastised Farley’s for housing all the french fries, to which he famously replied in a deep voice, “LAY OFF ME, I’M STARVING.”
32. Ed Grimley: I must say Martin Short’s Pat Sajak-loving nerd may not have been an “SNL” original — the character first appeared on “SCTV” — but the show’s larger platform helped make obsessive fandom cool and gave geeks everywhere their day in the sun.
31. Drunk Uncle: Bobby Moynihan’s out-of-touch “Weekend Update” character longed for the simpler times, and his rants would get a little testier, a little racier, and a little sadder as they went along. It would be great to say he was a relic of another time, but Drunk Uncle has unfortunately only gotten more relevant with our modern era. (He definitely would have had something to say about the Super Bowl halftime show.)
30. Debbie Downer: Rachel Dratch’s character was a drag, but the sketches always made at least her colleagues crack up, if not the entire viewing audience. And now we know that feline AIDS is the number one killer of domestic cats, whomp-waaah.
29. Hans and Franz: Kevin Nealon and Dana Carvey spoofed bodybuilding culture with these two Schwarzenegger-obsessed weightlifting dolts who mocked girly men in an attempt to pump (clap!) you up.
28. Richmeister: Rob Schneider annoyingly narrates and fires off a smorgasbord of nicknames as coworkers make copies, reflecting the cold banality of office culture.
27. Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley: Stuart Smalley is a caring nurturer, a member of several 12-step programs, but not a licensed therapist. The bit’s familiar rhythm always had Al Franken’s Smalley hyping himself up to have a great show, inevitably not having one, and then forgiving himself anyway because “doggone it, people like me.”
26. George Washington: A twice-done sketch called “Washington’s Dream,” comedian and host Nate Bargatze does classic, whip-smart observational humor about the absurdity of the English language and the imperial system of weights and measures.
25. What’s Up With That?: Taking on the issues of today with soul, this recurring sketch had a host of characters, singers, dancers and celebrity guests (real and impersonated), but it was Kenan Thompsons’ Deandre Cole heeding the call of the high-hat to never finish singing the theme song that stole the show. That, and Jason Sudeikis’ track-suited running man.
24. The Californians: If you don’t agree with the ranking of this soap opera send-up of blond-haired, direction-obsessed Southern Californians, you can take South La Brea to the 10, cut over to La Cienega, take that to Pico Boulevard until you hit Sepulveda, and ask for Stuart.
23. The Chris Farley Show: “You remember when you were with the Beatles?” He was a talk show host who was overwhelmed by the magnitude of his celebrity guests, but his innocence and sweet nature drove home the essence of what audiences loved about Chris Farley.
22. MacGruber: A MacGyver spoof? Why not. Will Forte sent up Richard Dean Anderson’s character from the ‘80s TV series, playing a hotheaded engineer whose outsize ego constantly got in the way of him diffusing bombs and saving the day. Forte rode the character all the way to a movie and a TV series.
21. It’s Pat: Who were they? In a different, less culturally sensitive era, Julia Sweeney’s Pat mined gender confusion for comedy gold, taking the question of whether Pat was a man or a woman all the way to a big screen movie. Was there ever an answer? It doesn’t even matter.
20. Olympia Cafe workers: In this early-years sketch, John Belushi’s diner only served three things: chips, Pepsi and cheeseburgers, so there was a lot of yelling about “cheeburger! cheeburger!”
19. Opera Man: A musical Weekend Update “correspondent,” Adam Sandler’s Opera Man offered dramatic sing-song reports of 1990s newsmakers with subtitles and a wave of his handkerchief. He sang in his own version of Italian which was mostly English with vowels added to the end of each word.
18. Coneheads: From Remulak with love, this family (played by Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman) tried assimilating to life on Earth, but those pointed heads and those six packs of beer they’d crush in several gulps made it difficult. They landed their own movie in 1993.
17. Sean Connery: Creating an only-on-“SNL” feud between the Scottish actor and beloved “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, Darrell Hammond’s Connery was funniest when he was mispronouncing category titles, making us never look at the song “Let it Snow” the same way ever again.
16. Killer Bees: “SNL’s” OG recurring characters debuted in the first episode, and again in the next episode as a protest to network execs who demanded the Bees be cut. They were an early example of the defiant spirit the fueled “SNL.”
15. Close Encounters: Playing the chain smoking Miss Rafferty, Kate McKinnon attacked this series of sketches — in which she described a series of seriously invasive alien abductions — like it was her mission to get her costars to break. She was usually successful.
14. Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer: Phil Hartman’s Keyrock the personal-injury lawyer understood complex concepts like punitive damages and capital gains taxes, but claimed be “just a caveman” when it suited him. Maybe as good as the actual bit were the fake sponsors of the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer show, including Big Fat Bean, Dog Assassin and the iconic Happy Fun Ball — still legal in 16 states!
13. Roseanne Roseannadanna: Gilda Radner was the creative force behind this “Weekend Update” character, brought on to discuss consumer affairs before she’d digress into graphic details of celebrity hygiene. It just goes to show you, Radner was one of the show’s early greats.
12. Linda Richman: In her exaggerated Brooklyn accent, this “Coffee Talk” host (played by Mike Myers) was like buttah, and the sketch where Barbra Streisand made a surprise cameo pulled off the near-impossible: It managed to shock Madonna.
11: Bill Swerski’s Superfans: They’re still “da Bears” to this day, which shows the influence and impact of this send-up of Mike Ditka-loving Chicago sports fanatics.
10: David S. Pumpkins: Airing just before Halloween 2016 and the political showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Tom Hanks in a suitcoat printed with orange pumpkins was the distraction the country craved. None of it made sense, and that was the point. Any questions?
9. Mary Katherine Gallagher: The commitment to physical comedy from Molly Shannon is outstanding, and her weird-girl quirks and daydreaming make her relatable.
8. The Festrunk Brothers: Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin were two wild and crazy guys in this series of sketches about a pair of Czechs trolling parties for American foxes, which played like the blueprint the “Roxbury” guys would follow two decades later.
7. Sarah Palin: Our pick for the top recurring political character, Tina Fey’s Emmy Award-winning portrayal of then Alaskan Governor and vice presidential nominee Palin was peppered with well-timed “you betchas” and “gotchas.” Fey nailed the voice and the mannerisms of the politician, and even repeated things nearly exactly the way Palin had said them in interviews.
6. Blues Brothers: Wearing Ray Bans and suits and backed by a band of talented musicians, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s act (later with Aykroyd, Jim Belushi and John Goodman) was a serious hit, and spawned albums, films, a book and even an appearance at a Super Bowl halftime show.
5. Matt Foley: Chris Farley at his peak was his unhoused motivational speaker character who lectured teens and destroyed coffee tables across suburbia, before returning home to his VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!
4. Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood: It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood when Eddie Murphy parodied “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” giving viewers a look at life from a, well, different prospective than his PBS counterpart. Murphy reprised the character when he returned to host “SNL” in 2019; his neighborhood had become gentrified, but Robinson still had the same comedic spark.
3. Stefon: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Weekend Update city correspondent Stefon is Bill Hader and writer John Mulaney at their finest. This character has everything: He’s stood the test of time while also seeming specific to his era, makes a great Halloween costume and is highly quotable.
2. The Church Lady: Dana Carvey’s pious “Church Chat” host is forever looking down her nose at her guests, spouting about Satan and flexing her own moral superiority. She’s a signature character for Carvey, who played her as recently as December 2024, proving the times may change, but Church Lady never does.
1. Wayne’s World: Party time, excellent! Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey), two dudes broadcasting from their basement in Aurora, Illinois, gave the world a ton of catchphrases (“not!” “Schwing!”), an enduring way to express disbelief over being in another’s presence (the “we’re not worthy” arm motion is still common; Kendrick Lamar did it to Diana Ross at the Grammys earlier this month), and a reason to stay up late on Saturday nights. Party on Wayne, party on Garth.