23 cast members you probably forgot were on 'Saturday Night Live'

The late Gilbert Gottfried was known for his signature screeching voice and squinting eyes. However, he hadn’t yet honed this persona when he was on “SNL,” which may explain why he only lasted for 12 episodes during the 1980-1981 season. Gottfried took various small TV and film roles for the next few years before eventually gaining respect as both a “comedian’s comedian” and a voice actor — especially when he was cast as Iago in Disney’s 1992 classic animated film “Aladdin.”

Most people remember Laurie Metcalf for playing Jackie Harris on “Roseanne” and “The Conners” — she did it for 15+ seasons and won three Emmys for the role, after all — but Metcalf was also a cast member on “Saturday Night Live.” We’ll forgive you for not knowing this, as Metcalf only appeared in a single episode following the firing of Jean Doumanian just prior to the 1980-1981 season finale.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has had a lot of memorable, long-running TV characters throughout her career. She spent seven seasons as the star of “Veep.” Before that, she spent five seasons as the titular character on “The New Adventures of Old Christine.” And prior to that, she played Elaine Benes on “Seinfeld” for nine seasons. But few people remember that she was also a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” from 1982-1985. “SNL” didn’t prove to be her big break, but it did lead to it, in a way. Louis-Dreyfus’ third and final season as a cast member overlapped with Larry David’s only season as a writer, and she was later asked to audition for David’s show “Seinfeld.”

Everyone remembers John Belushi’s run on “Saturday Night Live,” as he was one of the original seven cast members and had numerous iconic characters, but Jim Belushi also had a two-season stint on the show that began a year after his brother’s death in 1982. Jim soon landed memorable roles in films like “Red Heat” (1988), “K-9” (1989), and “Jingle All the Way” (1996), and later starred in TV shows like “According to Jim” (2001–2009) and “Growing Belushi” (2020-2022), the latter of which chronicles his real-life career as a cannabis farmer.

Although Billy Crystal has hosted “SNL” many times, you might be surprised to find out that he was also a cast member from 1984 to 1985. Even more surprising, Crystal — then a comedian and former star of both the sitcom “Soap” and his own variety show, “The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour” — had already hosted “SNL” twice prior to being asked to join the series. What’s less surprising is that he only spent a year on the sketch show. He was already too big of a name, and his film career was just about to hit its stride: “Running Scared” came out in 1986, “The Princess Bride” and “Throw Mama from the Train” were released in 1987, and “When Harry Met Sally” was introduced to the world two years later.

Hot on the heels of starring in the hit comedy “This Is Spinal Tap,” Christopher Guest (center) was asked to join the cast of “SNL” for the 1984-1985 season. Guest had some memorable characters, but he also worked behind the camera on some pre-recorded sketches (including the famous “Synchronized Swimming” skit) and caught the directing bug. He directed his first feature film, “The Big Picture,” four years after leaving “SNL,” and followed that up with the mockumentaries “Waiting for Guffman” (1996), “Best in Show” (2000), “A Mighty Wind” (2003), “For Your Consideration” (2006), and “Mascots” (2016). 

Like his “This Is Spinal Tap” co-star Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer (front row, third from left) was also asked to join the “SNL” cast for the 1984-1985 season. (The third member of Spinal Tap, Michael McKean, declined an invitation as he had just bought a house in Los Angeles.) This was actually Shearer’s second stint on the show, as he was a writer and occasional performer back in 1979. He left due to creative differences both times, but fared better after the second time around — in 1989, he was hired for a new show called “The Simpsons” and has been voicing half of Springfield ever since.

What hasn’t Joan Cusack been in? You might know her from her Oscar-nominated supporting roles in “Working Girl” (1988) and “In & Out” (1997). Or maybe her characters in the family-friendly films “Addams Family Values,” (1993), “School of Rock” (2003,) and the “Toy Story” franchise. Or perhaps it’s the dozen movies in which she appeared aside her brother John. But you might not know her from “SNL,” unless you saw her impersonate the likes of Jane Fonda and Brooke Shields during her single-season stint from 1985-1986.

As it will soon become clear, there was a veritable who’s-who of future famous faces on the “Saturday Night Live” season that aired from 1985-1986. Along with the aforementioned Joan Cusack, this group of generally young newcomers also included an up-and-coming 20-year-old named Robert Downey Jr. Low ratings led to most of the cast being fired at the season’s end, but this coincided with a trio of notable film appearances for Downey that would launch his lengthy career: 1985’s “Tuff Tuff” and “Weird Science,” and 1986’s “Back to School.”

Anthony Michael Hall still holds the record for being the youngest cast member in the history of “Saturday Night Live,” but the 17-year-old actor was no newbie to fame. In the two years prior to “SNL,” he starred in the now-iconic films “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club,” and “Weird Science.” Hall notched some notable impressions (including Art Garfunkel and Robert F. Kennedy) on “SNL,” but was not asked to return for the 1986-1987 season.

Randy Quaid (top row, far left) was different from the other cast additions for the 1985-1986 season. He was at least a decade older than the likes of Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., and Anthony Michael Hall, and he had already established himself as a character actor from his roles in films like “The Last Detail” (1973), “National Lampoon’s Vacation” (1983), and “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1984). In fact, he had already earned Emmy, Oscar, and Golden Globe nominations! Like most of the cast members that season, Quaid’s contract was not renewed.

A 25-year-old Damon Wayans was also part of the young 1985-1986 cast, but you may have noticed he was absent from the previous photo. That’s because Lorne Michaels fired Wayans from “SNL” after only a dozen episodes for improvising and completely changing a character during a live sketch. Wayans later said he wanted to get fired due to a lack of opportunities and creative control, and a few years later, he ended up starting his own sketch comedy show, “In Living Color,”  with his brother Keenen Ivory Wayans. There was no bad blood between Wayans and Michaels, however, as the latter invited the former to host in 1995.

In the late 1980s, a young comedian filmed a spoof of Martin Scorsese’s “The Color of Money,” which caught the attention of “Saturday Night Live.” “SNL” aired it in 1987 and two years later asked its creator — a 29-year-old named Ben Stiller — to join the writing staff and be a featured performer. He left after only four episodes when producers told him they didn’t want any more short films, and moved to MTV, which offered him his own show. The sketch comedy series earned critical praise and an Emmy, but was canceled due to low ratings. Thankfully, Stiller soon got his big break directing and starring in “Reality Bites,” and quickly became a household name as both an actor and occasional director.

Sarah Silverman has built a successful career performing stand-up and acting in a plethora of TV and film roles — both starring and supporting — but when she was hired by “SNL” as a writer and featured performer in 1993, she was just 23 years old and not ready for the experience, Silverman later reflected. (None of the sketches she wrote aired, only a single one made it to dress rehearsal, and most of her appearances were as a background character.) Being fired after one season hit her hard, but Silverman credits it with toughening her up early in her career. 

It’s easy to forget that comedian Jay Mohr was on “SNL” from 1993-1995, even though he later wrote a memoir entitled “Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live.” As the title suggests, Mohr didn’t appear on screen very often — even though he did a spot-on Christopher Walken impression — and also suffered from terrible anxiety and panic attacks during this time. (He credited Sarah Silverman for encouraging him to seek help.) Mohr still made enough of a name for himself that he was able to secure a regular role on “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” and a part in “Jerry Maguire” the following year while continuing to build his now-revered stand-up career.

If you blinked, you may have missed Chris Elliott’s time on “SNL.” After making a name for himself as a regular sketch actor on “The Late Show with David Letterman” in the 1980s, Elliott starred on his own show entitled “Get a Life,” he had a small role in the 1993 comedy “Groundhog Day,” and then joined “Saturday Night Live” for the 1994-1995 season. His film and TV career took off around this time, and today Elliott is best known for his appearances in the “Scary Movie” films, his role as Ben Stiller’s friend in “There’s Something About Mary,” and playing Mayor Roland Schitt on “Schitt’s Creek” for six seasons.

Janeane Garofalo seems like she’d be a perfect fit on “SNL,” yet she only stayed for a single season from 1994-1995. Garofalo didn’t care for her experience on the show, as she said she faced sexism and a lack of good roles. This departure thankfully coincided with her big break playing Vickie in the Ben Stiller-directed dramedy “Reality Bites,” which she followed with numerous rom-com roles and TV appearances while she continued to be a star on the standup circuit.

Michael McKean — of “Laverne & Shirley,” “This Is Spinal Tap,” and “Better Call Saul” fame — didn’t come to “Saturday Night Live” the traditional way. He had already hosted. He had already been a musical guest (as a member of Spinal Tap). He was 46 years old (and still holds the record for oldest male to join the cast). And he had previously turned down an offer to be a regular on the show in 1984. When taking the new job, McKean said he “wanted to do something I hadn’t done before” and ended up staying for the entirety of the 1994-1995 season.

You might know her as a correspondent on “The Daily Show,” Michael Scott’s real estate agent Carol Stills on “The Office,” or Steve Carell’s real-life wife, but from 1995-1996, Nancy Walls Carell was best known as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live.” More recently, Nancy and her husband co-created the series “Angie Tribeca,” which ran for four seasons from 2016-2018.

Before he was “Anchorman” sportscaster Champ Kind, “The Office” traveling salesman Todd Packer, or “The Goldbergs” neighbor Bill Lewis, David Koechner (second from left ) had a brief stint on “Saturday Night Live.” During the 1995-1996 season, Koechner impersonated Coach Mike Ditka, Charlie Sheen, and Oliver Stone, but we’ll also always remember him as the neighbor in the “Get Off the Shed” sketch alongside his future “Anchorman” co-star Will Ferrell and the aforementioned Nancy Walls, whose husband Steve Carell was also a star of “Anchorman.”

Rob Riggle and longtime comedy partner Rob Huebel gained notoriety with the Upright Citizens Brigade and as commentators on Comedy Central, VH1, and Bravo, eventually leading to an “SNL” audition for the duo. Only Riggle was hired, and he appeared in the 2004-2005 season before departing and becoming a correspondent on “The Daily Show” the following year. His popularity continued to increase as he was cast in comedy films like “Step Brothers” (2008), “The Hangover” (2009), and “21 Jump Street” (2012), as well as recurring roles on sitcoms like “Arrested Development,” “Modern Family,” and “The League.”

Jenny Slate (far right ) was a relative unknown when she joined the “SNL” cast in 2009. Despite dropping an accidental F-bomb in her very first episode, she survived her first season and gained notoriety for impressions like Hota Kotb, Lady Gaga, and Kristen Stewart. She wasn’t asked to return, which worked out fine, as she seamlessly transitioned into film and TV with shows like “Bored to Death,” “Girls,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and “Parks and Recreation,” as well as movies like “This Means War,” “The Lorax,” and “Obvious Child.”

Wait, Tim Robinson was on “Saturday Night Live”? You sure about that? It’s true, the star of Comedy Central’s “Detroiters” and Netflix’s “I Think You Should Leave” — that latter of which comforted us all during the pandemic and became many a meme — spent a season as an “SNL” featured performer from 2012-2013. After that season, he transitioned to a full-time writer position (the first person to ever do that at “SNL”) and remained with the show until 2016.