- 7 weeks ago
From impressions to unforgettable recurring characters, these comedic legends used "Saturday Night Live" as the launchpad for huge careers in TV and film. Join us as we spotlight the stars who turned late-night sketches into lasting stardom, including icons like Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and more!
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00:00I've always wanted to live in a house like yours, my friend.
00:04Maybe when there's nobody home, I'll break in.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:09And today, we're looking at the comedic actors who used Saturday Night Live as a springboard to even greater success.
00:16Put on your yarmulke. Here comes Hanukkah.
00:22Maya Rudolph.
00:24You ladies are going to love this.
00:26First up, on Oprah's favorite things, my favorite to die for cashmere sweater set by Ralph Lauren.
00:35Maya Rudolph joined SNL in 2000 and quickly proved that she could disappear into just about anybody.
00:42Her impressions ranged from Beyonce and Donatella Versace to Oprah Winfrey, Whitney Houston, and Maya Angelou.
00:50What has happened here?
00:52I did it. I removed the bottom of your bag.
00:57Sister Maya, was this an act of malice?
01:01No, Brother West. It was an act of whimsy.
01:06Yet Rudolph was never merely a gifted mimic.
01:09Characters like Bronx Beat co-host Jodie Dietz showed off her ability to create broad personalities that still feel strangely
01:17believable.
01:17By the time she left in 2007, Rudolph had become one of the show's most dependable ensemble players.
01:24She remains part of the SNL family, returning as both a host and, of course, a recurring Kamala Harris.
01:31Now, Kamala, take my Pamala.
01:36The American people want to stop the chaos and end the Dramala with a cool new Step-Mamala.
01:45Kick back in our pajamas and watch a Ram Kamala.
01:49Kate McKinnon.
02:01For much of the 2010s, whenever a politician or celebrity dominated the news, viewers waited to see what Kate McKinnon
02:07would do with them.
02:08Her most memorable creation may have been Colleen Rafferty, the chain-smoking alien abductee whose increasingly alarming stories routinely destroyed
02:17everyone else in the sketch.
02:19Were these beings also bathed in light?
02:22Uh, nope, nope. They were, uh, gray with big fat eyes, little mouths.
02:26They just, uh, stared while I peed.
02:30I don't think I was dealing with the top brass.
02:32McKinnon's physicality and her willingness to go totally over the top made her SNL's defining performer for much of her
02:40decade-long run.
02:41She won consecutive Emmys in 2016 and 2017, an unusually prominent level of recognition for an individual cast member.
02:50Unlike alumni who only became stars after leaving, McKinnon's breakthrough happened largely within the show itself.
02:57And just in case you're wondering, uh, I did not become aroused.
03:02Any time I felt like I might, I just looked at Colleen here and they were going to take care
03:06of them for me and I was like...
03:08That tracks. I've killed more chubbies than diabetes.
03:11Amy Poehler.
03:12Rick! Rick! Rick!
03:15Can I... can I go walk up the wrong way up the escalator?
03:21No.
03:22Rick, can I pretend like I'm gonna fall in the fountain?
03:25No.
03:25Long before Leslie Knope began enthusiastically reorganizing Pawnee, Amy Poehler was bringing that same unstoppable energy to live television.
03:34She arrived at SNL in 2001 with considerable improv experience from the Upright Citizens Brigade.
03:41But the show showed a national audience what else she was capable of.
03:45I was laid up in bed and I watched a horror marathon on A&A.
03:48Oh, those people are gross.
03:50Unbelievable. So gross.
03:51Clean up your mess quarters.
03:52Clean your mess up quarters.
03:53Turn some good music on and start some piles.
03:56Keep giveaway throw out.
03:58Throw it out.
03:58You know what they should call that show?
04:00Oops, we found a cat skeleton.
04:02Hyperactive child Caitlyn, one-legged reality contestant Amber, and Bronx Beat co-host Betty Caruso
04:09all ran on Poehler's ability to bulldoze through a scene without losing control of it.
04:14Weekend Update revealed another side of her talent.
04:17Whether paired with Tina Fey or Seth Meyers, she could deliver a sharp joke without making it feel overly rehearsed.
04:23Guys, we have terrorists.
04:25We cannot waste time arguing over penises.
04:28Besides, ladies don't care how big a penis is unless it's really big or really small.
04:34Really?
04:35Really, yes, really. I told you that. I told you that.
04:37Kristen Wiig
04:56Bridesmaids reached theaters before Kristen Wiig had even left SNL,
05:00but her breakout was already well underway on the show itself.
05:04During her 2005-2012 tenure,
05:07she became one of the most dominant and versatile performers in the cast,
05:12quickly establishing a reputation for characters that could swing from awkward to unhinged in seconds.
05:17And I hope someone walks up soon so I can say, welcome to Target. I just want to say, welcome
05:21to Target.
05:22I just want to say, welcome to Target. I just want to say, welcome to Target to somebody. Welcome to
05:24Target!
05:26Uh, thanks. Just this stuff.
05:28Audiences came to expect her as the Target Lady, Penelope, Gilly, Denise, and Sue the Surprise Lady.
05:34Recurring roles that evolved into fan-favorite staples that defined entire episodes.
05:39What made Wiig stand out on SNL wasn't just the characters themselves,
05:43but her commitment to pushing them further each time.
05:46Oh, I'm thinking it might be in the box of a middle of a corner of a thin plastic clicker
05:54wheel in the middle.
05:55You can't get one.
05:56You can't get twice.
05:59You can't get three times.
06:02And the lamp goes out on the party star.
06:05Tina Fey.
06:06You know, Hillary and I don't agree on everything.
06:13I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.
06:19And I can see Russia from my house.
06:22The most consequential promotion of Tina Fey's SNL career happened off-camera.
06:27After joining the writing staff in 1997, she became the show's first female head writer in 1999.
06:33Only afterward did she emerge as an on-screen personality,
06:38using Weekend Update to perfect her dry, analytical delivery that would become her trademark.
06:43Speaking at an event in Florida this week, President Bush criticized Democrats, saying they, quote,
06:48want to keep revoting the election, but if they would listen to America,
06:52they would find that Americans want to move forward.
06:55Americans responded, saying, we do want to move forward to 2004.
06:58Writing Mean Girls demonstrated that her comic worldview could survive outside late-night television.
07:05Creating 30 Rock took matters further by transforming the pressures, egos, and absurdities of a live sketch show
07:11into one of television's most acclaimed sitcoms.
07:15Her famous return as Sarah Palin then became an SNL phenomenon years after she had officially left the cast.
07:22While our politics may differ, my friend and I are both very tough ladies.
07:27You know, it reminds me of a joke we tell in Alaska.
07:32Oh, boy.
07:33What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?
07:37Lipstick.
07:39Lipstick.
07:39There you go.
07:40Mike Myers.
07:41The, uh, the leprechaun. Cool. I thought it was excellent.
07:45Oh, yeah, it was really excellent. It was about this little mythical elfin creature with a really wicked tood.
07:50Do you remember that guy? Do you remember?
07:52Oh.
07:53I'm the leprechaun.
07:54Don't try and steal me, particle.
07:57Garth!
07:57Stop it, stop it! You're scaring me, leprechaun, man!
07:59I'm the leprechaun.
08:00Most recurring sketch characters remained permanently attached to the shows that created them.
08:05Mike Myers turned his into a blockbuster movie.
08:09Wayne's World began as a deliberately cheap-looking public access program hosted by Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar.
08:15Yet its popularity was strong enough to support a hit 1992 film and a sequel.
08:21That alone made Myers among the show's few Canadian cast members one of SNL's most significant discoveries.
08:27The remains of the day with Academy Award winners Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.
08:32I thought it was a tour-de-force portrayal of the repressed emotions of the English psyche.
08:38Set against the backdrop of fascistic pre-war Britain.
08:42I thought it was breathtaking. Garth sucked.
08:45His other creations, including Dieter from Sprockets, Linda Richman from Coffee Talk, and excitable British schoolboy Simon,
08:53showed how meticulously he constructed voices and mannerisms.
08:56I did a drawing at the casino. Do you want to see it? Do you?
09:01Do you?
09:02Do you?
09:02Do you?
09:03Were you looking at my bum?
09:05Were you?
09:07Bum lookers, cheeky monkeys, all of you.
09:10All right there. Don't look.
09:12All right there.
09:13Okay, this is a drawing of my daddy at the roulette table.
09:17Once he left in 1995, Myers applied the same approach to Austin Powers.
09:22And the rest was groovy history.
09:25Adam Sandler
09:26I was fired, not rehired.
09:29Well, it made me sad and blue.
09:33I told my boy Chris Farley I got fired.
09:37And he said,
09:39Sandman, they fired my ass too!
09:43Getting fired from SNL should have been a major career setback.
09:47Instead, Adam Sandler released Billy Madison that same year
09:51and began building one of Hollywood's most profitable comedy brands.
09:55The show had already established the persona audiences would follow into theaters.
10:00Childish but oddly sincere, casually musical, and liable to erupt without warning.
10:06Paul Newman's half Jewish, and Goldie Hawn's half too.
10:10Put them together, what a fine looking Jew.
10:14Opera Man, Cajun Man, Canteen Boy, The Thanksgiving Song, and The Hanukkah Song
10:19sounded unlike anything else on SNL at the time.
10:23SNL may have dismissed him, but it had already introduced viewers to comic styling strong enough to survive almost anything.
10:30Even Jack and Jill.
10:31I just, maybe I should stay out through Hanukkah.
10:35Mom's gone now, so there's really nothing for me to go back to.
10:39Stay there!
10:40She can't stay, because your airline ticket, it's like the busiest time of year.
10:43We'll never get you a return flight.
10:45That's why I used my twin hunch in knowing that we would fight,
10:49and I have an open-ended ticket.
10:52Will Ferrell.
10:53I'm staring here, staring at rock legend Bruce Dickinson.
10:56I'm a cock and a walk, baby.
10:58And if Bruce Dickinson wants more cowbell, we should probably give him more cowbell.
11:02Say, baby.
11:03And Bobby, you are right, I am being selfish.
11:06But the last time I checked, we don't have a whole lot of songs that feature the cowbell.
11:11SNL entered the 1995 season needing more than a few new cast members.
11:16Following a disastrous year and extensive turnover,
11:18the show needed someone capable of defining its next era.
11:23Will Ferrell became that person.
11:25Whether he was playing George W. Bush, Harry Carey, Alex Trebek,
11:30Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan, or the infamous Gene Frankel,
11:34Ferrell acted as though nothing could possibly be more serious.
11:38We all know that the moon is not made of green cheese.
11:43Yes, that's true, Harry.
11:44But what if it were made of barbecue spare ribs?
11:48Would you eat it then?
11:50What?
11:51I know I would.
11:52Heck, I'd have seconds.
11:53And then, then polish it off with a tall, cool Budweiser.
11:57That authority allowed him to dominate sketches without appearing desperate for attention.
12:02Plenty of performers have stood out during difficult SNL periods.
12:06Ferrell did something more significant.
12:08He helped make the show feel essential again.
12:13Spartan checkup!
12:15Take a chance!
12:16Drop your pants!
12:17Pee in the cup!
12:18Dr. Spartan's in the house and he will fix you up!
12:21Bring it down now!
12:24Tom Fever!
12:27Take it off!
12:28Bill Murray
12:28Welcome to the Potter Room, everybody.
12:30Up here at beautiful Meatloaf Mountain.
12:32I'm Nick Winters and I'm here to entertain you.
12:34So sit back, have a hot buttered rum and let it happen.
12:37Replacing Chevy Chase midway through SNL's second season was an almost impossible assignment.
12:43Rather than imitate the show's departing star, Bill Murray gradually established a looser and more unpredictable presence.
12:50Nick the Lounge Singer could turn any location into an unwanted concert,
12:54while his nerds character Todd De La Mucca mixed obnoxious confidence with adolescent insecurity.
13:01Here, I got you this.
13:03Oh, thanks Todd.
13:07Oh, this is really beautiful, Todd!
13:10It's a wrist corsage.
13:12You wear it on your wrist.
13:14Beneath the sarcasm was a quality that would become essential to Murray's film career,
13:19the suspicion that his character might be miserable even when he was making everyone laugh.
13:24SNL did more than make Murray famous.
13:26It allowed him to explore and define the comedic niche that would turn him into a household name.
13:31Ah, Star Wars!
13:35Nothing but Star Wars!
13:39Give me those Star Wars!
13:42Don't let them end!
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14:02Boom.
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14:03I can make an apology video.
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14:12Eddie Murphy
14:13It feels real good to walk streets again after being in jail doing 7 to 10.
14:19At only 19, Eddie Murphy entered an SNL that had lost its original cast, its creator, and much of its
14:26cultural momentum.
14:27Within a remarkably short period, he became the main reason to watch.
14:31Murphy's screen magnetism was so complete that he became the only regular cast member to host an episode while still
14:38being part of the cast.
14:40His movie career accelerated just as quickly.
14:43When Nick got here and got off the plane, he vomited on my shirt.
14:49We realized Nick was too sick to do the show.
14:52And that's too bad because Nick was going to be in some real great stuff tonight.
14:56But I know you people tune in to see one of the stars of 48 Hours host the show, and
15:00damn it, you're going to see it because I'm going to host the show.
15:0448 Hours and Trading Places arrived during his SNL tenure, followed by Beverly Hills Cop shortly after his departure.
15:11Before turning 24, Murphy had conquered sketch comedy, stand-up, and Hollywood.
15:17No other SNL breakout happened with the same combination of speed, dominance, and long-term impact.
15:23What is this crap? What are these? What are you doing here? What is it?
15:26Hey man, I'm Gumby.
15:30Drop dead, you bastard. There's only one Gumby, alright?
15:32Make your case for the greatest SNL breakout, and tell us which major name deserves a spot in the comments.